KING CRIMSON ELEMENTS Tour

[johndoe]

I haven't posted in a long long time but I had to share this.
This past Saturday (9/27/14) I went to see King Crimson here in Chicago. The tour is called Elements of King Crimson, but it's also been dubbed "The Farewell Tour". Fripp also refers to this incarnation as KC mark VIII. The current lineup is (from right to left on stage) Fripp on guitars, some keyboards, guitar synths and effects; Jacko Jacksick (I'm sure I butchered the spelling) on lead vocals and guitar; Tony Levin on bass guitar, 5-string bass guitar, chapman stick, double bass and backup vocals; Mel Collins on flute and all kinds of saxes. These four guys are on a pedestal in the rear, and front stage are: Gavin Harrison, Bill Rieflin, and Pat Mastelotto. Yes, 3 very excellent and very different drummers.
This is probably the best rock concert I have ever been to. The sheer musicianship of each of those guys is absurd, the set list was fabulous (with 2 exceptions), the performance was sublime at times, funny at times, and fierce, wild, and frantic the rest of the time. Amazing.
If you like KC even mildly you owe it to yourself to see them. Not only this might indeed be the farewell tour, but the experience is mind bending. I only wish I had bought tickets for all 3 shows in town.

 

[gene]

I haven't posted in a long long time but I had to share this.
This past Saturday (9/27/14) I went to see King Crimson here in Chicago. The tour is called Elements of King Crimson, but it's also been dubbed "The Farewell Tour". Fripp also refers to this incarnation as KC mark VIII. The current lineup is (from right to left on stage) Fripp on guitars, some keyboards, guitar synths and effects; Jacko Jacksick (I'm sure I butchered the spelling) on lead vocals and guitar; Tony Levin on bass guitar, 5-string bass guitar, chapman stick, double bass and backup vocals; Mel Collins on flute and all kinds of saxes. These four guys are on a pedestal in the rear, and front stage are: Gavin Harrison, Bill Rieflin, and Pat Mastelotto. Yes, 3 very excellent and very different drummers.
This is probably the best rock concert I have ever been to. The sheer musicianship of each of those guys is absurd, the set list was fabulous (with 2 exceptions), the performance was sublime at times, funny at times, and fierce, wild, and frantic the rest of the time. Amazing.
If you like KC even mildly you owe it to yourself to see them. Not only this might indeed be the farewell tour, but the experience is mind bending. I only wish I had bought tickets for all 3 shows in town.

Thanks for sharing this. Aren't they getting back together again to do new material?

I wish they would drop Pat Mastelotto. He drums to his own beat and its usually off time with the rest of the band.

 

[johndoe]

Gene, while I'm -or I wasn't, a fan of Mastelotto, I have to say that what I saw was fantastic. His style was perfectly matched with the other two. The obvious lead drummer was Harrison, the "musical" drummer was Rieflin, and the percussion/artifacts/contraptions/found objects drummer was Mastelotto. I don't know, maybe he has been practicing, a lot, maybe it's these 2 guys' influence. He sounded much better than when he was paired with Brufford, of whom I'm a big fan.
As far as new material, none was played. It was very rare that it was kind of a greatest hits show, something Fripp has always said to be against of. Some of the parts we're used to be played by sax, guitar, keyboards, etc. were played by the drummers and the effect was surreal. The 3 drummer solo is on YouTube, check it out, if you haven't.
I hope I'm wrong, but I think this is it for KC, and the best we can hope for is audio or video of this tour.
Spoiler alert: the last encore was 21st Century Schizoid Man with a SICK drum solo by Harrison.

Lastly, I was sad that Belew wasn't part of this incarnation and that they chose not to play any song from the 3 80's albums. In my opinion the (very) weak link is Jacko Jackszik (I tried, but I'm sure I got the spelling wrong again) as a vocalist. His guitar chops are par with the rest.

