Adrian Belew of King Crimson
Opening Act: Caryn Lin
The Sellersville Theater
Sellersville, PA
Saturday, June 23, 2007 8:00pm
Table 4
$29.50
We did not get lost on our way to Sellersville. No delays either. It was almost too easy. Getting the tickets was strange. The venue has a membership program, where only members can purchase the front cabaret tables and first few rows. The ones that haven't been purchased go on sale to the public a month before the concert. The nice lady on the phone even told me I could purchase tickets further back to ensure I had semi-decent seats, and then call back when the good tix go on sale, and exchange them for the close up seats if any remain. I did. We got seats in the front table, audience left.
There's not much in Sellersville, but there is a restaurant next door that is owned or affiliated with the theater. We ate there, outside. It was less than an hour til show time, but they got us our food quickly. Adrian was eating there too, and we said hi as he passed by on his way to the theater. I wanted to be cool about it, but my back was to the door and he already walked by when I saw him. I called out "Hi Adrian" and he looked back and waved hello. Another table also did the "Hi Adrian" thing after hearing me. Maybe I should have kept my cool and not called attention to him.
The opening act was an old favorite. Caryn Lin is an electronic violinist. She's also a friend of my ex-boss Kathy and was a guest at Kid's Corner, the program I used to work for, many times. I've seen her live-in-the-studio and in concerts before. She did a really good one-woman show and had a lot of personality. Got a standing ovation and encore from an audience unfamiliar with her before the show. I got to talk to her after the set, and mentioned my history with her and she said she remembered me. I worked for Kid's Corner ten years ago, so it was nice to make an impression.
Small piece of trivia - Caryn opened for echolyn for their As the World CD release party at the TLA in March, 1995. She told Kathy she was opening for a band that "sounds like Yes". Well, Kathy jumped on it and found out the details about the show. When I got to work that day, Kathy told me to go immediately to buy a ticket for this band I had never heard of and buy the CD on its release date a few days later. I've been an echolyn fan ever since, but I still don't think they sound like Yes!
I had hoped my seat would be right in front of Adrian - the last few times I saw him, he had been audience left. But he was front and center this time. We would be in front of the bass player, Julie Slick. I was not happy to be sitting in front of the bass player; the first time we saw Adrian with the power trio format, it was horrible sound, all we could hear was the bass player. Guitar was low, vocals were low. It was my least favorite Adrian concert. I know sitting in the front row doesn't offer the best sound, but it's usually decent enough. If a problem like this ever happened again, I'd leave my "good seat" and move further back.
This show started Writing on the Wall and had some technical difficulties. I had my earplugs in and all I could hear was bass. It wasn't just me. Adrian's mike wasn't working. After the song, they left the stage until it was fixed. I was worried about the bass sound. Roy told me to loosen my right earplug - the left one would still block the bass but all the guitar was coming from the monitor on my right. I don't know if they raised the guitar volume or the earplug trick worked, but the sound was much better afterwards.
They came back out and played Writing on the Wall again. Then, one of my all time favorite Crimson songs, Dinosaur. It was a good start, but I wasn't thrilled with the overall setlist. When it comes to Adrian's music, I'm more a fan of his songs than some of the instrumental heavy stuff. I like some of that, for instance Elektrik is one of my favorite recent Crimson pieces. I was worried when Side One came out that I wouldn't like it. I've still only listened to it a couple times. For me, this setlist had too few songs and too much time spent on instrumentals. Every time one started, I had to turn to Roy and ask him what it was. He replied "I think it's one of the Sides" for most of them. It's not that I dislike them, I'd just rather hear more of what I really love.
This is a setlist from another show on the tour:
Writing on the Wall
Dinosaur
Ampersand
Young Lions
Beatbox Guitar
Men In Helicopters
Matchless Man
Madness
Drive*
The Lone Rhinoceros*
Neurotica
Of Bow and Drum
Big Electric Cat
Three of a Perfect Pair
encore:
Elephant Talk
Thela Hun Ginjeet
*Adrian solo
This was our first time seeing the other musicians in the power trio. Eric and Julie Slick are brother and sister and have been playing with Adrian for the last year or so. They are in their early twenties and were students in the Paul Green School of Rock. They live up to their hype. Everyone makes a big deal about their ages, but Bill Bruford was only 19 when he joined Yes and played with a lot of maturity then. As a rhythm section, they were a powerhouse. Eric played with a lot of energy and a lot of movement. Julie was very precise. She knocked me out with Elephant Talk, hitting the notes out on her bass like it was a Stick. I watched her quite a bit since she was right in front of me. There were more equipment problems, with Eric's drums, but he handled it fine.
Men in Helicopters was one of the highlights for me. Also Three of a Perfect Pair. I love how quirky, but still so memorable, the guitar line is, and I love singing along with the audience providing the backing vocals. Neurotica was a nice surprise, with the spoken word part played back from a recording instead of done live.
Aside from my nitpicking with the setlist, it was a wonderful show. Lots of fun, lots of energy, and great performances. The music and the stage presence was so much stronger than what I had seen earlier that day at Nearfest. These were the professionals.
The most amazing thing happened after the show. I've been a fan of Adrian's since I was a teenager and have seen him in concert many times. He's one of my favorites. But we've seen him so often recently, and I've been reading his blog at http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com/ every day, it's like he's more a part of my everyday life than some musician I listen to once in a while. I've written comments on his blog as well.
Adrian came out to greet fans and sign autographs rather quickly. I don't think it was my turn in line, but Adrian turned to talk to us. We shook hands and told him that we were in town for Nearfest but blew off Hawkwind to see him instead. He didn't seem familiar with the festival, but he asked if his old friend Simon House was in the band. I didn't know who he was talking about, but Roy said he didn't think so, that this was the Dave Brock-led band. (Roy filled me in later that Adrian had played with Simon House in Bowie's band.)
We were getting ready to leave, when Adrian asked me what my name was. But he already knew. Just as I started to say "Rhea", he said it as well. We said it in unison. He even pronounced it right. Adrian must have read my comments on his blog and thought "I know who that is". And he remembered my name!! Even a week later, I'm still walking on air thinking about this. Then he said to me "I've seen you online." I wonder exactly what I wrote that caused him to tie my words together with me.
I don't think I was capable of conversation after that, so I didn't say anything more. We left after that. Headed back to Bethlehem for NEARFest Day Two.
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