King Crimson - 1969-11-21 New York, NY - Fillmore East (2006)

They say good things come in small packages. By seamlessly joining an audience recording of In The Court to Michael Giles’ own cassette of the gig at the first night of the Fillmore East (which had been missing the bulk of that song), DGM have faithfully recreated a small slice of KC history - now audible for the first time since the gig some 37 years ago although the majority of this show will be familiar to anyone who has the KCCC25.

A tired Ian McDonald records in his 1969 diary that the band had spent the previous day rehearsing Pictures Of A City and ran through it on the afternoon of the 21st just to nail down the arrangements. The lyrics, as you can hear are still being written, differing slightly from the album version which would be recorded the following month by the remnants of the group. Of the gig on the 21st itself, McDonald notes that they “Played really well, went down OK." A classic slice of Crimhistory and as David Singleton says “that rare treasure - a virtually complete and audible show from 1969.” The band played a shortened set list as they were part of a large bill, headlined by Joe Cocker - with two shows a night.