Yes in Philadelphia 10/24/1997

Yes
Tower Theater
Upper Darby (Philadelphia), PA
Friday, Saturday, October 24, 1997
Section Orchestra Right Center, Row AA, Seat 125
$50.00

Yes was playing three nights in a row in my hometown. I was sitting in the front row of the orchestra section for two of those nights. Jon Anderson was coming to the radio station where I worked and I was going to get to talk to him. My new boyfriend Roy was flying in from St. Louis. Could this weekend be any better?

I had been temping at a stock broker's office when we started learning about the Fall Theater Tour. They were bringing in a permanent person from the main office, and my temp position was, well, temporary. I meant to be responsible and work as much as I could, but I ended up having no full-time work between the time tickets went on sale until the end of my part of the tour. My part-time jobs, working as a production assistant at WXPN and math tutoring, were very, very flexible. My last day at the stock broker's was the day before tickets went on sale for the first two Philly dates. I arranged to leave at noon that day, and went straight to the Tower Theater box office to camp out for tickets.


In the old days, buying tickets right from the venue box office was the best bet. Some places actually pulled tickets in advance - the first couple rows of seats were already printed and distributed to the people waiting in line - or went on sale early. The Tower said they didn't do this, but I had gotten really good seats before this way. It was also cheaper, with no service charges. It's less likely that the ticket sales person will come in late and make you miss out on good seats. Plus, more people are there, so it's a party.

My new friend Rob joined me in line for tickets. He brought lawn chairs and his great big dog Xenon. (Rob is a chemistry professor.) Rob later went on to organize the NEARFest progressive rock festival, but back then he was just another fan. We met on-line when I bought some used albums from him and then met in person at ProgDay earlier that month. Jerry was also there. Jerry was part of the monthly fan gatherings we had called Yestogethers. Our whole group bonded and became close friends.

We heard differing bits of information about the ticket sales. At first, I learned each person in line could buy 8 tickets per show. We got busy with ticket-buying arrangements. I didn't have the cash to front the tickets. My Yestogether friend Dawn drove all the way from Harrisburg to my tutoring office to give me money for her and Zoey and then turned around and drove home. Roy arranged for me to buy tickets for Dave from Texas. I had never met him, but he mailed me a check. While in line, we learned that the limit was four tickets total over the two shows. Suddenly, I was just buying tickets for Roy and me. These were the days before cell phones were common, so I used the pay phone to call Roy. He contacted Dave and the other Yestogether people. Jerry was only buying single tickets, so he was able to buy some extras. Soon, we had reorganized and notified everyone.

We got slap happy waiting in line. There had been a concert that night, and the trash was piled in the alley where we were waiting. It stunk and we had to take turns going out to the main street to get away from it. Liquid from the piles of trash inspired this piece of silliness:

"Puddles come out of the trash and meander!" Sing that to the tune of "Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there" from Roundabout.

The usual ticket lady was there on Saturday morning. She confirmed that they would not be pulling tickets in advance, but she was good with using the system quickly. For the Friday night show, I got one ticket in the front row of the orchestra section, on the center-right aisle and a seat right behind it in the second row. For Saturday night, it was two seats in the front row, right on the center aisle. Unfortunately, these weren't true front row - there was a small orchestra pit section with five rows in it. But I'll bet I got the best tickets that anyone did from Ticketmaster that morning.

Rob drove me home and I went to sleep. While I recovered from camping out, a third show in Philly was announced and tickets went on sale. No one called me to let me know. I knew it was a possibility, so I called Ticketmaster to check and ordered two tickets over the phone. I really should have waited at the Tower for a couple more hours just in case.

I had my tickets. One day at work, my show's producer Robert talked to me about the upcoming Jon Anderson visit. It would be on the World Cafe program, hosted by David Dye. David was not a big Yes fan, and Robert wanted me to write out a list of questions that would make him sound knowledgeable. I had questions about bootlegs, the fanbase on the Internet, some other stuff, and a question about the song That That Is. That That Is was a song on the previous year's Keys to Ascension album that was a return to form for them. Lyrically, it was quite different than most Yes songs. The words told a story in real life and made sense. The tone was much darker than Yes' image of positive vibes. This question was about the inspiration of the song. I wish I kept a copy of this list of questions; I don't even know if David requested some help or if this was Robert's initiative.

The plan for the day was: I would take the El to work, go to the airport to meet up with Roy, check in at the bed and breakfast, dinner, and go to the show.

