I’m sure my mum and I looked like a comedy turn trying to get in and out of her car – me on crutches and her hobbling with a stick – at the hospital however, we didn’t look out of place and, luckily, she managed to get the disabled space closest to the entrance...
Of the five visits to the Infirmary since the accident, this was the most efficient by far. My appointment was 10:35 and we were back in the car by 11. The stookie change was a little disconcerting when the “plaster technician” approached my leg with a whirring, hand held circular saw...
My new plaster keeps my foot at more of a 90 degree angle to my leg and so it should be easier to put some weight on it...eventually...another four weeks in plaster...
Back home and the first of Anne’s Christmas presents was delivered. It was fine apart from one small thing I’d not noticed in the item description on e-bay and so I had to go back on and buy the item which made the thing “whole”...
A call from my old chum Alan Brodie in the afternoon cheered me up and he reckoned he’ll be out one night next week for a visit...
In the evening we were heading to Glasgow to see Robert Fripp and Porcupine Tree. Anne had very kindly agreed to drive me through – her intention was that she would wait in the car while I watched Fripp and then I’d leave and we’d perhaps go for an Indian...
At seven, as the queue started to move, we approached the front door and I was let in by security. I explained how I’d called last night and been told I could be provided with a wheelchair. Much to my surprise this turned out to be true. Not only that, when asked for tickets and I explained we only had one, they let Anne come in for free as my “carer”. Result...and huge brownie points for the Carling Academy as a venue!!
It seemed smaller than the last time I was here, for Kraftwerk. We were given a great position with a superb clear, unobstructed view of the stage. We saw Mr Fripp arrive and walk unnoticed from the back of the gathering crowd to the door at the side of the stage...
Also bumped into (not literally) old friend and science fiction/fantasy author Michael Cobley – he’s waiting on the mass market release of the third book in his Shadow trilogy, “Shadowmasque” – you can find out about him here http://www.michaelcobley.com/index2.htm
At 7:45 Robert Fripp commenced his set of Soundscapes, accompanied by a slideshow of personal photographs of family, friends and colleagues and images from his musical past...
The music started with some of the oblique tuned percussion xylophone type sounds which I don’t care for much but soon progressed into some magnificent long smooth notes, the lower ones shaking the foundations of the building.
It was quite brilliant to have the chance to see Robert Fripp performing the kind of music which inspired me to become a musician 30 years ago when I first heard Fripp & Eno’s “No Pussyfooting”...
Generally the crowd was attentive, the slideshow helped in this - had it not been for that, the stage would have been almost in darkness – of course, many people continued to chat and I longed for the attentiveness afforded to classical music in live situation.
As Anne rightly pointed out though, nowadays, attention spans are pretty small.
It seems to be, that if two or more people are attending a show together, for some reason, even when the musicians are performing the music for which the audience has paid good money, they feel the need to make incessant smalltalk (often unrelated to the event) or comment on what’s happening. It’s like watching a film on TV with a particularly clueless companion who needs to have everything explained to them as the plot progresses.
Fripp played for thirty five minutes, thirty five minutes of beauty from my own point of view and I was determined it would not be ruined by the actions of others in the crowd. At the end of his set, he received a resounding ovation from the audience, many of whom, I’m sure had chatted throughout his time on stage...
Fripp himself seemed pleased with the performance and reaction, coming to the front of the stage and taking three bows. He had a beaming smile on his face...
[for a more articulate description of Mr Fripp's current Soundscape set, I urge you to visit this entry on Sid Smith's blog http://sidsmith.blogspot.com/2005/12/robert-fripp-porcupine-tree-at.html - it's re the London show two days before the one we saw]
This was so much better than the last time I saw Fripp, when I was held up in a Bob Dylan induced traffic jam on the way to see him play with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as G3 – I missed all but 5 minutes of his solo set and had to endure over two hours of turgid run of the mill heavy metal before he came back for the encore – part of which was a rendition of King Crimson’s “Red”..
I was reminded of this experience when I caught sight of fellow musician and soundscaper, Norman Lamont, coming into the hall a good fifteen minutes after the start of Fripp’s set...
After a break of around thirty minutes, Porcupine Tree took to the stage. They performed a superb set, although occasionally the extended jams (at least that what they seemed like to me, having very little knowledge of their back catalogue) went on a wee bit.
As they got closer to the end of the set, it seemed the music became more focussed. Special mentions for the drummer, who was excellent, one of the best I’ve seen, and of course for Richard Barbieri on keyboards, whom Anne and I saw over twenty years ago on several occasions when he was with Japan.
The more recent material impressed me most and I will be looking to purchase their latest CD, “Deadwing” over the next few days...
With me being on crutches, we left at the end of the main set, missing the encore, in order to also avoid the rush to the exits at the very end of the night....
By this time it was 11 and a bit late for a meal before the drive back to Edinburgh, so we stopped off at the Hot Pepper takeaway near the Cathedral and partook of some of their very fine vegetable pakoras...
A good day.
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