Robert Fripp reveals: “I will no longer perform live with King Crimson”

Robert Fripp has stated that he will never again perform live with King Crimson. In a new interview given to Uncut, the English musician once again addressed the heart problems he faced last year and the consequences that have changed his relationship with live performance. The 80-year-old guitarist suffered a heart attack while in Italy for one of his Guitar Craft courses. The hospitalisation had already been recounted in 2025 during "Upbeat Moments", the format he made together with his wife Toyah Willcox. During that period the couple had also temporarily suspended their popular YouTube series "Sunday Lunch". Fripp had explained that he was admitted to intensive care in Bergamo and underwent two emergency surgical procedures after being diagnosed with a trifurcated artery. Looking back on those moments, the guitarist had recounted that he initially mistook the heart attack for simple heartburn. It was a member of the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists who got him to hospital.
In the interview with Uncut, Fripp explained that he radically changed his lifestyle after the operation, introducing gym workouts and yoga into his daily routine. "I haven't felt this good in decades", he stated, adding that his physical recovery was surprisingly quick after having a stent fitted and undergoing the subsequent second operation.

His words on the future of King Crimson live performances, however, were far more clear-cut. "Playing guitar with King Crimson is like competing in the Olympics. I set myself standards of semiquavers at 156 or 158 beats per minute: by now it's very hard to get back to that level. There are certain passages that today, I have to accept, are enormous challenges. But I no longer feel the need to perform live." Fripp then added: "This is only the beginning of a new chapter away from the stage. I want to work with the Guitar Craft students, putting all my commitment into it."
Fripp finally denied that a new King Crimson album is in the works: "Jakko Jakszyk was supposed to be handling it, but I believe he got caught up in other projects and in the end it never reached me." "Sunday Lunch", born in 2020 during lockdown as a simple creative outlet shared with Toyah Willcox, has over the years become an online cult phenomenon, eventually turning into a live show that was even brought to the stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2023.

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