Jon was running late. At the time, WXPN was housed in an old house on the University of Pennsylvania campus. I had gone to undergrad and grad school there and worked at the children's program Kid's Corner the whole time. Our office was on the first floor, and I rarely went up to the studios on the third floor. But I was up there and pacing, anxious for Jon to arrive. I didn't know David Dye all that well, but he peppered me with Yes questions while we waited. Which Yes is this - progressive or commercial? Who's in the band these days? What's this tour like? I hope he normally does more preparation than this for interviews! I found some more information - Jon asked to be on the show, not the other way around. We at WXPN were so cool!

We heard from the receptionist that Jon arrived and was making his way up to the third floor studios. He saw me in the hallway and said "Nice to see you again." Jon recognized me! I was wearing my Yes jacket, and the promoter there with Jon pointed it out to him. Jon had seen it before and knew all about it. The promoter asked if this was my first show on the tour, I said I had already seen three. Which ones was I going to? I got to recite my "Hartford, Boston, Fairfax, Philly, Philly, Philly, Hershey, New York, New York, New York" list of shows to Jon. I also told him that this night and the next, I'd be in the front row. I think he was honestly happy to see someone so enthusiastic at a radio station. He might have thought I was a cool radio station person when all I did was office work.

Jon signed a couple autographs and posed for some pictures. I brought two LPs for Jon to sign - the first two Yes albums with the original British album covers. (The US releases had different covers.) David Dye actually took these and they turned out pretty good. One of the other DJs Marilyn Russell, who I didn't know too well, also turned up to meet Jon.



Marilyn Russell and promoter extraordinaire Biff Kennedy along with Jon and me.
Marilyn is now a DJ on YRock online.
The interview went well. I was allowed to sit in the engineer's room, which had a glass partition to the World Cafe interview studio. David asked my question about That That Is. This is a great, but obscure song, and Jon seemed happy to get a question about it. He talked about how lyrically, it reminded him of his song Gates of Delirium, which tells a story about a war and battles with the hope of peace at the end. Then David said "and now we'll listen to That That Is." My hand-scribbled question was going to get a twenty minute long Yes track played in 100 different radio stations across the country. I doubt David knew how long it was. Unfortunately, this part of the interview was not aired. I thought they cut it when they found out how long the song was. I found out the truth later on. It turned out WXPN did not have a copy of Keys to Ascension and could not play the track. I would have given them mine to play!!! One of the World Cafe engineers gave me a copy of the broadcast on cassette; I wish I had an unedited copy.

I got to talk to Jon again as he went downstairs. He liked that the radio station was in a house. I told him it was part of the campus of where I went to college. Jon was standing outside on Spruce Street on his cell phone for a while. I actually wanted to go down the street to get some pizza for lunch, but I felt weird walking by him again. So I stood at the door watching him and waited for him to leave.

Jon's limo in front of WXPN. Jon is on the far right of the picture.
I actually did some work that day too. By the way, Jon asked the receptionist for the phone number for his hotel. Yes usually stay in fancy downtown hotels, but this was the weekend of the Million Woman March, and most hotels were sold out. That's why we stayed in a B&B. My receptionist duly noted to me what hotel Yes was staying at - the Cherry Hill Marriott.

I ran to the campus library to write some e-mails. Then I went to the airport to meet Roy. His flight was very delayed, it hadn't even left St. Louis yet. I think he got in near 7, and the show started at 8. We both had our luggage with us. We weren't staying at a hotel with a 24 hour front desk, but a bed & breakfast, so we got a cab to take us there first. We quickly dropped off our bags and got a key. The cabbie waited and then took us to the Tower. It was a $50 cab ride. We got to the Tower with 10 minutes to spare.

I was upset my seats weren't better. People were in front of me in the orchestra pit who hadn't waited in line overnight. Some had taken advantage of the YesWorld seat arrangements. I don't know how the rest of them got seats like that.

These first two nights in Philly were my favorites of the tour. I really think Jon was looking for me in the audience. He kept making eye contact with me. For the whole rest of the tour, if there was a crowd of fans, he'd come up to me first to say hi and shake my hand. I was never part of the inner-inner circle of fans who get backstage passes and really spend time with the band, but I felt like I was getting there. At least I was now part of the inner circle, where the band knew who I was.

I was really struck by a couple parts of the concert. During my favorite song, Revealing Science of God, during the climax, Jon turned around and started conducting the band. During Chris' solo in The Fish, he played a medley of Yes songs on the bass. Jon came out to sing the "Yes Yes" chorus of Tempus Fugit, even though he didn't sing on that track originally. Chris turned around and kneeled before Alan during the drum solo.

