DEJA VROOOM

The DVD of the Thrak-VROOM tour is probably the best live statement KC has done since returning to the scene in 95. Clearly this "Double Trio" formula is the best thing Crimson has done since Red, as I am not really a fan of the early 80's era stuff (I always thought that Fripp should've called that group Discipline, but hey, that's only me talking here). When comparing the DVD from both eras (this one and Jack Neal and Me), my heart, ears and eyes do not hesitate for a second and heads straight for this one. Of course the six musicians allows for much more diversity than the quartet, but the difference resides in the newer material from Vroom and Thrak studio albums. The neat thing about this DVD is that it is engraved on both sides so once the first set finished, you just flip the disc over and play the other side, just like a vinyl.

One of the things also much more impressive is the stage presentation with the double level stage with Fripp playing between the two drummers and behind Belew. Oddly enough; both times I saw them on that tour, Fripp was playing in front of Bruford and Levin was taking in the drum attacks in stereo.

The concert is off to a slow start with Frame by frame notably better than previous on this line-up and then it picks up with a dynamite 1-2 combination of One Time and Red directly followed by the very percussive Bboom and highly but wonderfully chaotic Thrak, making a first peak in a concert. One of the regular tracks from the quartet, I did not appreciate much was Mate Kusadai and fortunately it is kept very short. The second set starts with yet another track from the 80's quartet, but in a much better version than I knew before. Follows a bunch of entertaining tracks from the latest flurry of albums (the double trio put out two studio albums - well 1.5 really - but also three live albums in a short time) with an excellent combination of Gunn and Levin on Chapman sticks then a duo of enhanced tracks from the discipline album (with Elephant Talk in a quite different version). Then the icing on the cake with the superb duo from Lark's Tongue album really boiling up the public like you would a lobster for dinner: insufferably delicious and intensely orgiastic. If you thought that the Mk II line-up version could not be equalled, check this DVD out with Bruford and Matselotto enjoying Muir's freedom to the point that Matselotto even breaks a cymbal. On one of the two concerts I saw, they also did Schizoid Man as a second encore and sadly it is absent from this DVD. Too bad, this might have gotten it that fifth star.

A real must for Crimson fans and for those who did not fully appreciate the albums of that double trio period because of the complexities, this DVD will clear anything you did not understand.

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