We were clad in a Beatles "Let It Be" t-shirt (my wife) and a "Red Dwarf" t-shirt (me) and as always, both of us wore our "ProgNaut.com" baseball caps.
The evening started off quite well, as my wife & I got onto the freeway heading east on I-10 from the Santa Monica area. Traffic was mild, some slow parts but not bad for a Saturday night.
We arrived at the parking lot behind Wiltern Theater at 7:35pm and paid the high price of $10 to park our car. We didn't complain much as the space was close for me to walk to the venue (I'm presently disabled and I use a cane to walk).
We got in the line about 8pm, lucky for us we were the 3rd person in line. The doors opened promptly at 8:30m and quickly we proceeded to the souvenir table. I purchased the "Tour Box" Booklet & CD, which is packaged in a DVD box. The packaging seemed to confused some people as I kept hearing the same question over and over, "Is that a DVD?". After the show I purchased the tour t-shirt and boy was the table busy then. A bit pricey on the merchandise but I'd rather the money go to the band than someone on ebay or worse off, some of those peddlers outside the venue trying to sell cheap versions of the t-shirts.
After purchasing, we headed to our seats. The usher noticed I had a cane and said that we can sit in the handicapped section if we wanted. I said okay.
Our original ticketed seats were in Section Three but the handicapped area was in Section Two, so we got a nice upgrade until the show started. I wonder if there was a Level Five section? ;)
I totally forgot to bring ear plugs that night especially for my wife and when the band started after Robert Fripp was playing some "soundscapes", we were assaulted by the loud fury of 2 hours of Crimson music, including encores.
The set comprised of music from Thrak to the current The Power To Believe, half instrumental/ half vocal.
Interesting highlight before the show started was sighting the "Music Geek" from Comedy Central's "Beat The Geeks" game show. He seemed to be wandering around endlessly, we thought either he's schmoozing it up with some people he knew or plain lost in finding his seat. Low points were the yelling of "I love you Fripp" and other blurred rambling, probably courtesy of the alcohol served. ;)
Anyways, we sat on Trey Gunn's side of the stage but Robert, Ade & Pat were very visible as well. I was at awe on how the band played the songs especially Trey. The way he played his Warr guitars was visually a treat.
Pat's drumming was equally a treat as both acoustic and v-drums were a blazing all evening. Ade's singing and playing was excellent. He was the most animated of the four but Trey had the poses down solid as he gracefully played away as if playing his instrument was a breeze.
Last time I saw the band was in 1995 at the same venue, with the double-trio line-up. From memory, the show was quite blurry instrumentally and the current 4 piece's set was clearer and much much louder. Both my wife & my ears are still ringing as of 9am Monday morning.
I really enjoyed the evening even though I forgot a majority of the songs played. In all honesty, I was really there to enjoy the music, so I didn't want to ruin the experience by writing notes all evening.
I know my wife isn't into much of the music listen to but this was a nice pre-birthday present (April 2nd) to me from her. Her thoughts were the show was more enjoyable than the Flower Kings show we saw last year, April 2002, at the Troubador. She also said the music was too loud and chaotic but I let her know ahead of time what to expect.
In all fairness to my wife, I'm sure that the next concert we'll go to will be mellower or less chaotic.
I'm a confirmed BELIEVER again!
Just added April 17th, 2003 courtesy of Vargan
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Soundscapes, ConstruKction Of Light, ProzaKc Blues, Elektrik, Facts Of Life, The Power To Believe I: A Cappella, Level Five, Eyes Wide Open, Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With, Eyes Wide Open, The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum, One Time, The Power To Believe II, Dangerous Curves, Larks' Tongues In Aspic IV / Coda, Deception Of The Thrush, Dinosaur, VROOOM