PS: I was VERY sad that there were a lot of empty seats.
Cheers

 

[gene]

Gene, while I'm -or I wasn't, a fan of Mastelotto, I have to say that what I saw was fantastic. His style was perfectly matched with the other two. The obvious lead drummer was Harrison, the "musical" drummer was Rieflin, and the percussion/artifacts/contraptions/found objects drummer was Mastelotto. I don't know, maybe he has been practicing, a lot, maybe it's these 2 guys' influence. He sounded much better than when he was paired with Brufford, of whom I'm a big fan.
As far as new material, none was played. It was very rare that it was kind of a greatest hits show, something Fripp has always said to be against of. Some of the parts we're used to be played by sax, guitar, keyboards, etc. were played by the drummers and the effect was surreal. The 3 drummer solo is on YouTube, check it out, if you haven't.
I hope I'm wrong, but I think this is it for KC, and the best we can hope for is audio or video of this tour.
Spoiler alert: the last encore was 21st Century Schizoid Man with a SICK drum solo by Harrison.

Lastly, I was sad that Belew wasn't part of this incarnation and that they chose not to play any song from the 3 80's albums. In my opinion the (very) weak link is Jacko Jackszik (I tried, but I'm sure I got the spelling wrong again) as a vocalist. His guitar chops are par with the rest.

PS: I was VERY sad that there were a lot of empty seats.
Cheers

Thanks for this great perspective. I have the Vroom Concert on DVD from the late 90s with Bruford and Mastelotto and Mastelotto was such an embarrassment. He couldn't keep time to save his life and actually messed up so badly several times he was throwing Bruford off! I did hear Mastelotto with Stickman on the Cruise to the Edge tour last year. He did improve considerably as you stated. I enjoy his percussion effects, however he always seems just slightly off time in key areas of songs that guys like Bruford and Harrison would NEVER have a problem with.

My favorite era of Crimson is with Adrian Belew so yes I agree with you it's tragic he's not with them. Indiscipline and Three of a Perfect Pair are just excellent albums IMO.

I will check youtube now for those videos. Rock on man!

 

[johndoe]

Are you referring to the Deja Vroom dvd? I have it too but I haven't watched it in a long time. I'll have to check it again and focus on Mastelotto's performance to see what you mean. On the other hand, PM was the sole drummer on the Power to Believe album and I think it is as good as any other in KC's catalog, maybe just behind Red. Of course, it's studio work... I did hate him on the ConstruKction of Light which in my opinion is their worst album ever, in large part due to the intolerable drumming. As for a favorite era of the band, I don't know, they've always managed to produce interesting stuff. I think you might prefer the 80s trilogy because we're about the same age and they came out during our formative years.

 

[gene]

Are you referring to the Deja Vroom dvd? I have it too but I haven't watched it in a long time. I'll have to check it again and focus on Mastelotto's performance to see what you mean. On the other hand, PM was the sole drummer on the Power to Believe album and I think it is as good as any other in KC's catalog, maybe just behind Red. Of course, it's studio work... I did hate him on the ConstruKction of Light which in my opinion is their worst album ever, in large part due to the intolerable drumming. As for a favorite era of the band, I don't know, they've always managed to produce interesting stuff. I think you might prefer the 80s trilogy because we're about the same age and they came out during our formative years.

Yes that's the DVD. I don't really care for most of Vroom as it was a bit too heavy metal for my tastes TBH. I prefer Porcupine Tree metal to KC metal. Actually my best years were probably the 90s as I was in my young 20s and felt invincible until the decade later when I herniated my discs only after I came to the realization I was not!

 

[Jabberjab]

In January 2015 I had the pleasure of interviewing Gavin Harrison and Jakko Jackcsyk for a piece to be aired on Radio Verulam.
The interview will be going out this coming Friday 27th February between 8-10 pm GMT and can be streamed on line from .Radioverulam.com or tune in from any internet radio app.
The interview gives an illuminating insight to preparations for and playing the US live shows in 2014.
The interviewer is Pete Jones ex- Public Image Limited and current Department S bassist. Pete has known Jakko since he was a teen back in the 64 Spoons days. The interview is about 50 minutes and includes music from the Live at the Orpheum album.