Another local show happened Saturday night. I will absolutely never take for granted shows where I can sleep in my own bed afterwards or leave my place an hour before showtime and still make it with plenty of time. I certainly couldn’t do the latter in California!
Anyway, as mentioned in my last post, this show was part of the second tour of the BEAT project. Like last time This time, the role of drummer was filled by Terry Bozzio, since Danny Carey had other commitments with Tool this year. I’d heard of Terry and his famous (or was it infamous?) wall of drums, so I was curious to hear how his sound would influence the music.
And look! I got a paper ticket for the first time since Claypool Gold back in May! I miss the option of picking tickets up at will call.
Speaking of Claypool Gold, I wore my New Year’s Eve 2025 shirt, which saw the first performance of Claypool Gold following the departure of Primus’ drummer Tim ‘Herb’ Alexander. This grabbed the attention of a young guy who was sporting a Primus hoodie. I also wore my 2022 Cruise to the Edge blue sweater.
I had a seat on the floor level, where there was no shortage of empty seats. I was unlucky enough to be seated behind two people who talked for the bulk of the time, along with next to two guys who kept leaving to get drinks. With the orchestra right sections having many empty rows, I took the liberty to move there at intermission, where I could enjoy the rest of the show in peace. Here’s a photo I took in my original seat.
Anyway, on to the show! Well, like last time, it was spectacular. It was said that this tour would include more 90s King Crimson material, a welcome change. The first set started with “Dinosaur” from the 1995 album, THRAK, but then focused largely on the 1982 album, Beat, which, I’m assuming, is where this band got its name. Belew’s expressive and erratic lyric delivery are always fun to listen to and watch, as are his ways of making the guitar recreate animal sounds. He sure brought an infectious amount of energy to the band when he first joined it in 1980, I think. One thing that struck me about this show, compared to the first tour in 2024, was that there seemed to be more attention paid to instrumental material. We got extended versions of “Sheltering Sky,” “Industry,” and “Satori in Tangier,” all of which best exemplified the experimental nature of King Crimson and the respective bands/projects of each band member. Set two started with a percussion solo by Bozzio, who was eventually joined by Belew. It makes sense since Adrian first started out as a drummer.
While the show was great, I was hoping to hear more 90s material. We only got 3 out of an 18-song set. With THRAK being their only 90s album, I think it would have been cool to throw in some material from The ConstruKtion of Light, which was recorded in 1999 but not released until 2000. I also noticed that, while all four members had their own individual chances to shine throughout the show, the spotlight seemed to focus the heaviest on Belew and Levin. There would be such attention paid to them that it would cause me to forget about Vai and Bozzio. Vai seemed a lot more in Belew’s shadow this time around. I’m not sure if that was by design, though.
The show closed out with a surprise cover of Zappa’s “City of Tiny Lites,” a gesture that was appropriate since Belew, Levin, and Bozzio all worked with Frank Zappa at one point or another in their careers. The last song of the night was none other than “Thela Hun Ginjeet. Even though it was a smaller crowd, the show was well received, and people left over the moon with what they had watched. And so was I!
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