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When Cruise to the Edge announced their 10th-anniversary lineup, the “King Crimson reunion?” comments immediately, inevitably flooded in.
This time around, three former members graced the marquee: singer-guitarist Adrian Belew, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Bill Bruford, all of whom played together in the lauded ’80s lineup that spawned three definitive prog-rock LPs. Alas, that historic fan-fiction performance didn’t take place in 2026, despite the constant whispers that permeated every inch of the Norwegian Pearl. (They did all manage to pose for a photo, as Belew playfully documented on Facebook. Plus, he and Levin recently announced a European tour with their Crimson tribute Beat, a collaboration with Steve Vai and Tool’s Danny Carey.) Regardless, the fact that it was even possible says a lot about the promoters’ curatorial gumption.
Both Belew and Levin repped Crimson in their respective sets—the former with his virtuosic Power Trio, the latter with his fellow mad scientists in Stick Men (also featuring former Crim drummer Pat Mastelotto). Despite being temporarily derailed by some humorous guitar-looper flubs, Belew’s band was majestic as usual, nailing ’90s deep cuts (the roaring “Dinosaur,” the atmospheric “Walking on the Air”) alongside a handful of solo staples (the surging “Young Lions”).
When not scorching through their own knotty originals, Levin’s trio saluted different eras of Crimson history, including the math-y 2003 epic “Level Five.” (Speaking of math: Before their jittery centerpiece “Tentacles,” touch-guitarist Markus Reuter told the crowd, “I don’t know if there’s any place in the song where we’re all playing in the same time signature.” Few audiences would react gleefully to that comment. This was one of them.)
Ryan Reed, UCR
Bruford, meanwhile, focused entirely on the present—in the very literal sense. With the Pete Roth Trio, he cruised through two improvisational, exploratory sets that wove jazz harmony with funk rhythms and avant-garde moves. Given that Bruford was retired from drumming between 2009 and 2022, fans seemed thrilled just to see him set up behind his kit, navigating minimal grooves with his hallmark precision and curiosity. Scanning the theater crowd, you saw waves of cell phones zooming in on his every move—it felt warm and celebratory in a way few shows do.
Over the years, as various prog legends have died or stepped aside, Cruise to the Edge have stayed nimble—filling out the lineup with younger bands (like prog-metal mainstays Haken) and subtly broadening their horizons. That trend continued in 2026: Canadian post-rocker Alex Henry Foster staged two of the most intense, dynamic sets in the fest’s history, his voice rising from a hushed spoken-word to a violent scream over hypnotic Krautrock pulses, noise guitar spasms and chilled brass. Elsewhere, fellow Canadians Crown Lands earned two encores with their late-night atrium set, adding a live scrappiness to their spacey, Rush-influenced ruckus.
Still, the OG artists keep delivering year after year, headlined in 2026 by heavy-prog heroes Wishbone Ash and violin-keyboard virtuoso Eddie Jobson, who came out of retirement to revive a live project saluting former supergroup U.K. (That band’s first album, of course, featured none other than…Bill Bruford. Prog—it’s a small world, even when the music is enormous.)
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Gallery Credit: Ryan Reed
