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Bit of a rough start, with an obvious early misstep in ConstruKction in addition to the issue in FraKctured but they quickly pull it back together and finish the song exceptionally in step with each other.
Definitely agree with David (or whomever wrote this blurb) that it was a particularly great Adrian solo in Oyster Soup, and great vocal delivery too, still a lot of energy behind it at this point in 2000 (it quickly became one of the weaker numbers on later tours IMO).
Was a RE...
Bit of a rough start, with an obvious early misstep in ConstruKction in addition to the issue in FraKctured but they quickly pull it back together and finish the song exceptionally in step with each other.
Definitely agree with David (or whomever wrote this blurb) that it was a particularly great Adrian solo in Oyster Soup, and great vocal delivery too, still a lot of energy behind it at this point in 2000 (it quickly became one of the weaker numbers on later tours IMO).
Was a REALLY ripping FraKctured before Robert had to reset his rig haha. A lot of momentum was lost picking it up from where they did. The punter in the audience that suggested taking it from "the top" had the wrong idea going that far back, but certainly starting at the beginning of that brief interlude immediately preceding would have been better policy than picking it up at the big volume jump. :)
Bit of a reserved Dinosaur, feels a bit slower paced? Perhaps they were feeling less confident after the missteps the previous two songs. Interesting the tempo changes that can occur accidentally when not using a click track (at least I think there was no click at this point?) This is also, I suppose, one of the earliest performances of this song after the shift away from the Double Trio format, perhaps that's part of it. They completely cut out the middle orchestral section, and here the pause as they skipped that section was pretty rough sounding.
Immediate transition into One Time with barely any pause after Dinosaur (to these ears less than the pause where they cut the orchestral bit lol). The band seems happy to "take it back a step" and play a number that matches the reserved mood they had for Dinosaur.
Playing a number that matched their energy quickly allowed them to resume the process of INCREASING said energy, tho, with Cage being the perfect number to follow up the preceding series of numbers... upbeat energy, requires chops, but short enough that they can't screw it up and lose their confidence again. :) Good soloing from Robert here, jazzy!
Adrian missing the cue for the vocals to come in at the beginning of SSEDD wasn't enough to slow down this mounting energy, tho. There is some particularly inspired raucousness happening here. Looking at the tracklist, I was expecting this to be a weaker one (the Double Trio version is all about the two drummers!) but they must have worked on the arrangement for this one between tours, because -- tho the piece has some spots that are a lot less loud than the old way -- this arrangement really works despite the loss of Tony and Bill
VROOOM, tho, sounds like it has some bigger holes in it with two of the musicians from the original arrangement absent. The musicians that ARE here seem to be trying to increase the amount of sonic space they fill to make up for it, but it doesn't quite work as well here as it does on SSEDD. A couple missteps in the playing too, tho after all the other hiccups so far tonight that part at least seemed to not affect them much.
The band seems happy to have the opportunity to stretch a bit on the mostly-improv Heaven and Earth. By the time we make it to Robert's solo the track has turned the awkward energy from VROOOM back into the proper rocking Crimson attitude that an improv track like this needs. The rest of the band seems elevated by Robert's enthusiastic solo, in particular the rhythm from Pat seems to kick up a notch at that point. Adrian's reply soloing gives just enough space for Robert's continued improv while having that unique "filling in holes you didn't even know were there" feel that Adrian's solos tend to have.
The following track, Into the Frying Pan, starts off on a slightly off foot with some effects issues, but nothing show stopping, so by this point in a show like this the band barely notices haha. Robert has fully arrived for the evening at this point, his leads between verses are pretty adventurous for how brief they are. Heaven and Earth got his creative juices flowing so well that I almost think they should have moved it to pretty early in the setlist for this tour.
Larks IV, my favorite Krimso track, is here spoiled by a much weaker solo than normal.
The acoustic version of Three of a Perfect Pair that we always get is alright, but I always just find myself wishing the full band was playing it.
Deception of the Thrush is always a weird one for me. I never quite got the appeal, either to audience or performer? I suppose it's perhaps more of a technical demo showing what some of their new toys can do. The version here is about par, as far as I can tell. Tho I'm not even really quite sure what elements are supposed to propel a "great" Thrush over an average one.
And Heroes? Well, even tho what we have here is a good one, Heroes is too magical of a song to let something like a bad performance spoil it :)
