Twenty years on from these recordings, and the familiarity which Crimheads now have with Vrooom, it is perhaps easy to forget what a shock to the system the track was back in 1994. Placed here after the interlocking complexities of Discipline, there’s a stark brutality to the piece as it bulldozes its way into the audiences in the theatre.
Monumentally heavy in every regard it leaves punters in no doubt that Crimson have arrived in style. Rumbling along, each downward repeat of the lines during the coda hammers the message home in the unlikely event that some folks weren’t paying attention.
If this track might be said to heavy and dark, then Vrooom Vrooom, appearing later in the set, is lighter and quicker in tone and pace but no less heavy or shocking in its remorseless rollercoaster ride around separate chords and lines that are simultaneously ascending and descending. A classic bit of Crimson precision engineering if ever there was proudly displayed in this first house.
Elsewhere in the set there’s a rather interesting version of Walking On Air which begins in the middle of the song rather than its usual introduction, propelled by Levin’s undulating bass with the other players eventually joining in and letting the piece gently amble along as an impromptu instrumental.
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