First off: Wow!

Having never been to see RF and the LCG, I was a little apprehensive. Although I own an LCG cd and a Soundscapes cd, I was still unsure of what to expect. I think a lot of this apprehensiveness was brought on by the fact that my concert-buddy for the evening was a good friend of mine who had almost no experience with any Frippian projeKCts. I had subjected him to early KC in the past, but I don’t think it took. Hell, I was turned on to KC 20+ years ago and years had passed before I ventured out from the cassette my Uncle had given me. But taking a veritable Fripp virgin was interesting. Especially since he passed on the offers to have a listen to cds beforehand.

The Birchmere was also new to me. From the website I was thinking “beer hall” but that turned out to be just the front room. The room for the performance was more like a banquet hall with a low stage on one side. We had tables, wait staff, and food! It was quite a change from the clubs, arenas, etc. that I am used to. It reminded me of the Cabaret Lounge of the Love Boat. Except with long dinner tables.

Upon entering the room from the bar, I stood looking around thinking of seating; a Quarter came up to me and told me where RF would be sitting and that there were seats available just to the side with a view. Off I went. I found seats 15 feet from the stool. Unfortunately, RF’s back was to us the whole performance, so no views of his hands at work. This was acceptable as my ticket for the Ram’s Head performance is more centrally located and given RF’s placement, I should have a good view tomorrow night. Last night was open seating.

The performance was everything I expected and more. I heard things I recognized from my LCG cd, but most of it was new to me. The KC and Mission: at the end were very nice. And while I was fairly certain that we would be hearing Soundscapes and the LCG, I did not expect to find them offered together. This was an unexpected treat and I enjoyed it. My only real disappointment of the evening was that it was so short. I was hoping for at least another hour, but as I mentioned, I’ll be getting 2 more hours tomorrow night so I can deal.

I did see someone take a picture mid-performance, but this person was standing against the back wall with the venue’s sound board operator in an area that one would assume to be employees-only, so I assumed she was “official” and did not say anything. Thankfully, she didn’t use the flash!

Thank you RF and the LCG for a wonderful evening. In 24 hours, I will be enjoying it again.