“Oh sorry, my throat...Whose been smoking pot?” asks Adrian Belew after aborting the first couplet of Three Of A Perfect Pair at the end of great King Crimson set. “Some of it got caught in my throat. OK we’ll try that again,” and off he launches into another rendition of the song. Perhaps the smoky conditions encountered in Milwaukee and the effect upon Ade’s voice were the cause of the encore part of the set being cancelled? Who knows at this remove. However, what is certain that this sounds like a keeper of a show.
There’s a vibrancy about much of this performance - the mid-set take-no-prisoners improv features some of Robert’s most frenetic runs across the fretboard which quite rightly draws cheers from a jaw-dropped crowd. It’s one of those sets where even the older material sounds as bright and as fresh as if it had only just burst out of the studio; the double-duo double-whammy that is Frame By Frame and Elephant Talk hits as hard.
Elsewhere, the large-form set pieces, LTIA PtIV and FraKctured, cast long and deep shadows.The latter of these formidable compositions sounding especially savage during the fast running lines of the metal section. The exhilarating rush that comes from Mastelotto’s percussive punctuations as Gunn and Fripp wrangle those writhing notes, is one of the reasons that makes this group so compelling.
