King Crimson - 1984-06-29 Philadelphia, PA (2008)

“So you like that weird stuff?” asks Ade after an exceptionally good rendition of Industry. “Well here’s some more” [endtease]he quips before launching into Dig, arguably one of the most musically schizophrenic tracks King Crimson have ever recorded. In concert, those opposing factions – pop song colliding against atonal slabs of noise terror – seem even more stark and contradictory than they ever did in the studio.

Frame By Frame has an almost laid-back quality that belies the frenetic fretwork that constitutes much of the song. After the bleeps, bloops and vworp noises have emanated from Bruford’s Simmonds kit on Indiscipline, Fripp’s solo after the first verse is a real scorcher. Mind you, Belew steps up to the plate when it’s time for his outing on the same track, proving that a little bit of competition clearly never does anyone any harm.

Although Tony’s intro on Sartori In Tangier wanders into some unexpected territorie, he sets that trademark thump of a groove providing the foundation for a fearsome series of runs from Fripp. Mister Stormy calls this a stomping performance and so it is. Sadly the source tape is incomplete so buyer beware – Sleepless and LTIA2 are missing entirely, and we only have a fragment of what sounds like a promising rendition of Elephant Talk. Nevertheless, this good quality boot captures our canny Crims just nine days before their demise at The Spectrum in Montreal.