King Crimson - 1973-06-09 Dallas, TX (First Show) (2019)

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen from King Crimson. It is my singular privilege to address you at this moment…” announces Robert after an especially raucous rendition of LTIA Pt 1 in which Bill Bruford’s percussive explorations are well to the fore in this audience recording. The velocity of this version is rather astonishing.

Aside from Wetton’s agile bass work, listen out for Fripp’s sustained-fuzz bass-end playing something a doom-laden theme that he would revisit and modify ten years later in a Crimson piece called Industry! While the overall sound of the show is grainy after a few minutes the ears soon settle down and acclimatise to an exceptionally good show from the Crims.

As the first of not one but two gigs on the same night its interesting to note that the Crims don’t sound like they are keeping their powder dry. Rather, during this compact and refreshingly direct 53 minutes, they blast along with their customary verve and energy.

The improv coming out of Easy Money spends much of its time in a busy swirl, building up an intense pattern over which Cross sallies forth with a feverish violin solo. Having reached the peak with a cracking Bruford backbeat and avalanches of sweeping ‘Tron strings there comes the inevitable incline towards to low-end drift into Exiles.

Robert Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron
John Wetton - Bass, Vocals
David Cross - Violin,Mellotron, Keyboards
Bill Bruford - Acoustic Drums And Percussion