I've always appreciated Frank Zappa's work, while never really getting into it. I only have a couple of albums, so I wasn't sure how much of the songs I would recognize. I did pretty well, being familiar with about half the material. It was a fun time, and there was great music and musicianship.
This was the fourth time we'd seen King Crimson, and definitely the most interesting. The shows are always interesting - that's what the band does - but this one more so. The band had been on hiatus since their last tour, in 2008 (their last album was released in 2003), and Robert Fripp had supposedly retired from the music business for a year. But he decided he wanted to work again, and it was time for the beast to rear its head once again.

But things are a little different now. Fripp wanted to take things in a different direction. Back to its roots, I would say. Reed man Mel Collins was back after forty years. This alone puts a certain spin on things. Saxophone. Crimson can be a beast - all teeth and claws. Saxophone, in this context does not smooth out any sharp edges. Further pursuant to that direction, Adrian Belew was not welcomed back to the fold. His songs very often had a smoothness. So not only was he not invited back to create music with the band, but they didn't even play any of his songs. None of the ones with vocals, anyway. No "Thela," no "Happy With." So who was Adrian replaced with? Jakko Jakszyk. He'd been playing with Fripp and various other Crims for over ten years, and suitably talented. But also, he's a vocal dead ringer for Lake and Wetton. So there you go.

But what about the front line? Tony Levin. He was reactivated after the departure of Trey Gunn in 2003, but in all that time, he'd only played one short tour. Then we have drummers. Pat Mastelotto (since 1994), Gavin Harrison (since 2007) and Bill Rieflin (2014). Yes, three. So anyway...

We were late getting our tickets, and ended up against the wall, near the front. Fairly close, but we couldn't see part of the stage behind the stage left speakers. We could see Harrison's kit, but not him. Jakszyk's stand was half obscured, and Fripp's was out of sight back in the corner. Shortly after taking our seats, a guy came by and asked if we wanted to move back. We went to the back row, against the wall. Much farther away, but we could then see everyone but Fripp.

I thought the sound started a little muddy, but it had improved by the third or fourth song. The three drummers remained overpowering throughout the show, but the mix was much better balanced in the second half. I didn't detect any problems with the sound due to me being next to the wall.

Leaning towards their early work, there were a several pieces I didn't actually recognize, and others I just wasn't that familiar with. "Pictures of a City," "The Letters." Songs from Poseidon and Islands. And there was Red. I knew "Red," but wasn't so familiar with "Starless." But they closed with "Schizoid Man," and did a couple of parts of "Larks' Tongues." And one song each from ConstruKction of Light and The Power to Believe. They had three new pieces, including the drum trio which they opened their encore with. That was the highlight of the show, drumming-wise. That's how it should be done! They also did two pieces from the Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins group. So the unfamiliarity was interesting. It was interesting to approach the songs as a fan, but without having heard them before. Very academic. And there was so much going on onstage, you couldn't see it all. Or even hear it all.

We couldn't see Fripp, but we talked to a guy later who said he was smiling and talking during the show. He also told us that Rieflin had put his foot through a bass drum. We'd wondered what had necessitated a mid-song head change.


Setlist:
Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part One
Pictures of a City
Hell Bells
A Scarcity of Miracles (Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins cover)
The ConstruKction of Light
One More Red Nightmare
Interlude
Red
The Letters
Level Five
Sailor's Tale
The Light of Day (Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins cover)
The Talking Drum
Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two
Starless

Hell Hounds of Krim (drum triet)
21st Century Schizoid Man

Patti

Aug. 5th, 2007 07:30 pm
Patti Smith was at the Barrymore Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin on August 5th. Patti likes to come to Madison after her Chicago shows so she has a whole afternoon to wander around town. While we were eating at the diner across the street, we saw her guitarist, Lenny Kaye, wander up and down the street.

Cyn and I got there early, so we could have our pick of seats, since she hadn't been feeling too well lately. We decided that we'd go up front, up against the stage, rather than take seats. The last time we saw them, we were on stage right, in front of the bassist and second guitarist. It was extremely loud there, so this time we took stage left, in front of Lenny. Patti's mic was set up slightly to that side anyway, and Lenny's pretty cool anyway, so that was a good place to be. We were about ten feet from each of them, for most of the show. Cyn was up against the stage with me behind her. The only problem with being so close, is that we didn't get much sound from the PA. We could hear the drums clearly, and the guitars, since the amps were behind the musicians, but Patti didn't have an onstage amp, so we could usually only hear her somewhat muddy voice from the house behind us. Same for keyboards. It wasn't much of a problem, though. Only once did we have much trouble understanding her. Sometimes we could hear her without her mic. Sometimes I could hear the click of Lenny's pick on his strings when he was tuning up between songs.

