Here we have a live set recorded on October 17, 2013 of US prog act District 97 with special guest John Wetton (King Crimson/Asia/UK/Uriah Heep/Roxy Music) performing a short but potent set of classic Wetton era King Crimson material. My guess is this was a full District 97 show that engulfed this little jaunt with Wetton, but only this portion is included on the CD.
If you are not familiar with District 97 (and if not, you should rectify that quickly!), the band are Leslie Hunt (vocals), Jim Tashijian (guitar), Rob Clearfield (keyboards, guitar), Patrick Mulcahy (bass), and Jonathan Schang (drums). Hunt is a fantastic singer, but sadly she doesn't have much to do here, giving way to the commanding presence of Wetton on most of these songs, though she does pop up on occasion. The band does a great job giving these classic songs plenty of power & muscle on the more aggressive numbers, as well as providing the atmosphere and menace on the chilling selections. "Lament", "Fallen Angel", and "Starless" are just gorgeous, with Wetton sounding better than ever, but the more raucous classics like "One More Red Nightmare", "The Great Deceiver", and "Easy Money" just burst from the speakers with majestic might, Tashijian delivering thunderous guitar riffs that even the most loyal Robert Fripp fans would be amazed at. A nice treat is the early gem "21st Century Schizoid Man", with Wetton handling Greg Lake's vocal perfectly and the band rumbling in proto-metal fashion behind him.
In the end, if you are a longtime King Crimson fan, you'll have a lot of fun with this, as both Wetton and District 97 seemed to have had a blast performing these classics on stage together (many songs sung by Wetton for the first time in ages). It's just a shame they didn't release this as a 2CD set to include some of District 97's original material.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
1) One More Red Nightmare
2) The Great Deceiver
3) Lament
4) The Night Watch
5) Fallen Angel
6) Book of Saturday
7) 21st Century Schizoid Man
8) Starless
9) Easy Money
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