King Crimson 2003-11-14 Ulster Performing Arts Centre, Kingston, New York (2006)

How best to describe the performance here? One word: savage.[endtease] Taken from the FOH tapes recorded by Greg Dean and mixed with audience mics from the Multi-track ADATS by Alex Mundy, this is a powerful testament to the latitude and grasp of the Double Duo in the live arena. Level Five squashes all before it, packing in more musical weight and density into seven minutes than many groups manage over an entire career. A high-powered and potent version of Facts Of Life makes for compelling listening – the revved up solo from Fripp is a joy to behold as is Belew’s rollercoaster solo on LTIA IV. EleKtriK also has more bite than the album version and even though there’s a odd brown moment or two, it grabs the limelight. Of course with Crimson it’s not just a case of being big and clever with kick-ass moves. There’s a spell-binding performance of Power To Believe II (or Power Circle as they called it backstage) in which the yearning of a lifetime in music is poured into the deep dark well of those graceful notes. Despite a dodgy sound check, Fripp observes in his diary that the show “…began well & got better.” With Tony Levin watching in the wings, Ade prophetically signs off with “Thank you you’ve been a great audience. See you…probably never.” Just four days later Trey left the band.

Robert Fripp - Guitar
Adrian Belew - Guitar, Vocals
Pat Mastelotto - Acoustic And Electronic Percussion
Trey Gunn - Warr Guitar