King Crimson in Chicago 8/08/2008 - Day 3

King Crimson
Park West
Chicago, IL
Friday, August 8, 2008
$67.50
General Admission

Friday night might have been the best King Crimson concert I've ever attended. In fact, the whole day was a delight.

Our downstairs neighbors, Gwen and Michael, went to Chicago last month. Michael raved about a walking tour that combined architecture and tastings at local restaurants and foodie places. He gave us some information on it - the tour started on the exact same block as our bed & breakfast and ended on Armitage, down the street from the Park West. The timing worked out too. We booked the 11AM tour, which would drop us off in line at 2.

It was another beautiful day, perfect for walking around the city. The tour went through the Gold Coast, Old Town, and Lincoln Park neighborhoods. We sampled olive oils, cheese, chocolates, black tea, spices, and stuffed pizza. Our guide told us the tour might run long, and I was worried about getting in line early enough to get our seats again. The tour walked by the corner of Armitage and Clark around 1:30, and we could see the Park West from there. No one was in line yet. But the next-to-last stop took a while, and it was well after 2. I decided to skip the last stop and get in line from there. Roy could pick up some more chocolates for me while I secured our place in line.

I'm glad I got in line when I did. Our new Swedish friends Karen and Kit were first in line and another guy was behind them. Shortly after that, two more guys got behind me. This group was just about the friendliest, most interesting to talk to, no-attitude people I've met at a concert. Karen and Kit spent all day so far tracking down another ticket for Friday's show. Roy and I found one ticket for them after the prior night's show, and they were able to find someone with an extra ticket on Craig's List. I'm glad it worked out for them after traveling so far for the shows. Kind of puts a 5 hour bus ride in perspective. The dog lady came back again. She has two huge woolly dogs. I don't normally like big dogs, but they were docile and looked like they were enjoying the attention from everyone in line.

I had a bit of a dilemma. I wanted *my* seats again, since we sat in the same place the first two nights, but we weren't first in line. I didn't feel like I could just ask though. Eventually I made a joke out of it, and Karen said since we got her a ticket, we could sit anywhere we wanted. Just to cover my bases, I offered the other person in front of me $20 to keep out of my seat. He wouldn't take my money, but said he'd leave our seats open.

I saw some of the band members before the show. I had been going to the Subway down the street whenever I needed to use a restroom. I always bought a water or cookies or something and left a tip, so they didn't seem to mind. Anyway, I saw Pat Mastelotto on my walk back to the line. He was walking down the street carrying some equipment. We said hi to each other. Tony walked back into the club actually carrying a sandwich from Subway. It surprised me that he'd eat there and get the food himself no less, instead of going someplace nicer. I also wondered what I would have said if I bumped into him there. We also saw Adrian leaving the club and getting into a waiting cab. I get the feeling he doesn't like talking to fans before the show, but he waved to us from the cab.

The two guys behind me in line had a nice story. One guy had purchased a ticket from a scalper, but he thought it was a scam. The scalper told him he couldn't pick up the ticket until 6:30 the night of the show. After the doors opened. He didn't find this out until after he bought the ticket. We thought it was a scam and that the scalper would never show up. Coincidentally, the guy behind him had an extra ticket. So the guy behind me ended up buying the ticket from the guy behind him. Everything worked out. (And the scalper hadn't showed by the time the doors opened.) These two sat at our table behind Roy, so we were able to continue the conversation while waiting for the start time.

After a concert ends, there's often some sort of freebie mementos - guitar picks, drum sticks, setlists. I saw Tony give someone his setlist after the first night. The second night, the roadies weren't going to give the setlists away, but some fans bribed them. Gave them $5 or so. I can't be jealous of people getting picks or sticks, because I've gotten them in the past from Adrian and Pat. But I did want a setlist. I saw the roadie walking by outside before the show and asked if I could buy a setlist from him tonight. He replied "You can't buy them. You have to earn it!" However, once we were seated, he walked over and asked if I was the one who wanted a setlist. He handed me a setlist from the previous night's show that was still laying around. Wow! That was so nice. I don't know whose it was, but it has a piece of tape on it, so I assume it's a genuine band setlist.

There was something different about this show from the beginning. Just a sense of fun. I noticed that I was getting into the music itself more than observing. This was the first night where I didn't watch Tony play his new parts on The ConstruKction of Light. Every song was just spot on performance-wise. The highlights for me this night were Talking Drum and Larks, Frame by Frame, Dinosaur, Thela Hun Ginjeet and Indiscipline. These songs were incredible every night, but this night was something special. Pat's and Gavin's drumming was fascinating, always in-step with each other. Sleepless wasn't quite up to the night before, but they still did the drum part. I missed hearing Indiscipline live the last 12 years, and Adrian did a great job with the vocals on it. Dinosaur had a much longer break after the false ending, and did it come at a weird spot in the song?

