Robert Fripp hosts guitar workshops called Guitar Craft. Afterwards, he takes the students out on the road, as the League of Crafty guitarists (or so I'm assuming). This is who Cyn and I saw last saturday in Madison. Excellent show.
Ten people of various nationalities (one of them female), with acoustic guitars (amplified). One more person with an electric guitar run through a tall stack of electronics (Fripp). As someone recently mentioned, any more than about three guitars together usually ends up sounding muddy. These people are all about precision, so there was none of that. They were an orchestra. Very often, there were only about four different parts being played by the ten members. You had to watch very closely to see who was playing which notes.
As a frame of reference, some of you may be familiar with the California Guitar Trio. Those three guys met at Guitar Craft, and their sound is strongly influenced by Fripp's workshop.
There was a decent amount of variety in the music. Some of it rocked harder than other. Some of it was King Crimson's crashing discordance. Some of it had just a touch of bluesiness. There were some somewhat solo performances, and one piece in particular where only three members played.
Fripp opened the show with his Soundscapes. Highly processed and looped guitar. After a few minutes, the ensemble came onstage, and played a few with Fripp looking on. A couple of times the ensemble sat silent while he played another piece. A few times he joined in.
They did two encores. One of the songs in one of them was unamplified. The last piece they played was a King Crimson tune. There is a pause in it. They paused. The audience was silent for a moment, but the pause went on for a long time. They decided the song was over, and applauded. The band stood motionless, hands on guitars. The applause ended. The band stood motionless, hands on guitars. Fripp looked at the band, then, after five to ten seconds, nodded. They put down their guitars, took their bows, and left the stage. I got the distinct impression that he was trying to decide if it felt right to continue the song after being interrupted. He's a unique guy.
He has a reputation for... not being entirely friendly with his audiences. He is very insistent that there be no photography or recording at any of his shows. He says this is about the distraction and the mood, more than the money. He's a very private person, and is known for sitting in the dark, for his shows. At the beginning of this show, he came out to the front of the stage and bowed three times, to center, left and right. Each time, he scanned the audience, both on the floor and the balcony. He seemed to be trying to make a connection with everyone there. A cynical person might say he was looking for cameras. ;-)
After the show, while we were all making our way out, the band (minus Fripp, of course) filed across the stage and out into the audience. The walked to the front door, then turned around, came back in and lined up across the bar. They played two or three songs there, to the enjoyment of the audients (as Fripp likes to call us). They also passed the hat. I imagine they don't make much, if any, money from these shows.
The Majestic Theater was really nice. It looked newly remodeled. The walls in tan and rust colors, with chrome and grey chairs on the floor, and blond wood chairs in the balcony. I didn't see much of the upstairs from the floor, but it looked like there were tables. It's a very small place, and there's a bar in the back, against one side. I expect that the noise from the bar annoyed Fripp.
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