Beat – An All-Star Quartet Brings 80s King Crimson Music to Sin City!

Beat played the Virgin Hotel Casino Theater on Friday, November 8, 2024.

In the glory days of classic rock, King Crimson was one of the greatest and most progressive bands. The group spawned talents like Greg Lake (Emerson Lake and Palmer), John Wetton (Asia), and Boz Burrell (Bad Company), and Robert Fripp. While the band will forever be known for their early efforts that gave the world anthems like “21st Century Schizoid Man,” “I Talk to the Wind,” and “In the Court of the Crimson King,” the band continued on in varying incarnations of the years, perhaps most notably a period in the 80s that featured musicians Adrian Belew and Tony Levin. This era of the group spawned a trio of studio albums: DISCIPLINE, BEAT, and THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR.

This oft-forgotten era of King Crimson has received an unexpected revival in the form of Beat, which is a tour teaming Belew and Levin with two other giants in the music world; Danny Carey, the drummer of famed alternative rock band Tool, and Steve Vai, who’s made a name for himself in groups like Alcatrazz and David Lee Roth’s band, but is perhaps best known for his solo output which lets him cut loose as a shredder.

While I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about rock and roll, I won’t deny that my knowledge of the 80s period of King Crimson is lacking. Hell, I’m not even overly familiar with the group’s 70s output. That said, this was still a show I wanted to attend for the sake of the talent putting on the gig, not to mention it would certainly be an education for me as a rock fan.

The Virgin Hotel Casino is the former Hard Rock Hotel and Casino that operated for decades before reopening under the new name/ownership. This theater was once the legendary venue known as The Joint, which served as a filming locale for many live concert releases over the years, by artists including Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Guns N Roses, and KISS, to name a few. Although the casino floor has largely been renovated to remove the rock theme, I’m pleased to say that the venue is largely unchanged, and still serves as a great place to see a show. It’s bigger than a theater but smaller than an arena, meaning it can be a packed house yet still feel intimate. And that’s a good thing.

While certainly optimistic, I was admittedly a bit surprised at the choice of other musicians. Two guys from King Crimson playing with the drummer of Tool, a band that while good is certainly more on the alternative end of the spectrum? With Steve Vai, a multi-talented guitarist, but one that might be restrained from his usual shredding and guitar solos?

The concert started (and RIGHT ON TIME, which is a rarity for any musical performance, period!) The artists took the stage, and went right into songs from those three 80s King Crimson records. I didn’t know a single song being performed, but I was intrigued and enthralled from the moment the quartet begin playing. Adrian’s vocals were strong from the get-go, and Tony was playing a… stringed instrument of some kind I didn’t recognize (I had to do some research to learn that the instrument is called a Chapman Stick). Vai and Carey were certainly excellent filling out the sound, with a gig that ranged from shorter vocal-heavy pieces to longer and lengthier instrumental suites. The night was split into two sets, with Belew claiming the second set would likely be the one with the songs most people had heard of. There were roars of applause from the crowd throughout the first set, and rightfully so. These guys are world-class musicians shelling out real music.

The second set came and was equally impressive. Again, I didn’t recognize a single song because I’m admittedly not familiar with this era of King Crimson, but what I got on this evening was an education of the best kind. I’ll most definitely be adding these albums to my collection in the near future. One of the most pleasant surprises was the beginning of the second set, allowing Carey to come to the front of the stage to play some standing drums. Throughout the entire show, one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises was the ability the quartet had to create sounds with their instruments I didn’t even know were possible. And even if it wasn’t the kind of shredding hard rock/metal gig Steve Vai is known for, he got plenty of opportunities to shine throughout the gig and show off the prowess that’s made him a household name in the world of guitar. Any skepticism I had about these two playing with Belew and Carey was quickly shattered.

I didn’t quite know what to expect from this evening of 80s King Crimson live on stage in Las Vegas, but what I got was one of the year’s biggest and most unexpected surprises. This quartet knows exactly what they’re doing, and hopefully they’ll return to Sin City in the future. While getting an album of original material from these guys is probably a pipe dream, one can only be optimistic. In either event, this tour comes highly recommended if it comes to your city.