First published in  Lonely Goat Print Magazine Volume II - #8

The Voodoo that Belew Do: Adrian Belew @ Cat's Cradle
by J.D. Edwards (September, 1999)

This past June the Cat's Cradle hosted a rare intimate solo concert from one of the living legends of guitar superstardom, Adrian Belew. Actually the word concert is somewhat of a misnomer. The performance that evening came off as more of an instructive, interactive guitar workshop than a rote rehashing of chords and words. Having mentored under the tutelage of two of the intrument's most daring compositional innovators, Robert Fripp and Frank Zappa, it was neither presumptuousness nor arrogance that made Adrian the perfect candidate to conduct a clinic on both guitar technique and technology.

Clad in jeans and a T-shirt, the six-string alchemist adopted not a stitch of pretension as he blended a few of the oldies in with his new material as well as fielding a slew of open-ended questions between almost every song. Many fans just shouted out King Crimson requests, which he gallantly sidestepped explaining that he'd undertaken this tour in order to showcase his new projects. He however did appease one fan with an abbreviated version of "Matte Kudasai" although reminding everyone that all he played on the original version was the seagulls and that Fearless Fripp actually played all the guitar parts.

But the true focus was Adrian's five projects he is currently immersed in until the sixth project, King Crimson, reconvenes court towards the end of the year. Adrian demonstrated one of his inventions through the use of tape loops called "Belewps" to facilitate live overdubs. The process involves Adrian establishing a rhythm guitar part to create the loop. He then plays the rhythm part back in order to create a lead line on the top of the taped loop, in effect playing rhythm guitar for himself onstage. He chided that it would save on the extra hotel room but failed to mention additionally economizing on human error/ incompetence.

No stranger to studio wizardry, Adrian also incorporated his own pre-recorded bass and drum tracks to play live guitar parts over in what he referred to as "the one man trio." This included one duet with his own son's drum program called "Two Belews." Despite epitomizing the one-man show concept, Adrian owes a monumental debt of credit to soundman, Ken Latchney. In addition to the normal mixing and soundchecking, he helped orchestrate the many soundscapes over which Adrian was free to solo. One project, "Animal Kingdom," featured Adrian's pre-recorded guitar jungle animals over which he played African tribal drums on MIDI guitar as The Cradle was transformed into the hull of a ship navigating the Congo.

One brand new composition, "Inner Man," highlighted the evolutionary process from idea to song. First Adrian performed the "written-in-the-bedroom-quiet-version" stripped down on just acoustic guitar to trace the idea's origin. He then switched over to his custom-built Stratocaster to perform the polished finished product and what Fripp would likely get pitched come autumn. This provided invaluable insight into the creative process of one of the most imaginative and original songwriters still at his peak.

Later, Adrian's true range became evident with the juxtaposition of two very diverse songs. After apologizing in advance, he assaulted the audience with the Crimsonesque guitar dissonance of "Madness" guaranteed to drive them insane after five minutes. He then switched up to the dynamic vocals of a haunting acoustic ballad to calm the audience's frazzled nerves. It's hard to believe that on top of first rate songwriting and guitar playing, Mr. Belew also possesses such a powerful and emotive voice capable of whispered subtlety or controlled mayhem often within the same composition.

But what impressed me most from this evening was that a talented singer/songwriter of legendary, if underground, stature can still retain a certain openness and humble connection with his fans, especially as alienated and detached as "art rockers" often imagine themselves. Now if Adrian could just conduct a humility workshop for the egomaniac musician's guild and chairpersons Sting, Prince and Stipe, then maybe their sermons would seem less like preaching and more like teaching.