Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Vienna / MuseumsQuartier, Halle E / Austria
Concert date: December 1, 2016
Attendance: 2,000
Ticket price: €80.00
English progressive rock champions King Crimson originally planned to wrap up their European tour with two shows in the Austrian capital, Vienna, at the MuseumsQuartier hall, but at the last minute they tacked on two more closing dates in France, which was a pretty surprising move. Final shows of a tour are usually something special and come with some kind of surprise, but given that we’re talking about experimental music titans King Crimson, where every single show is something completely special anyway, we didn’t lose any sleep over the fact that we wouldn’t be witnessing the end of a sprawling tour (one that, a year earlier, after coming back from North America and Japan, almost didn’t get organized at all).
The show had been sold out long before either Vienna date, as the seated hall packed to the rim proved, while the left and right corners of the stage were ‘decorated’ with two big warning signs. Anyone who ignored the strict ‘house rules’ of King Crimson’s lifelong ‘dictator’, the legendary guitarist and sonic innovator Robert Fripp, would be swiftly escorted out of the hall after the first warning. Luckily, nothing like that happened, and everyone obeyed the rule that photography was strictly forbidden until the band’s set was over. The legends of progressive rock got through the show without any provocations from the crowd, because with Fripp you never know how he’ll react to something like that. In other words, there was no repeat of the ‘scene’ from a few years ago, when Fripp, during a solo show in Udine, lost his patience over a crying baby and a guy in a pig mask who was teasing him from below the stage, briefly stopped playing, personally chased the unwanted guest out of the hall, and then carried on playing.
This time, to everyone’s surprise, eccentric Uncle Bob was actually a little more human and less robotic than usual, and he even smiled a few times and glanced out at the audience during the show. During his pedantic and at times blisteringly fast, bizarre work on the guitar strings, which radiates a totally unique, ‘Frippian’ technique, he of course sat on his stool the whole time, also keeping watch over the Mellotron. When building the symphonic and jazzy arrangements, he had a strong ally in his old buddy and returning bandmate, the superb saxophonist / flutist Mel Collins, while new drummer Jeremy Stacey also helped out on the Mellotron. Together with the incredible Gavin Harrison, who has been considered one of the best drummers in the world since his days with Porcupine Tree, and longtime King Crimson and Mr. Mister drumming champion Pat Mastelotto, Stacey formed a killer triple-drum phalanx with its own special kit setups, whose acrobatics left us gobsmacked again and again. All three were only on the drums at the same time a few times, since Stacey also had plenty to do playing Mellotron and various ambient sounds, but in those unruly moments when the drumming ‘monster’ grew ‘three heads’, it ‘thundered’ like Judgment Day had arrived, or, to put it more ‘Crimsonoid’, like the start of the apocalypse and the announcement of the end of 21st-century schizoid humanity.
Keeping the mood up with his superb string work on the Chapman Stick, bass guitar and upright bass was longtime member Tony Levin, one of the best and most charismatic bass players in the world, who is also an avid photographer in his spare time, one of the few leisure pursuits that interests Fripp a lot less passionately. Vocal masterpieces and extra guitar wizardry came from guitarist and singer Jakko Jakszyk, whose voice is an ideal blend of former members Greg Lake and John Wetton, which makes it the best possible tone for performing King Crimson evergreens from the sixties and seventies.
The unbelievably tight King Crimson septet made us happy that night with twenty-five performances of various pieces from their rich, nearly fifty-year-old treasure trove, split into two sets separated by the obligatory twenty-minute break, during which the old guard of seasoned musicians, with a respectable number of years behind them, ‘recharged their batteries’ a little. At the entrance to the hall we were greeted by Fripp’s soundscapes recorded on cassette, titled »Walk On: Monk Morph Chamber Music«, which is practically the ideal nightmare music for torturing your worst enemy, though luckily it didn’t become part of the show itself.
King Crimson opened the evening with a new composition, the instrumental »Hell Hounds of Crim«, which is basically a triple-drum stampede directed by Gavin Harrison, Pat Mastelotto and Jeremy Stacey, followed by the eco-awakening classic »Pictures of a City«, on which the whole band shone together for the first time. Next came one of the most inspired picks from the King Crimson treasure chest, since for decades Fripp completely ignored the band’s early work at concerts, especially pieces from the increasingly respected albums »Lizard« (1970) and »Islands« (1971). To play the whole of the epic suite »Lizard«, which runs more than 23 minutes, King Crimson would have needed an orchestra and the presence of former Yes songbird Jon Anderson, so they played ‘only’ the section »The Battle of Glass Tears – Part I: Dawn Song«, which tells of the start of a medieval battle between the crusaders and the Mongols, and in which Jakszyk’s chameleonic voice was the standout.
With a performance of the excellent new piece »Suitable Grounds for the Blues«, which, in typically eccentric fashion, has no real connection to the blues, King Crimson then proved that they already have plenty of great material written for a potential new studio album, though thanks to Fripp’s whims that option borders on science fiction. The band more than successfully covered practically every ‘chapter’ of their entire history that night. They only ‘forgot’ three studio albums. The era with singer Adrian Belew got its first nod with two complex instrumentals, »VROOOM« and »The ConstruKction of Light«, and then came the first big moment of the night. Alongside »21st Century Schizoid Man«, »The Court of the Crimson King« is by far their best-known classic and one of their two most representative pieces, so the atmosphere in the hall shot up to boiling point in an instant. After the masterful rendition of this epic masterpiece there was no time to rest, while the crowd could barely hold itself ‘back’ from (uninvited by Fripp) helping out with the monumental chorus.
