King Crimson - 2003-11-12 Avalon Ballroom, Boston, Massachusetts (2003)

“Hello, hello, hello! Wow, you’re an excited bunch I can tell,” says Adrian after the band delivers the sonic avalanche that is Level Five. “We’re an excited bunch too,” he continues which perhaps explains various brown notes that peppered the opening number. At $35 a head, the near sell-out crowd had an opportunity to get up close and personal with the band in a city whose Crim-connections go all the way back to 1969 when a very line-up played the Tea Party. Belew is absolutely on fire during ProzaKc Blues providing a sizzling energy to his vocals and guitar breaks. ‘There you go,” he can be heard saying off-mic to his colleagues. Compared to their previous show the night before in Montreal the band are really on form here. A problem with Belew’s gear after FaKcts Of Life causes a hasty rearrangement of the setlist which results in Adrian leaving the stage and Mastelotto, Gunn and Fripp to perform Deception Of The Thrush (Power To Believe Part III) earlier than usual. There’s a delightfully deranged solo in Dinosaur where a different sound is inadvertently summoned after foot pedal lied to its owner. Also somewhat unexpected is the vectoring that occurs after a silky smooth One Time. Over a minute and a half of haunting electronica, including a pitch-shifted recording of Robert reading as well as Adrian’s robotised ’37 forms.’ Conjured by Pat, it’s an intriguing sonic space that could have yielded interesting results had the Nuevo metallers wished to explore further.

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