Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Steve Vai, and Tool drummer Danny Carey join forces for the BEAT Tour, a creative reinterpretation of iconic '80s King Crimson albums.
They will come together this fall for an extensive tour across North America performing repertoire from these three King Crimson iconic albums The BEAT Tour will begin in San Jose, CA on September 12 at San Jose Civic with the final show planned for November 8 at Las Vegas, NV’s The Theater at Virgin Hotels. An artist pre-sale goes live today at Noon Eastern (Password: BEATTOUR), with the general on-sale set for Friday, April 5 at 10am local time here: www.BEAT-tour.com.
Guitarist Adrian Belew reflects, “The 1981 through 1984 King Crimson created a music all its own. Timeless. Beautiful. Complex. Fierce. For the fans who lived through it then, and the ones who never got to witness it, our aim is to bring it to life again. A monumental task but we're going for it! There are not enough exclamation points to express my excitement!”
Guitarist Steve Vai states, “Being a part of this ensemble is an extraordinary privilege and opportunity to perform some of the most beloved, timeless, and monumental music of the 80’s (and beyond) with truly inspired musicians. This music resonates deeply with me. Adrian, Tony and Danny are unique musicians with an otherworldly insight into presenting rich musical complexities in a very accessible way, and I am looking forward to searching each other’s musical minds in real time on stage. I’m sure sparks will fly.” He continues, “Father Robert Fripp is one of our historical geniuses. His highly specific and exceptionally brilliant guitar technique is studied and revered. His contribution to the quality of my musical life, and so many others is supreme. I can assure the fans of KC that I will be putting my best foot forward to respect this great music with the care and intensity it deserves. Did I say ‘sparks will fly?’”
Bassist Tony Levin offers, “This is going to be quite a tour. Revisiting some of my favorite music is a treat in itself, but in company of this stellar lineup, I expect to have my musical butt kicked! And it’s also great that we’re not just playing a few shows, we’re hitting it hard. So, Road Dogs are coming to your area soon.”
Drummer Danny Carey shares, “I am very excited to share the stage with three of my favorite musicians on the planet. Tony, Steve and Adrian have always been a source of inspiration for me since the beginning of my career, and now to be able to share a bit of my musical journey with them is a dream come true. There’s nothing better to make some sparks fly and light a fire under your ass than getting out of your musical comfort zone, and I can’t think of any other three guys I’d rather do this with. I think I can speak for all of us when I say I hope all of our fans are as excited as we are about this tour.”
The vision for this undertaking emanated from initial dialogue between Angelo Bundini aka Scrote and Adrian Belew. Tour Producer Bundini recalls, “When Adrian called me to help bring his idea to fruition, I immediately thought it best to focus on the 80s albums: Discipline, Beat, and Three Of A Perfect Pair. These three records famously marked Adrian and Tony's entry into King Crimson. Their fluid, melodic virtuosity, and Fripp's and Bruford's dramatic precision created a totally unique, dynamic push and pull that would influence nearly every rock musician and/or band going forward for years, if not decades, to come.”
The complete itinerary of planned appearances includes events in:
9/12 San Jose, CA San Jose Civic
9/13 Napa, CA Blue Note Napa Summer Sessions at Meritage Resort
9/14 Los Angeles, CA The United Theater on Broadway
9/15 Anaheim, CA City National Grove of Anaheim
9/17 San Diego, CA Humphrey’s Concerts
9/18 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
9/20 Austin, TX The Paramount Theatre
9/21 Houston, TX Bayou Music Centre
9/22 Dallas, TX Majestic Theatre
9/24 Atlanta, GA The Eastern
9/26 Fort Lauderdale, FL The Parker
9/27 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
9/28 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
9/29 Charleston, SC Charleston Music Hall
10/01 Charlotte, NC Knight Theater
10/02 Durham, NC Carolina Theatre of Durham / Fletcher Hall
10/04 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
10/05 New York, NY Beacon Theatre
10/06 Glenside, PA Keswick Theatre
10/08 Richmond, VA Carpenter Theater in Dominion Energy Center
10/09 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Center
10/11 Boston, MA Shubert Theatre
10/12 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
10/14 Halifax, NS Rebecca Cohen Auditorium
10/15 Moncton, NB Casino New Brunswick
10/17 Montreal, QC Theatre Maisonneuve
10/18 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
10/19 Rochester, NY Kodak Center
10/21 Albany, NY The Egg
10/22 Greensburg, PA Palace Theatre
10/23 Reading, PA Santander Performing Arts Center
10/25 Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre
10/26 Cincinnati, OH Taft Theatre
10/27 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre
10/28 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
10/30 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theatre
11/01 Chicago, IL Copernicus Center
11/02 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theatre
11/03 Madison, WI Orpheum Theater
11/04 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre
11/06 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
11/08 Las Vegas, NV The Theater at Virgin Hotels
For more information, please visit beat-tour.com.
TOOL have announced a mammoth 2022 tour, with the Los Angeles-based band spending 3 months traversing the U.S. followed by a month of European dates.
TOOL elected to kick off the highly-anticipated trek in Eugene, Ore. as a nod to the abrupt halt to their 2020 Fear Inoculum tour. Slated to play the Matthew Knight Arena on March 12, 2020, the show, along with the band's remaining tour dates, was canceled as nationwide lockdowns began to take effect that evening.
"It is with great pleasure I get to announce our return to the road," said Danny Carey. "These past 18 months have been trying to say the least but from great trials come great lessons and great rewards. We are genuinely looking forward to sharing them with you."
Tickets for all dates are on-sale this Friday, Oct. 1 at 10 am local time (UK and Irish dates are on-sale at 9 am local time). TOOL Army members can purchase pre-sale tickets for European dates on Sept. 28 at 10 am local time (24 hour pre-sale window), while U.S. pre-sale tickets are available on Sept. 29 at 10 am local time (36 hour pre-sale window). A selection of exclusive packages, which include a pre-sale ticket, will also be made available to TOOL Army members on Sept. 29 at 10 am local time.
Tour Dates
January 10 Eugene, OR Matthew Knight Arena
January 11 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
January 13 Boise, ID Ford Idaho Center
January 15 Sacramento, CA Golden 1 Center
January 16 San Francisco, CA Chase Center
January 18 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
January 19 San Diego, CA Viejas Arena
January 21 Phoenix, AZ Footprint Center
January 22 Las Vegas, NV T-Mobile Arena
January 25 Salt Lake City, UT Maverik Center
January 27 Denver, CO Ball Arena
January 30 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
January 31 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
February 2 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
February 4 Houston, TX Toyota Center
February 5 New Orleans, LA Smoothie King Center
February 8 Orlando, FL Amway Center
February 9 Tampa, FL Amalie Arena
February 10 Miami, FL FTX Arena
February 19 Boston, MA TD Garden
February 20 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
February 22 Washington, DC Capital One Arena
February 23 Belmont Park, NY UBS Arena
February 26 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
February 27 Buffalo, NY KeyBank Center
March 1 Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena
March 3 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
March 4 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center
March 6 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
March 8 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
March 10 Chicago, IL United Center
March 12 Omaha, NE CHI Health Center Arena
March 13 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
March 15 Kansas City, MO T-Mobile Center
March 17 Moline, IL TaxSlayer Center
March 18 St. Louis, MO Enterprise Center
March 20 Cleveland, OH Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
April 23 Copenhagen, DK Royal Arena
April 25 Oslo, NO Spektrum
April 26 Stockholm, SE Avicii Arena
April 28 Hamburg, DE Barclaycard Arena
April 29 Frankfurt, DE Festhalle
May 2 Manchester, UK AO Arena Manchester
May 4 Birmingham, UK Resorts World Arena
May 6 Dublin, IE 3Arena
May 9 London, UK The O2 Arena
May 12 Paris, FR AccorHotels Arena
May 13 Antwerp, BE Sportpaleis
May 15 Berlin, DE Mercedes-Benz Arena
May 17 Cologne, DE Lanxess Arena
May 19 Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
May 21 Krakow, PL Tauron Arena
May 23 Prague, CZ O2 Arena
May 24 Budapest, HU SportAréna
Blonde Redhead opens on dates from Jan. 10 to Feb. 10. The Acid Helps opens from Feb. 19 to March 20.
