The Bearsville Theater in Woodstock NY welcomed these two titans of progressive rock- Stick Men and Adrian Belew Trio- on August 12, 2022. Photos and Review by Mark Steinberg
Tony Levin, Adrian Belew and Pat Mastelotto performed at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, NY last Friday night to a sold-out crowd. For the past ten years these three King Crimson band members have held an instructional music camp at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY. As the camp ends, a live concert is produced, and this year was no exception.
The show featured two distinct musical entities: Stick Men featuring Tony Levin on Chapman Stick & Bass Guitar, Pat Mastelotto– Acoustic and Electric Drums, and Markus Reuter on Touch Guitar, and the Adrian Belew Trio with Julie Slick on Bass, and Johnny Luca on Drums. Trey Gunn, who is also a part of the music camp sat in on the ensemble songs, as well as a tune with Stickmen.
The two groups started the evening performing as an ensemble; with the two drummers opening the show with the instrumental song “B’Boom” which then segued into “Thrak” (both from the 1995 Crimson release “Thrak”). From there the bands played a number of King Crimson songs, including “Frame by Frame” from the 1981 King Crimson LP “Discipline”.
Adrian Belew then led his “Power Trio” through a number of his own songs, which included material from his brand-new CD release “Elevator”. Belew seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself throughout the evening, but really seemed to thrive on the energy of his younger backing musicians. At one point when starting to sit down to play a tune, he almost immediately scrapped the idea and stayed standing for the rest of his short trio set.
Check out the gallery of photos from this show here.
Stickmen then returned to perform a few of their own songs, one of which featured Tony Levin on vocals. Sitting in on this set was Trey Gunn who is also King Crimson Alum. Trey has a unique playing style and taps on his signature instrument the “Warr guitar” which he lays across his lap (much like a lap steel player would position their instrument). Gunn has also been involved in the Full Moon camp for the past two years.
The final segment of the performance once again included all the musicians present and featured 6 more King Crimson songs. The bulk of the material came from the trilogy of records recorded by the Fripp, Belew, Levin and Bruford version of King Crimson that was together from 1981-1985. This writer saw many of the performances that group played at that time, and this show was as close to a reproduction of that sound as one could expect. This was a phenomenal performance by these musicians. The band (s) closed out the evening with a blistering version of “Thela Hun Ginjeet” from 1981’s Discipline.
Woodstock area resident Robert Frazza was the promoter for this concert and is also the producer of the Three of a Perfect Pair Musical camp. Frazza runs Ashokan Talent Group, a management and production Company located in Woodstock, NY and has been associated with Levin for 25+ years. According to Frazza, he was approached by the Full Moon Resort back in 2010 with the idea of creating these musician camps. The initial camp in 2011 included Levin, Belew and Mastelotto. The group has held a camp there every summer since, with the one exception being that no camp was held in 2020 due to Covid.
About the Bearsville Theatre….
Lizzie Vann bought the entirety of the Bearsville building complex in the fall of 2019, spent the entire winter restoring and renovating buildings (at huge expense), and then was shut down due to the global pandemic right when she had planned to have her grand opening. To say that is catastrophic is an understatement. To her credit she persevered, and the venue has been open since summer of 2021 to grand aplomb.
Do not miss this Belew and Levin show when it happens again in 2023, and in the meantime, if you see anyone you like is on the calendar at the Bearsville Theater, GO!
Adrian Belew and Tony Levin 8-12-2022 at the Bearsville Theater -Woodstock, NY
Setlist
B’Boom
Dinosaur
Frame By Frame
One Time
Red
Adrian Belew power Trio Set
Ampersand
“E”
Young Lions
Stickmen Set
Improv with special guest Trey Gunn
Prog Noir
Tentacles
Sleepless
3 Of A Perfect Pair
Walking On Air
Elephant Talk
Indiscipline
Encore – Thela Hun Ginjeet
All text and photographs copyright Mark Steinberg 2022
Check out the gallery of photos from this show here.
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