The show is billed as "Patti Smith and Her Band." This is:
herself, vocals, she played guitar on "Beneath the Southern Cross" and played clarinet on a song ("Are You Experienced?", maybe?).
Lenny Kaye, guitars, mostly. He sang lead on one song, backing vocals on several, and played bass on one song.
Jay Dee Daugherty, drums. He and Lenny are her last remaining original bandmembers.
Tony Shanahan, bass, guitar a couple of times (including lead once).
Jackson Smith, guitars. This is Patti's son. At least I think that's who that was. He was never introduced.
Did Lenny and Tony swap instruments for "Gimme Shelter"? I forget which song that was.

Her latest album is a collection of cover songs called Twelve. She did eight of those. I was impressed by just about all of them. One that I didn't care for ("Everybody Wants to Rule the World"), sounds much better on the album. They did a smokin' version of the Doors' "Soul Kitchen." One of the first covers they did was an excellent reworking of Hendrix's "Are You Experienced." She led into "White Rabbit" with an amusing story about a rabbit she saw on her walk around town (Who is the statue outside the capitol building? This being Madison, I thought... nah, too easy.)They also did "Gimme Shelter", "Within You Without You" (Harrison), "Changing of the Guards" (Dylan) and "Smells Like Teen Spirit." This last song was much softer, and more acoustic than the Nirvana original, but, like most of the covers on this record, has a dark edge.

She opened with "Kimberly" from her first album. Not a song I would expect to be an opener. The expected "Gloria" was in the encore. I don't remember all the other songs... "Space Monkey", early in the set, apparently by request from the guy next to us. "Southern Cross" and "Summer Cannibals" from Gone Again. "People Have the Power" and "Because the Night." That seems like a short list, but I can't think of any other songs they did - oh, Patti introduced Lenny, and went off to the side to take a seat on the edge of the stage. The band played The Seeds' "Pushin' too Hard." Lenny is a huge proponent of the old garage rock. Patti came back up on stage to sing the too hard backing vocals with Tony.

Being an intimate show - a venue of about a thousand people - the audience was able to interact. People would shout things a lot. Patti tried to play along, but I get the feeling that she doesn't really appreciate it. It sure is annoying to me, and it's not even my show. People don't realize it, but when they shout things, they're really trying to be part of the show. Front and center, there was a woman who asked Patti, "Patti, are you going to feed our heads?" Personally, I'm rolling my eyes, but whatever. Patti says, "am I going to feed your cats?" The audience laughs, and the woman can no longer get her words heard. Patti went into a thing about feeding cats, and finally said, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about." The woman sounded upset and made some crack disparaging Patti's songs, then put her head down on the stage for the next few songs. WTF? And this guy behind me with the woos. Really fucking loud. All the freaking time. I half expected Patti to tell him to shut the hell up (though somewhat more politely).

There was a young girl near us in the audience. She was about chin-high to the stage. Patti came over at one point, sat down and talked to her and her mom for a little bit. She brought earplugs over to her a short time later. Late in the show, during "People have the Power," She came back over to teach the girl the double hand-clap. This woo guy squeezed up next to me and tried to get Patti to touch him. Patti was clapping, and this guy was poking at her hands. I slapped his arm and told him to knock it off. He continued, but stayed a few inches away from her. When Patti was done, she graciously shook his hand, but took pains to wipe and wash his sweat off of her hand. After the show, Lenny came over to shake the hand of the little girl. And no one else's.

Apparently, Tony's bass amp quit on him. He and the tech were running around all through "Within You Without You." They finally got a replacement hooked up at the end of the song. Tony didn't seem to be handling it well. He had some backing vocals that he had to do in between bouts of consternation and fiddling. Lenny made some accidental noise twice, while Patti was speaking. Once, he was trying to open a bottle of water, and hit his strings. Patti was happy to get through all nine verses of "Changing of the Guards" without a major fuck-up. At one point, Patti seemed to be trying to open her pants, as a little bit of theater for the song. I glanced over at Lenny, and he was doing this wide-eyed uh-oh thing. Seemed like he was looking right at me.
I knew there was a reason I had to see Patti. I mean, like HAD TO see her. But I was nervous before the show. I don't know why. It was, like, is this gonna be what I expect? What is the show going to be like? What is Patti going to be like? I had seen her once before, yet there was this question. I had gotten Cyn interested in her, over the last couple of years, so she was there with me. Maybe I was nervous because I didn't know what I had gotten her into.

