Back in 1969, King Crimson made its reputation as a live band – initially with the hipsters, scene setters & other musicians who frequented the likes of the Speakeasy & The Marquee in London, then, more broadly, with a breakthrough gig to a vast mainstream audience as guests on the bill with The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park in July of that year. So it’s appropriate that the current incarnation of King Crimson was to be found just opposite the entrance to Hyde Park at the end of June 2019 almost 50 years on from that concert, playing a trio of packed gigs at the Royal Albert Hall.
Then, as now, it’s the live performance that’s key to the band.
The current line-up - the longest surviving in Crimson’s half century of existence – started touring in September 2014 & hasn’t stopped since. Now routinely spoken of in terms of ‘best live band in the world’, the band’s reputation has been further enhanced via a series of live releases beginning with the “Live at the Orpheum” mini-album (2015) & running to last year’s 3CD/Blu-Ray “Meltdown” set, drawn from a series of concerts in Mexico in 2017.
With a vast repertoire covering material from the debut album “In the Court of the Crimson King” (including ‘Moonchild’ which was never performed in 1969) through to works from “Lizard” which, likewise, was never performed at the time, Crim classics from “Islands”, “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic”, “Red” & other studio albums, through to compositions from Fripp’s solo album “Exposure” (‘Breathless’), radical reinterpretations of 80s material (‘Neurotica’, ‘Indiscipline’), to songs from the current KC band precursor album by Jakszyk, Fripp Collins (‘A Scarcity of Miracles’, ‘The Light of Day’) and newly written pieces for this line-up, (‘Meltdown’, ‘Radical Action’), this 5CD set provides a comprehensive overview of 5 years’ worth of concerts – one year per CD – with performances selected from that first concert in Albany New York in 2014, to the band’s penultimate 2018 concert in Tokyo.
CD1 is fully mixed from multi-track tapes by Robert Fripp & Jakko Jakszyk, while the other 4 CDs are taken from the band’s stereo soundboard recordings, the most accurate recorded representation of the live band in the opinion/ears of many of the band’s hardcore fans.
Packaged in a rigid slipcase featuring artwork from the beloved and dearly missed Francesca Sundsten, containing 3 gatefold sleeves containing the 5 individual CDs, plus a 24-page full color booklet with previously unseen photographs.
“Audio Diary 2014 - 2018”
TRACKLISTING
CD ONE (2014)
HOODOO
LARKS’ TONGUES IN ASPIC, PART ONE
A SCARCITY OF MIRACLES
LEVEL FIVE
ONE MORE RED NIGHTMARE
INTERLUDE
BANSHEE LEGS BELL HASSLE
THE TALKING DRUM
21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN
THE LIGHT OF DAY
CD TWO (2015)
RADICAL ACTION I/MELTDOWN
INTERLUDE
SAILOR’S TALE
THE LETTERS
THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING
STARLESS
EASY MONEY
PICTURES OF A CITY
SUITABLE GROUNDS FOR THE BLUES
THE CONSTRUKCTION OF LIGHT
LEVEL FIVE
CD THREE (2016)
LARKS’ TONGUES IN ASPIC, PART TWO
EPITAPH
DEVIL DOGS OF TESSELLATION ROW
RED
BANSHEE LEGS BELL HASSLE
CIRKUS
RADICAL ACTION II
PICTURES OF A CITY
PEACE
LARKS’ TONGUES IN ASPIC, PART ONE
EASY MONEY
21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN
CD FOUR (2017)
CIRKUS
STARLESS
THE LETTERS
HEROES
INTERLUDE
LAST SKIRMISH
INDISCIPLINE
DAWN SONG
PRINCE RUPERT’S LAMENT
THE ERRORS
FALLEN ANGEL
NEUROTICA
ISLANDS
CD FIVE (2018)
THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING
SUITABLE GROUNDS FOR THE BLUES
PICTURES OF A CITY
MELTDOWN
BOLERO
RADICAL ACTION
ONE MORE RED NIGHTMARE
MOONCHILD
EASY MONEY
LEVEL FIVE
PEACE
CADENCE AND CASCADE
BREATHLESS
To pre-order: https://shop.schizoidshop.com/king-crimson-live-2014-2018-audio-diary-p1812.aspx
Distributed in North America by Amped Distribution.
Catch King Crimson's North American tour:
SEP 03, 2019 - GREEK THEATRE, Los Angeles
SEP 05, 2019 - FOX THEATER, Oakland
SEP 06, 2019 - FOX THEATER, Oakland
SEP 08, 2019 - PARAMOUNT THEATER, Denver
SEP 10, 2019 - AUDITORIUM THEATRE OF ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY, Chicago
SEP 12, 2019 - WARNER THEATRE, Washington D.C.
SEP 14, 2019 - BUDWEISER STAGE, Toronto
SEP 17, 2019 - ST DENIS THEATRE, Montreal
SEP 19, 2019 - BOCH CENTER WANG THEATER, Boston
SEP 21, 2019 - RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, New York City
SEP 23, 2019 - THE MET, Philidelphia
SEP 25, 2019 - HARD ROCK ROCKSINO, Cleveland
SEP 27, 2019 - THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM, Nashville
SEP 29, 2019 - THE COBB CENTER, Atlanta
