King Crimson Musicians, Steve Vai & Tool’s Danny Carey Kick Off BEAT Tour In San Jose

The new supergroup BEAT — comprised of longtime King Crimson members guitarist Adrian Belew and bassist Tony Levin along with guitarist Steve Vai and Tool drummer Danny Carey — launched an extensive fall tour of North America on Thursday at San Jose Civic in San Jose, California. As promised, the setlist for opening night of the inaugural run featured songs from King Crimson’s three 1980s albums Discipline, Beat and Three Of A Perfect Pair.

The all-star quartet kicked off the night with a performance of Beat cut “Neurotica.” Three more songs from the 1982 King Crimson album — “Neal and Jack and Me,” “Heartbeat” and “Sartori in Tangier” — followed. BEAT devoted the rest of Thursday’s first set to material from 1984’s Three Of A Perfect Pair including the first live performance of “Model Man” by any KC-associated band along with “Dig Me,” “Man With An Open Hart,” “Industry” and “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (Part III).

Belew, Levin, Vai and Carey went back to Beat for “Waiting Man” to get their second set underway. Most of the closing stanza featured cuts off 1981’s Discipline: “The Sheltering Sky,” “Indiscipline,” “Elephant Talk,” “Frame By Frame” and “Matte Kudasai.” Additionally, the band fit in Three Of A Perfect Pair’s title track and and the album’s “Sleepless.”

BEAT opened the two-song encore with “Red,” the title track from King Crimson’s 1974 LP. “Red” was the lone tune played by the four-piece that doesn’t appear on Discipline, Beat or Three Of A Perfect Pair. Belew led the band through his signature song from his time in King Crimson, Discipline’s “Thela Hun Gunjeet,” to punctuate the evening.

Watch fan-shot footage of BEAT’s first concert below: