King Crimson played a handful of shows in 2021, including a tour of the United States. Unfortunately those may have been the last shows for the band. According to King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp in an interview with Rolling Stone, the band is simply getting too old to be headed out on massive tours.
“[We have] no plans at all [to tour]. I think we have to view the reality of the age of the people involved. Two of us are 76, and shortly three will be. So going out for eight weeks to do performances of three hours and 20 minutes is a very big ask. It takes me six months to get ready as a player. King Crimson guitar parts for me are the Olympics of guitar playing. And being asked to do athletic feats that I was doing 40 or 50 years ago, that’s also a big ask.”
Fripp later added that touring during COVID could very well have bankrupted the band, and that the risk simply isn't worth it. "At the time, 40 percent of the new outbreaks were in those two states. If we had lost dates because of Covid, the King Crimson partnership would have been bankrupted. It was that much on an edge." In closing, Fripp said the only way King Crimson would undertake a massive tour again is if it was "the only way to prevent World War III."
Well, at least there are always the King Crimson live albums to listen to… and man are there a handful of 'em. And you can always go see Fripp and his wife Toyah Wilcox taking their Sunday Lunch covers on tour next year.
