I had listened to early King Crimson for a few years, but had no idea what to expect. There were complications in that our seats were in a balcony that had been damaged and rendered unusable due to rhythmic dancing at a B52s show a few weeks earlier. We were told to wait in the lobby. I thought "great, we're going to hear this show from behind a post somewhere." To my surprise the usher came back in a couple of minutes and said "follow me." We were taken to seats in the center, just a little abo...
I had listened to early King Crimson for a few years, but had no idea what to expect. There were complications in that our seats were in a balcony that had been damaged and rendered unusable due to rhythmic dancing at a B52s show a few weeks earlier. We were told to wait in the lobby. I thought "great, we're going to hear this show from behind a post somewhere." To my surprise the usher came back in a couple of minutes and said "follow me." We were taken to seats in the center, just a little above the stage, halfway between the stage and the sound board. We were fairly well buzzed and tried to sit still and not be obnoxious, but it was difficult. Someone looked at their watch and said "it's eight o'clock." Thank God for punctual Englishmen, they walked on at that moment. There was no warm up, no "hello Amherst." They just picked up the instruments and tore into it. I never imagined the things they could make the guitars do, and all at a heart pounding pace. They'd allow about ten second for applause between songs, then Adrian would lift his guitar, the clapping would stop, and they'd rip through another one. They played a bunch of Discipline, took a quick break, then played a bunch of Beat, which they were about to record. Can't recall what the encore was. Our heads were spinning. I have never left a show where so many people were struggling to find words to talk about what they had just seen. Someone said "it will never be like that again." And they were right.
