I have seen Adrian Belew before and am looking forward to seeing him again on his 2019 tour. I’m excited and thought that this would be a fun topic. I’m telling everyone about it.
The first I knew of Adrian Belew was him appearing onstage with the Talking Heads 1980ish, and his skronky guitar sounds knocked me out. And there he was suddenly with King Crimson, and it was even better!
I followed him through various incarnations (including The Bears!) but have lost track of him lately… I’m glad to hear his tone knocking out songs, and that you get to see him live.
For those interested in the Chicago area, he is playing the Old Town School on Apr. 4, which is a Thursday.
(Link features a live video of Three Of A Perfect Pair.)
I only know him from a concert film he did with Laurie Anderson in the mid-'80s.
Seems he can also juggle a bit.
Ran into AB and the rest of King Crimson quite often when they were in Champaign-Urbana in the early 80s. I was in a crappy rock band, and often found myself in the same bars, watching the same bands. As I recall, their rehearsal space was upstairs from one of the sound system rental places. Being a bassist, I was more impressed w/ Tony Levin at the time. AB always seemed like a very friendly, approachable guy.
Talk? It’s only talk. Arguments, agreements, advice, answers, articulate announcements…
Belew is/was one of the greats. And, IMHO, his best efforts were with King Crimson. Fripp was smart to bring him in with a new feel to the group when they really needed it; what an artistic melange. I was fortunate enough to see AB in a ~120 capacity club in the 90s. Mostly, I remember the place was so packed that one could barely breathe, and hardly move. I’m glad the Raleigh fire marshal didn’t find out about it.
I hope you enjoy your show!
A brief hijack, if I may: what does the string of characters at the end of the OP heading signify? I googled “Andrew Belew” with and without the *¸ „„.•~¹°”ˆ˜¨♡ , but got nothing.
Thanks in advance.
Try googling “Adrian” Belew, not Andrew.
Funny what will bubble up when you rattle the grey matter.
I recall seeing AB fronting a band before he was w/ King Crimson in either late 70s-early 80s. This was some years before before Lone Rhino. Thought the name was The Bears - but everything I google says the Bears were later. I remember they played the song “Peas” and all put on silly green skullcaps. Weird - despite the years (and what was undoubtedly a drug and alcohol addled haze), I remember the bassist played a Kramer bass. And the drummer was a woman from Springfield IL. My band’s lead singer (also from Springfield) had bought his amp off of her.
Weird the shit you can remember. As a rule, I’d describe my memory as pretty crappy.
If memory serves, the band’s name was GAGA. “Peas” appeared on a compilation CD put out by one of the local record stores when I was there in about 1990.
If you know, can you tell us? I have no idea what those symbols are, either. Is it supposed to just be a heart whizzing by or something? Googling doesn’t help.whether Adrian or Andrew.
I’m going to have to go with Talking Heads-Remain in Light Belew. I like King Crimson, but at times it gets a bit too jazz-fusion wankery for me( mind you, I used to be a big fan of jazz-fusion wankery, just less so today ). Talking Heads’ Belew was kind peak 1970’s/1980 New Wave. Weird and affecting
I’ve enjoyed his solo work. In particular, Inner Revolution is a great power pop album, reminiscent of the Beatles and ELO.
An interesting bit of pop-rock trivia: The famous trumpets riff throughout Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” isn’t horns at all- it’s Adrian on guitar synthethizer.
D’oh! In my defense, I searched by highlighting and clicking “search Google for…”. The name got switched somehow as I typed my response 
But I still want to know what those symbols mean.
Belew’s a wizard, isn’t he. I have a few of his older albums. I loved his work with Bowie, (much as I loved Fripp’s). Bowie liked to throw a guitarist into the studio, first time hearing the track, and tell them to go wild. What a dream that must have been.
Ditto.
Anyone care to just post the answer, without making it a test?
I saw Adrian in concert at a similar venue on December 7th, 1988. It’s easy to remember the exact day, because it was the day after Roy Orbison died. The show was rather different than I thought it would be. I was only familiar with a few of his songs and his reputation, so I expected a lot of crazy guitar sounds, like screaming rhinos and big electric cats. It was much more of a straightforward rock show than virtuoso guitar noodling, though like one that was being held in his living room.
The small venue helped, I’m sure, but Adrian talked a bit in-between songs and made it an unexpectedly intimate evening. At one point he talked about a stereo guitar effect he had just bought or been given, and he said he’d like to “play with it” awhile, if we didn’t mind…and so he did, just him alone, improvising some guitar and playing with the new effect.
The reason why I remember it being the day after Roy Orbison’s death is because, at the end of the show, he mentioned it, and played, “Pretty Woman” in his memory. The people got up, pushed the tables to the side and cleared a spot on the floor for dancing.
A memorable show, and he seemed like a warm, personable guy.
Despite my SDMB name I have never seen him in concert.
i love him, any other word would be an understatement, though i have no desire to go to a concert. im probably missing out, but i dont usually go to concerts (ive only been to a couple) and id have to go to know otherwise.
you kids have fun, hes amazing. the man has musical notes for dna.