After the show, Dian dropped us off at the bed & breakfast. It was in Society Hill, so we walked down to the South Street Diner for a late night dinner.

My picture with Jon was published in WXPN's Xpress newsletter in January/February 1998. Years later, I showed Jon a copy of the newsletter and he said he remembered it. I know I'll never forget.

Live or Karaoke?

XPoNential Music Festival
Wiggins Park
Camden, NJ
Saturday, July 21st, 2007
General Admission
$0.00

Karaoke night
Expresso Yourself Coffee House
Philadelphia, PA
Saturday, July 21st, 2007 (8:00pm)
General Admission
$5

Yep. I was in Philadelphia again. Work sent me back to my hometown for a week long conference, and I flew out early to spend some time with friends. Then, since I can't possibly take a business trip and go home like a normal person, I had them fly me to Chicago for Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. Roy met me there and we went to the concert and drove home together.

Since I added the early weekend to my Philly trip, this is now the longest we've been apart since we got married. That part is sad, but I had a lot of fun that weekend, and it sure beats the three months apart we once did when it was still a long-distance-relationship.

My early weekend in Philly coincided with WXPN's XPoNential Music Festival. Back when I worked there, we had something called Singer Songwriter weekend, which I always enjoyed. I hung out with my bosses and ran errands for them and felt useful. We could hear all the music. I could take off whenever there was a band I wanted to see. My former boss Kathy was going to be there, and she dropped off a 4 day member pass for me at my hotel. I made plans for both evening nights with friends, but I figured I could spend each afternoon at the festival.

Saturday morning was great. Nice day, not too hot yet. I was staying in Rittenhouse Square and I took a walk up to the Art Museum and then around it to Kelly Drive and the "front side" of Boathouse Row. It's so Philadelphia and home-feeling to me. Then I did the touristy thing and ran up the steps like Rocky did.

I caught the El to Penn's Landing. There was supposed to be a ferry there to go across the Delaware River to Camden leaving on the hour. Well, it was 10 til noon, and I couldn't find the ferry. Penn's Landing goes for several blocks south and there were barricades and running up and down steps to the different levels. It hit noon, and I still hadn't found it. I didn't want to wait another hour. I found a cab, and asked the driver if he would take me to Camden. (BTW, although the riverfront area is touristy, this is still the "most dangerous city in America" Camden. I can only imagine what the cabbie thought.) Neither of us had any idea where Wiggin's Park is, but we followed the directions for the aquarium and found a sign for it.

The setup here was quite different than across the river at the old Penn's Landing amphitheater. There was a separate area for families with lots of activities, kid's music, Kathy doing a meet and greet, but it was so cut off from the main stage music. I went there and chatted with Kathy for awhile. She had a volunteer helping her out. The autograph line was much shorter than it used to be, but this was in a member's only area that you really had to look for. After a while, she shooed me off to go see some music.

The festival itself was different too. The old place had an amphitheater made of stone steps. You just picked a place and sat. Here, there was a big grassy area where people brought chairs. I didn't have a chair. There were some bleachers in the back, but they were metal and in the sun. There also used to be tables and chairs in the members area, but not this time. There really wasn't a good place to sit and hang out to listen to the music. Or eat. I made a mess of myself getting tzatziki sauce on my tshirt. And of course, back then, I listened to XPN all the time, so I knew the bands. I knew a couple headliners, but no one who played early in the day. I wandered around while Hoots & Hellmouth, Illinois, and Will Hoge played. Nothing really stood out. I said goodbye to Kathy and took the 3:30 ferry back to Philly.

I was really tired afterwards, but I freshened up a bit at the hotel. Took the El up to my childhood stop and Angela picked me up there. We hung out at her place for a while and then got dinner with her husband Baxter. Bax is an MC - he's done comedy, magic, and now he's hosting karaoke and trivia at a coffeehouse in the Mayfair section of the Northeast. Angela's really been getting into it. I've never been to karaoke, since I don't do bars, and I'm not going to sing solo in public. But I agreed to check it out. The coffeehouse has a neighborhood bar type of feeling and is filled with regulars.

I was looking at Baxter's list of songs, and there were three Yes songs: Roundabout, Owner of a Lonely Heart, and I've Seen All Good People. I am NOT going to sing, but I think to myself that of the three of those, the first half of All Good People would be the easiest, but I wouldn't want to do the repetitive second half.