Soon afterward the band played two demanding pieces from the often-overlooked album »Islands«, which Fripp, had he had even a speck more humanity in him, could have dedicated in his address to the audience to the two late former members who played on that record, namely Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace. With its shifts between chaotic and still-life moments, »The Letters« was a special challenge, one the fathers of progressive rock handled with ease, while the instrumental »Sailor’s Tale«, with its monumental Fripp guitar solo, was a fairly big surprise, since they had only started playing it in the closing stretch of the current tour. The new instrumental »Radical Action II« offered another chance for a drumming cataclysm of a special kind. The ‘Crimson Kings’ closed the first part of the show with the post-apocalyptic instrumental »Level Five«, which originally came out on the album »The Power to Believe« (2003). Sadly, that is still their latest studio album, and for now nothing suggests that will change anytime soon, as Fripp remains stubborn as a bull, which is also his astrological sign.
The second set held its first surprise in the short a cappella evergreen »Peace: An End« from »In The Wake of Poseidon« (1970), where we admired Jakszyk’s vocal talent above all, after which the ever-dramatic »Lizard« standard »Cirkus«, where Jakko more than successfully filled in for the original vocal by Gordon Haskell, once again thrilled us. The performance of the chaotic treat »Indiscipline«, which comes from the Belew era, from the album »Discipline« (1981), and so was the only eighties King Crimson piece of the night, was also a very pleasant surprise. Even though nothing tops the original version with Belew on lead vocals, the slightly rearranged experiment, in which the original ‘psychotic’ screaming in the form of a monologue was turned into verses and adapted to Jakszyk’s voice, turned out to be a very inspired move.
The post-apocalyptic epic »Epitaph«, like every piece played from the unforgettable debut »In The Court of the Crimson King« (1969), drew a strong reaction from the crowd, who sent it off with thunderous applause. In the closing stretch the band took us back to the Wetton era and played the unforgettable evergreens »Easy Money«, »Red ter »Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part Two«, while the two new pieces, »Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row« and »Meltdown«, once again convinced us that it’s high time for a new studio album, even if it means tying Fripp up and dragging him into the studio with a four-horse team.
The epic »Red« (1974) masterpiece »Starless« turned out, as expected, to be one of the highlights of the second part of the show by the English prog rock champions. For the encore, Fripp and company served up an exceptionally lovely surprise in the form of a cover of Bowie’s classic »Heroes«, on whose original 1977 version the guitar was played by none other than ‘Uncle Bob’. It was a surprise mostly because King Crimson had all but stopped playing it toward the end of the European tour, and it landed back on the setlist after a long while. This time Jakszyk happened to forget to sing one verse, much like during »Pictures of a City«, but no harm done, since everything else was flawless. Playing this hit by the legendary late musician is, incidentally, one of Fripp’s loveliest and most human gestures in the past twenty years. And of course no King Crimson show can be complete without their best-known evergreen, the legendary masterpiece »21st Century Schizoid Man«, the ideal musical achievement for mirroring modern times, which they stretched out good and proper and which also featured Harrison’s devastating drum solo, further enriching this textbook example of heavy metal beginnings.
The seven-piece band was unbelievably tight the whole way through, and it seemed they could have played any piece from the varied pool of King Crimson standards at the most impossible hour of the morning or blindfolded, while nothing escaped Fripp’s stern gaze, even though, as I mentioned, he was a touch more humane this time than usual, though far from showing the first sparks of human warmth and friendliness. After the show, photography was allowed, which Levin quickly took advantage of, snapping a few pictures of the crowd as is his tradition, while Fripp’s movements, when he got up from his stool and joined the band in saluting the audience, were a touch less mechanical than in Prague, but he ‘forgot’ to thank the crowd again this time as well. We can think whatever we like about Fripp as a person and his longtime disdain for the concept of the ‘typical’ rock concert, since the line between genius and madness is almost invisible with him, and his behavior toward his loyal followers is, to put it mildly, eccentric, but without his approval there would be no tour at all. And he still remains one of the most innovative and most enigmatic guitar masters in the history of rock music.
When it comes to any live show by experimental ‘heavyweights’ like King Crimson, who have more claim than any other band to the title of ‘fathers of progressive rock’, it’s always hard to find enough words of praise, and their second night in a row at Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier was no exception. All of us in the room soaked up this ‘post-apocalyptic musical cataclysm’ from start to finish. Interestingly, today’s King Crimson don’t play any ballads at their shows, even though they’ve written quite a few over their career, while the instrumental and vocal pieces are balanced very well against each other, as is the representation of individual albums from their mighty career. In the burning hope that this isn’t the end and that Fripp, after coming back from musical retirement, will hold out for at least a few more years, we’re counting on at least one more tour, before which the eccentric guitar master can be sent a list of new musical wishes: »I Talk to the Wind«, »In The Wake of Poseidon«, »Cat Food«, »Exiles«, »The Night Watch«, »Fallen Angel«, »Sheltering Sky«, »Discipline«, »Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part Three«, »Dinosaur«, »Dangerous Curves«…
Setlist
Set 1:
1. Hell Hounds of Krim
2. Pictures of a City
3. Lizard (‘The Battle of Glass Tears – Part I: Dawn Song’)
4. Suitable Grounds for the Blues
5. VROOOM
6. The ConstruKction of Light
7. The Court of the Crimson King
8. The Letters
9. Sailor’s Tale
10. Interlude
11. Radical Action II
12. Level Five
Set 2:
13. Fairy Dust
14. Peace: An End
15. Cirkus
16. Indiscipline
17. Epitaph
18. Easy Money
19. Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row
20. Red
21. Meltdown
22. Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part Two
23. Starless
—encore—
24. Heroes
25. 21st Century Schizoid Man
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