King Crimson
Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre
Monday 29thOctober 2018
SET LIST:
Taken from setlist.com. I was waiting for a version to appear that looked right to me. I didn’t make notes, and would not have known the later instrumental pieces.
Hell Hounds of Krim
Neurotica
Indiscipline
Moonchild
The Court of The Crimson King
Discipline
One More Red Nightmare
Red
Islands
Meltdown
Radical Action II
Level Five
Interval
Cirkus
Lizard
Epitaph
Easy Money
Larks Tongues in Aspic II
Starless
Encore
21stCentury Schizoid Man
BAND:
Not Bournemouth (From a previous show on Indieplus), but very similar
Robert Fripp – guitar, keyboards, soundscapes
Mel Collins – saxophone, flute
Tony Levin – bass guitar, electric upright bass, Chapman stick, backing vocals
Jakko Jakszyk- lead vocals, guitar
Bill Rieflin – keyboards, synthesizer, Mellotron
Pat Mastelotto- percussion, acoustic and electronic drums
Gavin Harrison – main drums
Jeremy Stacey- drums, keyboards
How many bands line up with three massive drum kits along the front of the stage, with the rest of the band, all five of them, on a riser behind them? Then have fixed bright lighting (nice and clear) all the way through to midway through Starless & Bible Blackwhen it suddenly turns red for the rest of that song. Instead of the drums being in a Perspex cage, sax player Mel Collins gets to be in a Perspex cage at the top … saxophone being played into the air could leak into other mics. Robert Fripp is sitting down before a massive box of electronics, with his guitar. The three drummers are in black shirts. The other five all have jackets and ties. Those who remove their jackets are wearing waistcoats to emphasize the formality of the occasion. No photos are allowed until Tony Levin and Robert Fripp stand at the end with their cameras and take pictures of the audience. Then we can reciprocate and take pictures of them. It’s an unusual concert, but then it’s an unusual band.
The review focusses on Monday’s show, though I had also seen Sunday’s “Family & friends” show. Etiquette demands that you don’t review free shows, not that it was in any way lesser. It’s another unusual King Crimson speciality, starting out a tour with a free show for family and friends (including subscribers to their “club.”)
Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre is an auspicious venue. The current Octet is from all over, but we locals still regard them as local heroes. Robert Fripp is from Wimborne, just outside Bournemouth. Three King Crimson bass player / vocalists were Dorset locals too and were familiar with the Pavilion Ballroom venue, directly behind the theatre in their early bands: Greg Lake ( Unit Four), Gordon Haskell (Fleurs de Lys). John Wetton (Palmer-James Group, Tetrad). Lyricist Richard Palmer-James was in the same bands as John Wetton. Messrs Fripp, Lake and Wetton all had guitar lessons at Don Strike’s Music Centre in Westbourne, which is still there.
The set starts with just three incredible drummers, and the band motionless behind. There was a focus on In The Court of The Crimson King and they did four of the five tracks. 21stCentury Schizoid Man and In The Court of The Crimson King were expected, but hearing Moonchild and Epitaphwas a thrill. Maybe it’s having a sax / flute player in the band again with Mel Collins (Ian McDonald played woodwind on the first album). I’ll mention the Sunday show, because that added Cadence and Cascade (from In the Wake of Poseidon) early in the show and dropped the encore song that Tony Blair loved so much and recalled buying as a 45 single, 21stCentury Schizoid Man. Not that it was ever released as a 45 single, but hey, it’s Tony Blair. Why let facts get in the way?
Mel Collins played on the original Cadence and Cascade, which I played to death on the Island Bumpers sampler LP compilation from 1970. Side 3 of that double album was the best of the four. We also got Cirkus and Lizard from the third album, Lizard, and then Islands from Islands. So a major revisiting of the pre-1973 catalogue, which was fascinating. Mel Colins adds to the pastoral songs so powerfully … the long section with Tony Levin’s bass and Mel Collins’ flute in In The Court of The Crimson King was a highlight of the evening.
Like many, my ultimate King Cimson is the 1973 / 1974 Larks Tongues In Aspic / Starless & Bible Black / Red / USA version. I’ll state a prejudice … I knew John Wetton for over fifty years,(see A Tribute to John Wetton ) and have known Richard Palmer-James since we were four years old. Who can remember a rock concert in detail? I do know my memory places the 1973 line-up at Bournemouth Winter Gardens up there with Muddy Waters, Marvin Gaye, The Zawinul Syndicate, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon among the best shows I’ve ever seen. That line-up had Bill Bruford on drums and Jamie Muir on percussion, part of which involved beating huge gongs with chains, then spitting apparent blood (it was a blood capsule … they’re sherbert) down his front. The overall percussion effect was incredible, and it’s what the current band seeks to emulate with the three drummers … and they succeed.
