Music
King Crimson
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Keith Bruce
four stars
STRIKINGLY unlikely though it is, this eight-piece incarnation of Robert Fripp’s prog-rock band, half a century on from King Crimson’s inception, is shaping up to be the most stable and established of its existence. And although everyone on stage is prodigiously talented, and encouraged to demonstrate their virtuosity, there is still no doubt who is calling the shots, notoriously taxing band-leader that he is.
Behind his Les Paul guitar and sampling keyboard, this Fripp is still perched on a stool watching like a hawk, although he occasionally cracks a smile these days. Arrayed to his right are guitarist and vocalist Jakko Jakszyk, Bill Rieflin on keyboards, bassist Tony Levin and Mel Collins on saxes and flutes, while in front are the three drum kits of Pat Mastelotto, Jeremy Stacey, and Gavin Harrison. Whatever brought about this radical approach to revisiting the group’s extensive back catalogue – and it has developed over the past few years – it was inspired, and the octet now ranges over the entire output of a band whose music has dated much less than many of its contemporaries with something approaching relaxed ease.
Of all the ingredients, Pete Sinfield’s lyrics on the earliest songs are most obviously of their time, and the singing of Jakszyk is never Greg Lake, John Wetton or Adrian Belew, even if he can match Fripp note for note on the fretboard. There are some small technical glitches – notably with the amplification of the band-leader’s guitar at the start – and the meshing of the drummers, while pretty much flawless on the material played after the interval, occasionally came slightly unstuck earlier.
But crucially, in an age of all sorts of digital assistance and from a stage festooned with technology, every note is blisteringly, searingly, live in its crystalline clarity, every note traceable to its originator, no matter the complexity of the ensemble sound.
Fripp, Levin and Harrison all added superbly musical solos, but it is Collins who has most room to improvise amid the immaculate arrangements, and he was on absolutely stellar form, adding a quotation from I Belong to Glasgow to one of his first excursions and Duke Ellington’s Take the A Train to one of the last.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel