Prior to this concert, it had been seven months since the Double Trio had last assembled before an audience in Argentina. The first gig of any tour is always a slightly fraught affair; anything that can go wrong probably will. Gear will futz, fingers and feet will lie to their owners and the sound could well be unsound as the entire crew get to grips with the task of presenting nearly two hours of challenging music.
Understandably perhaps then, this version of Discipline is not an assertive statement but more a gentle easing in, marking out their territory. A slow burning version of Vrooom sounds more confident, especially on the remorseless spiraling coda, though like Frame By Frame which follows, is not without the occasional wobble.
The band audibly settle into the gig on Dinosaur and you can hear them really enjoying a high-rolling Red, and the mutant-free-form jazz sextet reading of Thrak. People represents something of a “rock out” moment which is no bad thing; Belew’s splendidly squerning solo is especially tasty. Trey Gunn’s spectral notes are a highlight of a driving Talking Drum, and the band really get their collective teeth into LTIA big time.
Overall verdict: a band in the process of arriving but not quite all at the same time.