Baxter and Angela do a couple songs. Then Angela surprises me with ... All Good People. I haven't found out if she listened to this at home first or just winged it, but I'm going to guess she didn't practice singing along with it. The first half of the song is called Your Move, and it's simple, pretty folk type song. The second half repeats the line "I've seen all good people turn their heads each day, so satisfied I'm on my way" over and over.

And over.

There are two monitors set up, one facing Angela and one facing the audience. Every time the lyrics refresh with those same words there again, the look on Angela's face, oh my goodness, it was so funny! When will this ever end and Why does Rhea like this stuff so much? I was really touched that she did this for me, and we both had a good laugh afterwards. She said it felt a lot longer than 8 minutes.

I ended up having a better time at karaoke than I did at the festival. I could spend time with Angela instead of feeling like a hanger-on or groundless at the festival. Plus, it took away so much Philly time. Angela drove me back to my hotel. The next day, I decided not to go again. I had another Philly tourist day, going to the Reading Terminal Market for brunch (it's open on Sundays now) and the Atwater Kent Philly history museum. Debbie picked me up around 4, and I got to see her new house way out in the New Jersey suburbs.

21st Century Schizoid Hoople

Ian Hunter
Live at the World Cafe
Philadelphia, PA
Friday, June 22, 2007 (noon)
General Admission
free

All Four Original Members of Asia
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Friday, June 22, 2007 (8:00PM)
Section Left, Row G, Seat 21
$49.50

This past weekend didn't seem too hectic, but looking back, it sure was. Roy and I saw 12 bands over three days. One was a two day long festival, and the other three were individual concerts. Lots of good music. I saw two members of Yes, two members of King Crimson, and a band from France who topped them all.

The original point of this trip was to attend Nearfest, the North East Art Rock Festival. I went to the original one in 1999 when I still lived in Philly. Also went to the next five of them, but we skipped the last two years. We decided to go this year because of two bands - Magenta and Magma - and because we missed some friends that we haven't seen recently.

Some other concerts got added because of scheduling luck - Asia was playing in a Philly suburb the night before the festival. Adrian Belew added a show with his power trio in Sellersville, only 40 minutes from Bethlehem. We decided to skip the headliner that night to see Adrian again. The radio station I used to work at hosts free concerts on Fridays at noon; we were going regardless of who was playing, but it turned out to be Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople. I sent Roy an IM saying we would be seeing a "not-too-young dude".

Roy and I flew into Philly on Thursday night after work. We stayed by the airport and slept in the next morning. The weather was beautiful, low humidity and temps in the 80s, quite good for a Philly summer. We made it to my old radio station WXPN for the free concert. I tried to get in touch with my old bosses. I keep in touch with Kathy, the host of Kid's Corner and my college substitute-mom, but unfortunately both she and Robert Drake were not in the office while we were there. I did see program director Bruce Warren and reintroduced myself to him.

I was expecting a seated concert and small crowd, but I was mistaken. It was standing room only. We grabbed a spot by the wall, so I had something to lean on and still an okay view. Ian Hunter opened with Once Bitten, Twice Shy. I knew the song from the Great White cover version, but I didn't know it was originally an Ian Hunter solo track. I'm amazed to see on Wikipedia that he is 68 years old. He played several songs from his recent solo album, and they fit in well. I thought the only song I'd know was All the Young Dudes, but I knew more of his material than I thought, another song was All the Way to Memphis. The band played for a little over an hour, and I enjoyed the show. I like daytime concerts, but after the show, the guitarist told the crowd to go back to bed. Perhaps noon is a little too early for rock and roll.

I was a little upset that I'm losing my connections to WXPN. The balcony of the theater (with seating) was closed off to all but VIPs, and I didn't have anyone to get me in. I used to be a person that could get in with just my name. I didn't visit with anyone, because the people I'd visit work nights and weren't there yet.

Roy and I did the tourist thing. We went to the food court at the Bourse for a quick lunch, and then walked around the city. Focused on Old City, north of the historic section. Roy had never heard of Elfreth's Alley, the oldest continuously occupied residential block in the US. So we walked up 2nd Street and looked at the houses and little museum.