In a way, I was kind of glad they avoided the great songs of that era … Book of Saturday, Exiles, The Night Watch. I saw them all performed by John Wetton in later bands, and the way he focussed it entirely on the song in the John Wetton Band, made them the ultimate versions for me.
They did Easy Money very well and Jakko does a superb job in emulating four singers … Greg Lake, Gordon Haskell, Boz Burrell and John Wetton BUT what was happening with the lyrics? They used to perform it as it was written, as on The Elements 2017 Tour Box (which after consulting two people, I finally managed to extricate from the box’s clip fastening). Tonight (and Sunday) it sounded like ‘investors’ instead of ‘admirers’, then we had something about ‘crucify the winners and the losers.’ New words? I guess crimson suspenders can be switched from the original idea to bankers’ red braces, but even so. I didn’t really approve.
Starless was the encore on the Sunday, but just late on in the Monday show, and it got the only light change of the night both times. The intrinsic beauty of the song comes out. None more so than when The Unthanks did a cover on Last in 2011 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTEqXH9dB2g) . I saw them do it in Exeter, and got home and phoned John Wetton to tell him. He secured us seats at Eastleigh a few days later. It was sold out but we sat at the sound board … free. He loved their version, and reviewed the show too, and one of the most interesting analyses of a song I’ve heard was him discussing how it started and was recorded with Rachel, Becky, Adrian and Chris of The Unthanks.
The encore was the expected Blair favourite, with a long intricate and tremendous drum solo section.
I’ve mentioned the songs rather than the instrumentals. That’s mainly because I’m dodgy on the titles. The power of the band is tangible in concert, and I noticed the hypnotic effect (one I still recall from 1973 and 1974 shows) increases the second night … maybe because I spent less time watching and noticing who was playing what and when, and just letting it flow. Relying on setlist.com and not making notes helps. I don’t think you can compare it to any band you’ve seen. You can have floating pastoral songs, then industrial aggressive rhythms, then you think ‘minimalist modern classical’ then it’s like Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew period bands without a trumpet, or the avant garde Man Jumping, playing behind modern ballet, then it’s a heavy metal band, but one devoid of clichéd riffs, or maybe the three percussionists the Royal Shakespeare Company used in Troilus & Cressida the Friday before. It’s a phenomenal display of musicianship from all of them.
The sound volume was “just right.” Enough volume to be exciting, but no buzzing ears at the end. In fact, way quieter than the 73/74 shows which seemed (at the time) incredibly loud.
OK, here’s the Sunday set list too, derived again from setlistcom. What’s important to me is that it was quite different, though both nights every song flowed straight into the next as if well-rehearsed in exactly that order. But it wasn’t. It’s hard to tell which start impresses most, the three drum attack of Hell Hounds of Kirim on Monday or Robert Fripp’s weird jangly guitar rhythms of Larks Tongues in Aspic I. Both work.
I’ll mention the audience profile. How rare it is to see the queue for the Gents stretching halfway across the theatre foyer, while the women can walk straight in to the Ladies loo on Monday. It was noticeably more balanced on Sunday night.
SUNDAY 28thOCTOBER, BOURNEMOUTH, “Family & Friends”
Larks Tongues in Aspic Part 1
Neurotica
Cadence & Cascade
Suitable Grounds For The Bues
Meltdown
Radical Action II
Level Five
Moonchild
Bass & Piano Cadenzas
The Court of The Crimson King (including Dance of The Puppets)
Indiscipline
Islands
Interval
Hell Hounds of Krim
Discipline
Cirkus
Lizard
Epitaph
East Money
Larks Tongues in Aspic Part II
Encore
Starless
Great review (as always – your site is one of my ‘go to’s for RSC productions). We saw KC in Nottingham last night – I’m glad that I’m not the only one who noticed that the lyrics to “Easy Money” had been changed!
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An excellent review of a great gig, in fact I was so impressed I bought a ticket for one of the 50th anniversary shows at the Albert Hall.
Also Peter, I am in the process of constructing a web site dedicated to musicians who came from Bournemouth in the sixties and wondered if would be possible to meet you? I live in the Pokesdown area.
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Did you get to the RAH?
See https://rogerdboyle.blogspot.com/2019/06/impaled-on-nails-of-ice-bareback-ladies.html
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