Wow. Wow-eee. Wowser-Wow-EEE-EEE-EEE!

Tonight was a hot show. Very hot. Hot with energy that is. The band didn't, actually, play that well. I mean we didn't play badly, at all. But the playing wasn't nearly up to the level of the last San Francisco show. However, the performance was a scorching. I have to scratch it up to the audience again. You little angels, you. What would we do without you?

The audience was hot, hot, hot and they burned us up from the inside out. They asked for it and we delivered. It was a really fun night, as well. We didn't have the best set-list and a few things really sagged. Larks' IV was a real dog to get through, for some reason. I think we'll try it in a different slot tomorrow night. And the improvs...???? Well.... not the best. They started out OK.... but quickly went nowhere. I think (please?) that that was OK. That we gave everyone's ears a chance to chill for a bit. And we gave them a physical pocket to sit with for a bit. A kind body and ear cleaning moment, before the assault began again.

Cage was quite fun. I love playing this piece. Largely because I play it on the little rubber bass. But, also because I can play anything I want and it always works. I can play as many notes as I want, or as few as I want and it always works. I can even not play at all and it works! This is a bass players dream and one of the things I loved about being a reggae bass player, years back: that you can play almost nothing (leaving huge holes in the music) and it still just grooves along. It's like a big, teasing dance. For me, this is Cage as well.

Three of a Perfect Pair and The Deception of the Thrush were, both, very strong. As they always are. It is great to have such undeniable winners in the set. And these two always deliver. Even in their weaker moments, they are still so strong. Pat and I are generating some ferocious interplay in the middle section of Thrush. This is Robert's solo section. We haven't discussed anything about this, but we are now playing some figures off of each other that are becoming really powerful.

Heroes was a very strong closer. Pat has altered something in the drum department on this one and it is grooving far more than it ever did in Europe. On to LA show #2.

I will add, before I sign off here, that playing in Los Angeles is particularly hard. But this time it has been a breeze. The hard part comes from many things, I think. One is the huge music industry presence. Our guestlist is stacked with record company people and with journalists. And with musicians and producers. Some notables that came to the show: Jennifer Batten, Michael Brook, Simon Phillips, David Bottrill, Tool and no doubt others. This is enough to make any musician sweat. And partly explains why Robert NEVER, EVER, NOT THIS TIME, NO, NO AND NOT EVER wants to know who is in the audience. The other hard part is that people in this town have seen and heard so much good music. And they have probably seen many musicians at the peak of the careers, as well. This is a really hard thing to measure up to. But, it is all part of being a musician and we, each of us, eventually find our own way of dealing with it.

I have played some really hard gigs in this town. And some of them have been with Crimson. But, this time? No, this time it was great!