The other highlight was a slight change in the setlist. King Crimson doesn't play completely different sets from night to night, but they've always played with the order of the songs and substituted a song here and there. You never know what's coming next. Crimson played two songs in Nashville that they didn't play the first two nights - Walking on Air and Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream, both from Thrak. On Friday, we got Walking on Air. This song always brings me back to 1995. I was working at my college radio station, and this song got so much airplay. Every time I'd turn on the radio that summer, I'd hear it. It was like an alternate universe from commercial radio, that's for sure. When I saw Crimson on the Thrak tour, they ended with Walking on Air, and the soundscape was still playing as the band left the stage and the audience filed out. It made it feel like the music would last forever.

The band looked like they were enjoying themselves too. I saw Fripp laughing a number of times, during Thela, the break in Dinosaur, Larks. I tend to not pay so much attention to Robert, mainly because everyone else in the band has so much stage presence and is more fun to watch. But Fripp's playing was great all three nights, whether it was textural background stuff, the lead in One Time, the crazy sounding stuff during Indiscipline. I noticed Adrian playing towards me a lot. It's not quite the same thing as standing right in front of him, singing along, but I'm being a little ridiculous here. I saw one of my favorite bands three nights in a row from the front row. The band didn't even look surprised to see me in the same place the third night. Tony looked down and mouthed "Thank you" towards the end of the show.

One of the best concerts of my life was winding down. King Crimson were on their final encore Vrooom and Coda: Marine 475. I got a little silly and tried to figure out the setlist. They did a new song this night, Walking on Air, but what did they leave out? I couldn't figure it out. I asked Roy after the show, and he laughed at me. They left out One Time, the other quieter song from Thrak. Dumb moment from me. The two previous nights, the Coda ended with some quiet playing from Robert Fripp. I never gave it a standing O because it lost momentum by the time it ended. Tonight, people started to stand and applaud as soon as the proper part of the song ended. I don't like applauding over music, but I stood and joined them that night. Wow, just what an incredible string of concerts.

Adrian Belew did something cool after the show. He came out into the audience as everyone was leaving to greet people and sign autographs. He is so great. He was standing on the stairway up to the balcony and people were crowding around to meet him. I was actually trying to get through the crowd to run to the bathroom, but I couldn't get through all the people. Unfortunately, it wasn't too organized and the crowds were blocking the exits. The venue security people started telling everyone we had to move and clear up the exits. I had just gotten up to Adrian, and got to shake his hand. I told him "I wish I could go to Philly to see you again". He left to go backstage before I could ask him to sign my tour box.

I still hoped to get Gavin's and Adrian's signatures on my tour box. One of the guys Joe who had sat with us waited along with us. He had never met the band and was amazed that we were successful. Gavin came out first from the side exit. There were more people waiting out, probably because it was a Friday night rather than during the week. Gavin signed autographs for a dozen people. I didn't get to talk to him other than "Can you sign this for me please?", but Roy told him he liked the double-drumming. The real surprise was a little while later. Robert Fripp came out, and all the fans behaved. Someone called out "Good show" to him, but no one walked up to him or asked for an autograph. When Fripp got to the passenger door of the car, he smiled and waved at us.

Tony Levin came out the same side door. Someone asked him for an autograph, and he asked us to wait until he loaded his equipment. He was loading his own equipment into his own car. I didn't need an autograph from him, but I wanted to talk to him again. Like I had said to Adrian, I told Tony I wish I could go to Philly to see them again. He said "Why??" These three shows were the best. Tony said he thought this night was the best of the three, and I agreed. I didn't think he had played the Keswick before, so I told him it was a nice venue. Since he was driving himself, I mentioned that it was outside of Philly. He already has it programmed in his GPS.

Roy asked Tony about driving. Tony said he can only drive because of their tour schedule - multiple nights in each city with time off between towns. He needs his car instead of a motorcycle to carry his equipment and coffee machine. Tony went back into the club after he signed autographs for everyone.

We saw our Swedish friends again. They had gotten backstage again. Karen asked for my e-mail address earlier, so I hope she follows up on it and sends me an e-mail or looks at the blog. They were going to leave, so we all hugged and wished each other a safe trip home.

Roy, Joe, and I were still waiting by the corner when we saw Adrian leave out the front door. I walked over and asked if he would sign something for me. He was loading something into a car, but then turned around to talk to us. I got my tour box signed! Adrian said the band consensus was that this was the best show of the three. I brought up the Keswick Theater being a nice place and he said he'd played there before. I forgot about that, I think it was Fripp and Adrian opening for Porcupine Tree. I told him I grew up not too far from there. He's excited about Philly because his other bandmates Eric and Julie will be there. He's also excited about touring again with the power trio - they'll be going to Russia and Australia. Some other people came up for autographs, so we said goodbye. I saw Pat leave as we were talking to Adrian, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him that night.



Roy and I took a cab back to our room. It was just about 11PM and I wanted my big fancy dinner. There were a bunch of restaurants on Rush Street, so we looked at their menus and chose a place. My steak was really good. We didn't end up going out to dinner on Saturday night, so I'm glad I insisted on it for Friday.

Saturday was our tourist day. For all the times I've been to Chicago, this was the first night that I was there and not going to a concert. We went to the Field Museum and took a boat tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. I met another fan there. I saw someone with a King Crimson sweatshirt. Turns out, he came from Venezuela for these shows. He was very happy about the shows. So am I. This is one of the best concert trips I've ever done.