A 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom gets caught in the collectability zeitgeist.
In the vast galaxy of used and vintage Gibson Les Paul models, no star is rising quite like that of the Les Paul Custom. The eternally slick variant—which debuted in its original Black Beauty form in 1954—has been in a certain vogue over the past several years, and prices on used and vintage examples have gone up. For context, average Reverb sale prices on used or vintage Gibson Les Paul Customs increased about 10 percent in 2020 compared to 2019 and have risen nearly 30 percent since 2017. This pattern plays out with Epiphones as well, where Les Paul Custom models have gone up by about 24 percent over the past four years. Comparatively, prices on all used and vintage Gibson Les Paul Standards remained more or less flat over this same time span.
Within this general rising tide of Les Paul Custom popularity and value, today's focal model, the silverburst Les Paul Custom, has seen an even more pronounced jump. These guitars were produced by Gibson starting in 1978 in very limited numbers and underwent a few spec changes before being discontinued in the mid-'80s. Sale prices on this specific group of guitars surged 28 percent in 2020 over 2019, with a 52 percent increase in prices since 2017. Just a few years ago, original silverburst Customs were selling comfortably in the $3,000 to $5,000 range. Today, we're seeing the best examples go for more than double that.
The basic configuration of the single-cutaway Les Paul has remained no nonsense for more than 60 years, with two pickups, four dials, a 3-way toggle, and a Tune-o-matic bridge at its core.
While there are always a variety of drivers behind such a jump in the pricing of a vintage collectible guitar, an artist or stylistic association is certainly part of the equation. Customs claim a certain reputation as metal guitars—think Metallica, Mastodon, and Zakk Wylde—and while plenty of classic-rock titans have employed them over the years, it could be that there are more metal and hard-rock fans getting into the vintage market than in previous periods, driving up prices. For this group, a dapper Les Paul Custom makes a lot more sense as a guitar splurge than something like a sunburst or goldtop Standard.
With no belt rash or other notable dings or scrapes on the back of its mahogany body, this guitar was handled with care. Note the well-defined back binding and lack of chipping along the edges, too.
This column's featured guitar is an original 1979 in very good vintage condition, listed on Reverb by Nationwide Guitars of Cumberland, Maryland, at $8,999 as we go to press. It sports the specs typical of its year and model: a 3-piece maple top with a mahogany body, a medium C-shape maple neck, an ebony fretboard with white binding, a bone nut, mother-of-peal block inlays, a Tune-o-matic bridge, a pair of humbuckers, a 3-way pickup selector, and a black version of the usual Les Paul dual volume and tone controls. Note that the finish shows some greening, which is typical of vintage silverbursts.
True to its roots, this Custom sports a larger headstock, which identifies it as a product of the era when Gibson was owned by the Norlin Corporation.
In the case of this month's silverburst, we can confidently point to the 2020 launch of a Custom Shop reissue of Adam Jones of Tool's trusty '79 as the culprit. This sort of high-profile reissue often has the effect of spurring collector interest in its vintage counterpart, and this can be even more of a factor when the new reissues are sold at prices that are similar to or higher than the originals, which is the case with this model. The Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom VOS was also teased for a long while before going into production, creating more sustained silverburst hype, and this publicity was only amplified by news of a batch of these guitars being stolen this past November. While our guitar has some of the aforementioned finish greening in its center silver section, it's retained its original silverburst glow better than many of its brethren, which is appealing to collectors and players alike.