Robert Fripp Frippertronics Tour

I kind of had forgotten all about this but around 1980(?) in Boston, I got to witness a performance by Robert Fripp at a very small hall at Boston University. It was comprised of guitar and tape, and was very interesting. Did anyone else see him do this live?
Ah, Boston in the 80’s... I saw Glenn Branca, Laurie Anderson, Psychic TV, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell and Fripp in intimate spaces or art galleries! I even met Jon Hassell next to me at the men’s room urinals!

 

No but I saw him do his more evolved version Soundscapes at World Financial Center for free once around 2000. It was odd in that it was difficult to discern any connection between his activity and the sound produced.

 

Frippertronics - Wikipedia

 

He did one at Caper's Corner in Kansas City. I didn't see it but my brother did.

 

He came through Austin in 1979, but I was about a year old. The venue was a Sound Warehouse record store that closed in the mid 80's. I do have a vague memory of the store - walls of cassettes and rows of cramped vinyl record stands. Maybe one of my oldest memories, at least of a record store.

Quite a few recordings were made on these Frippertronics tours. I like the music and the intent. I also quite enjoy the League of Gentlemen (even more than the beep-boop Frippertronics).

 

In 1979, (June 6, according to DGM) I saw Robert Fripp's Frippertronics tour, where he played at Passim, as small folk club in Harvard Square. I wasn't able to get inside, so my bandmates and I were outside, on the back wall. The back wall was to a small garden area that was right behind the stage, and there were glass doors form the stage to the garden. Fripp encouraged us to get closer and opened up the back door so we'd get better sound. Earlier in the day he was signing records and talking to fans at the Coop. One guy brought an SG for hi to sign, which he gladly did. He was also promoting Exposure.

I saw him a year or so later at the Paradise, (a small club near Boston University) where he gave a lecture on Frippertronics and music etc. The only thing he played there, as I recall, was the opening chord progression to Purple Haze. He came back a little later to the Paradise with League of Gentlemen, too. Good times, for certain.

 

I wish he'd recorded more around this time using Frippertronics. The later soundscapes aren't the same. The early efforts were crude, simpler - and all the better for it. We really only got one album. Sad.

 

Saw Fripp on Mar 28, 1983 . He did a couple of Loops which included Fracture. Finished off with a Lecture..

 

I saw him play in Dallas on the Frippertronics tour - I've forgotten if it was at Peaches or Sound Warehouse. He signed my copy of Exposure afterward.

 

I saw a Frippertronics show in '83 (I think it was). I was attending San Francisco City College, and Fripp was to appear at San Francisco State, across town. I skipped half a day's classes to go to see Robert Fripp for the first time. He demonstrated his Frippertronics system/method, and also did a Q+A with the audience. I remember holding up my hand at one point to ask a question, and Fripp, although he took someone else's question, gave me just the most subtle, almost imperceptible nod, and I put my hand down. He took my question next without my having to raise my hand again. I remember I asked him something about Scary Monsters.

 

I saw him at McGill University in March of 83. It was part lecture, part performance.

Same month I saw Jon Hassell performing in a Montreal church sitting on some large cushions (or so I remember it).

 

A little bit of humor about the first Frippertronics tour, he expressed dismay (or outrage, not sure) about a lavish party and investment in the UK tour by Polydor. The Frippertronics tour got squat.

 

I saw him perform this at Allentown University (i think that was the college) in the mid to late 90's with the California guitar trio opening. I was a big Crimson fan at the time so i was super excited for the show and left having no idea what i just listened to lol...

 

My Frippertronics gig was at the Peaches in Ft Lauderdale, FL (1979).

 

I got inside . I saw the League at the Paradise, too, if you got in for that.

 

I understand he was trying to do random locations for performance back then as well. What a trip it would have been to be at the laundromat, rinsing your skivvies...and here come the roadies with the tape decks...

 

Market Theater, Seattle, summer '79. Maybe 50 people in attendance (that's about how many seats in that microscopic art-film cinema.) The repertoire was, he played one pass with the tape generating very long, looping delays; then, he turned the tape over and improvised over that! ...

He took questions from the audience afterwards. I asked something irrelevant about Dorset and its' countryside, to which Fripp responded with good humour.

 

Brave producers indeed! I can’t imagine any network airing this today. Amazing in every sense.

 

In fact, a recording of the music is an inevitable byproduct of the tape loop system itself!

There are tons of Frippertronics recordings. Lots available on DGMLive.

 

1979/80 s0unds about right. I was a student at NYU and saw this at a church on second avenue near St. Marks place

 

Robert Fripp, 30th of November 2000 at World Financial Centre

 

I'd love to see a 'Soundscapes' box set

Some of his performances are truly awe inspiring

 

I've seen Fripp play Soundscapes and it was an extremely moving experience. It's not every day a piece of music makes you cry, but when it's Fripp it happens. As a general "sound" I prefer the old Frippertronics and I love listening to those albums and live shows from DGM that I've got.

 

Definitely interested in a box set. I wonder if a 5.1 mix is possible?.