The most fun I had that day was a trip to Franklin Square. When William Penn founded the city, he planned for five public squares, one in the center and one in each quadrant of the city, what is now the downtown Center City area. The center square now holds City Hall, and the other squares are the well-known Rittenhouse, Logan, and Washington. Franklin Square frankly was in a bad area and a hang-out for miscreants. No fancy apartment buildings and restaurants surrounding this park. But the area did improve, and the square was renovated. It's kid-friendly now, with a fountain, sand sculptures, playground, carousel, and a miniature golf course. The golf course has symbols of Philly, from the Liberty Bell to 45s for the Sound of Philadelphia. We rode on the carousel, and I felt like a kid. I loved the views. I hope this square does well, because it will have to be a destination unto itself - there's still not much in this area except for industry and some renovated loft buildings.

We walked around Old City and Society Hill for a little bit, and then headed out for dinner. The evening's concert was at the Keswick Theater in Glenside. I used to work in nearby Jenkintown, so I made plans to have dinner there with my old friend Debbie, her husband, and year old baby Robbie. These are old, established suburbs, from long before urban sprawl, so they have their own character and are pretty to drive through. Debbie got stuck in traffic, and they were a half hour late. It cut our time with them short, but it was still good to see them.

We left dinner later than planned, but still got to the Keswick in time for the Asia concert. I had screwed up the tickets, forgot when they went on sale, and then used Ticketmaster rather than the Keswick's own website to buy the tickets. We were about 20 rows back, not quite on the far left aisle. I was chastened when people sat in the row behind us and talked about what great seats these were. I kept comparing this show to the one we saw last year. That was a general admission concert, and we were in the front row, right in front of Steve. That one was so exciting.

This concert was well performed, but I missed the eye-contact and the feeling that I was adding to the energy of the show that I got when I was up front. I didn't get the adrenaline rush I got at the previous show. Maybe it was also because I was sitting instead of standing up and dancing. We were a few seats off the aisle, and I could have stood in the aisle without hassling anyone. I just didn't feel the need to, like I do with Yes. We saw Dian at the show, her seat was a few rows in front of mine.

It was practically the same concert as the last leg, with the songs in a different order. They made good use of video screens this time, showing closeups of the musicians and also clips of the videos from the songs playing. Kinda strange hearing John Wetton singing Video Killed the Radio Star and then looking up and seeing Trevor Horn on the video. It still felt like two separate bands to me - one doing the Asia songs and the other being a true prog supergroup playing the classics.

The actual setlist consisted of most of the first album, acoustic versions of Don't Cry, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, and the non-album B-side Ride Easy, Roundabout, Court of the Crimson King, Fanfare for the Common Man, and Video Killed the Radio Star. I really got into Roundabout; it was the highlight of the show to me, but I wasn't as excited as I should be seeing two members of Yes. Enjoyable night, but not too memorable. This was my first time not seeing Asia from the front row.

After the show, all four of them came out to do a record signing. I think this is so classy. Roy bought their new live CD called Fantasia and got that signed. Dian had bought a poster, but she had to leave early, so I got that signed for her. Even here, I enjoyed meeting them more at the previous show - they were all more talkative there and I was more excited to talk to them then. I barely said anything to Steve Howe, and he's one of my all time favorite musicians. (Then again, all the other musicians I've seen so many times recognize me by now. More on that at tomorrow's show.)

After the show, we drove up to Bethlehem. No problem finding the hotel. We got to bed around 1:00 AM, and planned to wake up at 8 for the next day's activities.

It Was Twelve Years Ago Today!

King Crimson
Opening Act: California Guitar Trio
Tower Theater
Upper Darby (Philadelphia), PA
Thursday, June 1, 1995
Section Right Orchestra, Row M, Seat 23
$27.50

I got into King Crimson at exactly the right time. Sometimes, I've seen bands before I knew much about them. You know, I knew I'd love them eventually, but I had to see them in case I never got another chance. Or other times, I'd wait a long time to see a favorite performer. But Crimson's timing was perfect.

I bought my first King Crimson CD the summer after I graduated high school. It was Court of the Crimson King. I didn't know a note of it before buying it, but I had seen their name linked with my favorite band Yes enough times and I was curious. I didn't mean to buy Court over any other album, but it was the only one in stock at Tower Records. I liked it. A lot. In the days before I had a credit card, I slowly built my record collection. Over a year later, I bought Lizard, Red, and then on a single day, I bought Discipline and Three of a Perfect Pair on used vinyl from the Book Trader on South Street. This was spring of 1994. I was very interested by the time VROOOM was released.