I only heard of the show a couple of weeks beforehand, so I felt lucky to have gotten tickets, but it wasn't even sold out when we got there. The show was in Madison, which is a good hour and a half drive, but we still weren't rushed getting there, despite rush hour in Milwaukee. We were later than we wanted, but we still walked right up to the stage. I spent the evening with one person between me and the stage. I think the sound wasn't the greatest up there(and we were right in line with Oliver's amp, so it was too loud) but you don't go to Patti's show for the sound.

Patti's music is not technical, it's emotional. It's all about the feeling. She's so expressive. She can make you believe it's important. She can make you feel you're important. She can make you feel just about anything. People have the Power. She jumps, she dances, she trances, she prances, she waves, she jams. She holds out the mic for fans to sing into. People have the Power. She tells stories, she tells rambling anecdotes. She talks about her mother, she talks about the president, she talks about dandelions, she talks about the dangers of vaccinations and about parental instinct.

She brought along Lenny Kaye, her long-time guitarist. He switched between electric, acoustic and bass guitars, and sang backing occasionally. Drummer J.D. Daugherty has also been with her since the beginning. Bassist and keyboard player Tony Shanahan has been with the band since she started it back up in 1996. Guitarist Oliver Ray played with Patti at that time too, but didn't join the band until later. Oliver looks very young (I'm guessing early thirties), and looks like he needs to eat. Tony looks out of place in that group. Like his thrift store chic is too practiced or too clean. He's also the only one besides Patti who seems to notice the audience. Lenny is focused on the music. He watches Patti for cues, and occasionally plays with Oliver, but otherwise doesn't show much personality. And his thin black mustache and goatee looked a little odd with the greying sandy blond hair. Patti came out in a dark sport coat. She removed it about half way through the show, and later removed the shirt under that, leaving only a ragged white t-shirt. She played guitar a few times, both acoustic and electric. I wish I'd taken notes - I don't remember which songs.

I'm having trouble remembering what songs they played. She opened with "Trampin'", accompanied only by Tony's piano. I know she played "Jubilee" and "Ghandi". I think she played "My Blakean Year" and "Peacable Kingdom". I think "Dead City" was the only song from Peace and Noise, and I don't recall what songs from Gung Ho they played. "Space Monkey" from Easter. "People Have the Power". "Seven Ways of Going". Gone Again, brought us "Beneath the Southern Cross" and "Gone Again" (one of my favorites). I'm sure I've forgotten a few. Let me know if you locate a set list.

The encore was amazing. She came back with "Wing". I love that song. And if there's one thing/Could do for you/You'd be a wing/In heaven blue. Wow. After that was "Free Money." So much energy. Then they closed with "Gloria." Wow! The energy stepped up a notch from "Free Money." You could hardly believe it. The audience doesn't just pick up on the energy, they take it up. I've really been to few shows where the energy in the room multiplies in such a way.

Everyone walked away from there happy.
I'd been planning, for a couple of weeks to take Cindy to see King Crimson in Madison. I didn't tell her, of course.

Friday was just a lazy day. We were sitting around my place in the morning, and then at noon we came in here to work. She sat and read a book while I made some CDs. Then she went home while I packed up my stuff. I got to her place and asked her if she wanted to go out and see a show. She said yeah, so I told her to get dressed. She thought that was a little odd. Then when she was ready, I told her to pack her overnight bag. Then we left. She had no idea where we were going. It was about an hour drive to Madison. First we checked in at the motel. Then we went in to town and had dinner at an Italian place on State Street. All the way through dinner she was trying to remember what her fortune told her about who we would be seeing, but she couldn't remember it all. "Red. It had something to do with red."

Afterwards we drove off to find the Barrymore Theater. As we drove down the street, she was straining to see who it was that we had come for. "King Crimson? King Crimson! Aaah!" If we had been standing on the street, she probably would have been jumping up and down.

We sat somewhat close to the stage, on the far right. Superb musicianship from him and his band. I loved his blues tune on the mandolin - all slidey blues an shit.

King Crimson was awesome. Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn, Pat Mastelotto.

review )

Profile

kevins_concerts

February 2021

S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
141516171819 20
21222324252627
28      

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Tags

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 4th, 2025 04:44 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios