Robert Fripp and Toyah have covered Lick It Up by Kiss and we may never sleep again

Robert Fripp and Toyah in their Kitchen — (Image credit: Toyah Willcox)

2023 was the year that Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox finally relaxed their relentless social media schedule. While the pandemic years saw the couple's much-loved Sunday Lunch broadcasts appearing with frightening regularity, the last 12 months have seen other activities – like touring, for instance – take centre stage.

But boy, have they ended the year with a bang. Less than a month after Kiss played their final ever show in New York, the pair have returned to the kitchen to film a cover of the 1983 Paul Stanley/Vinnie Vincent classic Lick It Up. And, for the duration of the performance, King Crimson leader Fripp sports a giant, completely grotesque Gene Simmons-style tongue.

As Kiss invest millions of dollars in a avatar-based production to ensure that their likenesses carry on earning as the real-life musicians settle into retirement, it would appear that Fripp and Willxox are in a position to provide a budget alternative should the Kiss coffers ever run dry.

Robert Fripp is scheduled to embark on a run of spoken word engagements with King Crimson manager David Singleton in California this February. On the tour, which kicks off at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz on February 23, the pair promise to answer such pressing questions as "Where does Music come from?", "When does the impossible become possible?" and "Why did Fripp put on a tutu and dance to Swan Lake at the end of his garden?".

Full dates below. For ticket links, visit the DGM website.

Robert Fripp & David Singleton: Englishmen Abroad tour

Feb 23: Santa Cruz Kuumbwa Jazz Center, CA
Feb 24: Sacramento Sofia Theater, CA
Feb 25: San Francisco The Chapel, CA
Feb 27: San Luis Obispo Cuesta PAC, CA
Feb 29: Agoura Hills Canyon Agoura, CA
Mar 01: Santa Barbara ETC at the New Vic, CA
Mar 02: San Juan Capistrano The Coach House, CA
Mar 03: Santa Monica McCabes Guitar Shop, CA
Mar 04: Los Angeles The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, CA

Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.