I used to attend shows at Irvine Meadows a lot back in the 1980’s. In fact, the week before The Moody Blues had played there and were great as well. Both groups had comedians open for them. The guy who opened for the Moodies wasn’t so good but the one who opened for King Crimson was. Tony had just had a birthday and there was a bit of a celebration for him with Champagne and cake. It’s funny that the crowd is somewhat loud on the recording as the concert from where we were at, seemed to have a very subdued crowd. At one point, Adrian announced Man With An Open Heart at which point, I stood up and cheered. The people in front of me turned and gave me a disapproving look while my face went bright red. I quietly sat back down, laughs. Great show but it’s too bad that Fripp didn’t have a Harman Kardon deck as well as a brick of Maxell tapes for both the Discipline and TOAPP tours.

As I commented earlier today on the DGM guestbook,  This Irvine meadows 1984 ToaPP concert was one of the very few Crim shows I have been able to attend over the years.  I remember it being a real scorcher.  Adrian was on fire and in my opinion at the very top of his game.  He was the quintissential acrobatic frontman here,  he was the center,  he seldom stood still,  his excitement and energetic delivery was alive and infectious.  The outdoor P.A. system seemed to carry him powerfully out across the arena and right into the audiences faces.  I love outdoor shows when the sound is just right.  This was a raucus crowd...  Crowds were raucus in those days... The cheers, screams, shout-outs and exuberant audience participation got Ade going,  fired him up,  made him the King.  And it’s very apparent  even on this poorly taped bootleg recording.   There are understandably many performing artists who consider an unruly and loud raucus audience a hindrance... not Ade... not at this show.  They pumped him up,  they made him want to sing.   He went off in many directions vocally as well as with his guitar,  he played outside the box.  He jammed!   These later years and live recordings of the King crimson  band,  although wonderful in their own right,  do not seem to harbor the electric immediate spontaneity and experimental nature of  this 1984 line-up.  Today so worried about clams and hardly ever veering off the very structured course... sometimes they sound like terse excercises...  Even the 3oaPP songs performed today seem now,  to these ears, lacking the punch they had live at Irvine meadows.  These were the new songs of excited and energetic younger men. Bill bruford played the drums very much differently  than on the studio album,   much more powerfully,  very much more improvised and freewheeling with a big smile on his face and an almost childlike abandon.  Him and Ade were both running back and forth all over the stage.  Maybe it was the command they had of the material,  it all flowed beautifully and all the asides seemed to appear naturally.  They were all smiling a lot.  Roberts Looping entry of the Crims was a perfect lead in.  Tony was not only the boss hogg heavy bottom end,  but also quite a good backup singer by this time. Yeah, it’s a crappy recording,  but the true spirit of King Crimson at the very end of this stage of their careers shines through the muck, it is in top flight,  and a crappy recording cannot hide the power and the glory of ToaPP 1984.  "There are a lot of yellow things in the world and our new album is one of them" said Ade.  I’m very glad this one was made available... I cherish it like nothing else I have downloaded here or anyplace else.   Thanks... Rick