I had the greatest job ever in college. I worked at my college radio station WXPN, a professionally run AAA format music station. I had nothing to do with the music played, I just did some office work and soaked up the atmosphere. My station loved 80s era King Crimson. The pay certainly didn't help pay for college, but it got me into some live shows, got me some swag, and got me some great experiences.

One day, I found the promo single to Dinosaur sitting in my inbox. The record company sent the station two copies and my boss knew I was a fan. I listened to it over and over again. Even before THRAK's release, I saw the tour dates online. Reading over them and thinking about the tour made me realize I needed to see this band and more than once. I think I became a bigger fan just looking over the tour dates. This was the summer before my senior year of college, and I had to schedule my shows around my GREs (SATs for grad school). I think all the Crimson fandom made me smarter.

Buying this ticket was an ordeal. The show was at the Tower Theater, so normally, I'd take the El there early on the morning the show was going on sale. But SEPTA, the public transportation system, was on strike. Angela, who is still my best friend, and I had actually gone to the Tower the night before for a Black Crowes concert. If I had been by myself, I probably would have just stayed in line overnight. But Angela was going to sleepover in my dorm room, so I had to go back with her. I couldn't afford to keep taking cabs back and forth to the Tower, and there were no Ticketmaster outlets near me anymore, so I had to deal with ordering my ticket over the phone. Didn't get the best seat, but I managed to get in before it sold out. I knew I wouldn't be able to convince any of my friends to go to this one, so I happily went solo.

One time at the radio station, Bill Bruford had come in for an interview on our big syndicated program that brought in all the rock stars, The World Cafe. How did I find out? I was at the fax machine when he sent a thank you fax for allowing him to be on the show. Very nice manners for Bill, but he was in the very same building as me and I missed out! My wonderful boss told the World Cafe folks that I should know about these things. They let me know in plenty of time that Bill and Tony would be stopping by the studio the day of the King Crimson show. This would be my first time meeting either of them. I wasn't allowed to sit in on the interview, but I talked to them in the lobby on their way in and out. Not bad for a day's work.

I got some autographs from them on their way in. They both signed my THRAK, VROOOM, Discipline, and Three of a Perfect Pair. Bill had also been a member of my favorite band Yes, and he also signed my Fragile special edition gold CD box and my Yes jacket - a denim jacket with the Fragile artwork airbrushed on the back, and autographs from various members of Yes all around it. (I'm only missing Trevor Horn. I stopped wearing it years ago because I'm worried it will get worn out or damaged.)

On their way out, I got to talk with them again and got some pictures. I told Bill that this would be my first time seeing King Crimson and how excited I was. He replied, "You can't trust a band you've never seen live." I guess I trust Crimson a lot now. :-D They both started making fun of my height - they are tall guys and I am quite short. Bill started to squat down as our picture was being taken - you can see me glancing over at him. Tony made me stand on something, and he's still almost a head taller. After the show, he was standing on the curb, and I was at street level. He told me, "You got shorter!"



I went down to the Tower early and got to meet Adrian Belew. I met him at one of his solo shows the year earlier, and this time he autographed a picture of the two of us from then, plus THRAK and VROOOM. There were some other fans there too, so I didn't get to talk to him much.



The show itself was wonderful. The opening act was California Guitar Trio, former students of Fripp's. I had never heard of them before, but really liked them. I think I've seen them more times than Crimson now. They were signing autographs at a table after the show, so I had them sign my program. Since then, I've actually worked their merchandise table for them at local shows here in St. Louis. They were a good complement to King Crimson's music. Roy also saw this tour, in Ann Arbor, and said he was so anxious to finally see King Crimson that he didn't want to have to sit through an opening act. But CGT changed his mind.

My seat was way over on the side, so I could stand up and dance for the concert. The band opened with the VROOOM coda and also closed the main set with it. The encore was Walking on Air and the soundscape at the end continued after the band left the stage. Lots of songs from THRAK and Discipline, plus Red, Talking Drum, and Larks part 2 from the 70s incarnation of the band. I love Indiscipline, always fun live. It was such a great performance, great playing. Wow!

The show started very early, at 7:00pm. The school year was over, and I was living at home again. My parents were always willing to pick me up from concerts, because my mom did not like me being out by myself at night. I asked them to get my at 11. By that time, the concert was over, the band had left, and I was sitting by myself out front. I was happy to have more time to hang out. I got Adrian to sign my tour program and I told him I'd see them again on Sunday. I'm always amazed when artists on tour know where they are and where they're going, but Adrian knew they'd be in New York and told another fan that show was also sold out.