Subscribing to the old maxim that ‘the show must go on’ Belew trod the boards at Philadelphia with a sore tooth. Eye-witness Tim Foster shared this exchange with the readers of ET. “At the end of the set someone threw a T-shirt up to Adrian (nice catch!). He looked at it, showed it to Fripp, who looked at it then scrunched his face as if to say "Oh my...". He then took the shirt and placed it around his neck. After Thrush, Adrian came back on and explained to the audience that he had an abscessed tooth that it had been killing him all night. He offered $20 to anyone in the audience who would come backstage and punch him in the mouth. Upon asking if there were any takers, an exuberant Fripp could be seen madly waving his arm in the air. Belew turned to him and said, "Not you, you already got a f-#%$-ing T-shirt!" Adrian went on to explain that the T-shirt said "King F-%$#-ing Crimson", and had HIS picture on it (pointing to Fripp). Belew asked "Why not a group shot?!"”
Tim thought the new material was “absolutely stunning. They continue to build off of ideas presented on TCOL, etc., and yet new ideas and textures are being introduced. This incarnation really seems to be hitting its stride and finding its own voice. It's a great shame that Electric isn't on the Level 5 CD (but you still need to pick it up anyway, it's tremendous). LTIA IV and Level 5 itself (let's not kid ourselves-Lark's Tongues in Aspic V!) were breathtaking. The Deception of the Thrush. This has got to be my current fave-a bit of a new arrangement this time (during the first section), and a jaw-dropping solo from Trey”
Attending the same show, Jeff Sontag had a big ‘but’ about the newer songs in the set. “Not that they were bad, but you've heard it all before, and more inspired, on the TCOL album...Is it time for KC to move on - maybe on to the direction some of the ProjeKcts (especially 2 & 3) took?” Of course you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and this saying is especially true when it comes to King Crimson fans.
