ONE MORE RED NIGHT: LIVE IN CHICAGO (WITH JOHN WETTON)

DISTRICT 97 is a young American band that has been praised by one or two musicians from the King Crimson camp, or so I've heard. This live album was my first acquaintance with the band. I certainly would have preferred it to be with their own material. The set is completely devoted to the songs of KING CRIMSON (the John Wetton era, plus '21st Century Schizoid Man' originating from the 1969 debut) and the vocals are by Wetton himself, so... For starters, there's no use of searching any notably new point of view to these classic prog songs, even if the band's own female vocalist Leslie Hunt can be heard a little, too. Too little.

The skillful musicians of District 97 do their job extremely well and very faithfully to the originals. Only in 'Starless' I miss the mighty Mellotron sound (there's a little hollow synth backing instead), and that song is somewhat watered down here also due to the abridged song version. Wetton is in good shape though.

I'm satisfied with 'The Night Watch' and 'Book of Saturday', two of my Wetton era Crimso favourites besides 'Starless'. And with 9 songs I suppose the song output of the era is being covered almost completely -- there aren't any instrumentals. But frankly, to me this kind of a CD is hardly nothing else than a curiosity, quite useless in practice. OK, now I know this band is an excellent cover act of King Crimson material. Apparently too blinded by the respect for both Wetton and the music, to bring their own material /personality /individuality as a group to the set. If it was a DVD it would be another case, much more justified as a release.

A nice live album for melancholic moments.

In the early years of the current decade I was introduced to District 97's music, a band of young and great US musicians that make great progressive rock in the symphonic vein, since then, I've been following their releases and wishing to see them on stage sometime, fortunately to me, I will be able to see them live really soon when I fly to Chicago for the Progtober Fest in its 3rd edition.

It was also in Chicago where the band recorded this live album, in which the amazing John Wetton was invited to play. As the title suggests (One More Red Night), the concert was a kind of tribute to King Crimson, playing songs in which Wetton participated and we all remember well, just one out of the 9 songs is not from the Wetton-KC era.

Listening now to this live album creates two different nostalgias, one is the natural one of listening to him singing his memorable KC songs, and the other is simply listening to him, because he passed away this current 2017. It is also great to see such a legend sharing the stage with younger and talented musicians such as District 97, so together created a nice album and gave a cool live experience.

The versions here are of course a bit different, the band kept the spirit of the original tracks, but naturally, they put their own sound on them. Leslie Hunt helped with some vocals, we are used to listen to her as the main District 97 singer, but this time she nicely gave way to John's voice, which by the way had not the potential of his early years, which is something we can understand.

My favorite songs here are: "Lament", "The Night Watch", "Book of Saturday" and "Easy Money". I wanted to write this review because I am excited to see the band live, playing of course their original music, but they are also playing a special tribute to John Wetton, so I guess some of the songs featured here will be played.

Si in the end this is a good live album that will make you jump to the past with a smile on your face. Enjoy it!