[Fully Lost] King Crimson 1969 German TV Footage

King Crimson's original formation was a very short lived one, only lasting from January 1969 to January 1970, and of the 86 estimated live shows from this era only 9 were ever recorded (most of the recordings are unfortunately incomplete too). Of these shows there was only one filmed, being their July 5th show at Hyde Park (this is their earliest existing live recording). It's unclear how much of this show was recorded but unfortunately most the tapes rotted away in singer Greg Lake's basement, succumbing to water damage, with only ~2.5 minutes ever seeing the light of day. Until recently it was believed this was the only footage from this era of the band, but that came to a screeching halt last July.

A Genesis fan who was in contact with someone over bootleg trading learnt that they had ~2 minutes of never-before-seen live in studio footage, they were originally suspicious until the contact provided (painfully low res) screenshots of said video (1, 2). Until that day not even those working for the band knew of this footage's existence, or the band ever doing an in-studio live film. Apparently this was a clip from a German TV show recorded in August 1969, likely in Wessex Studios which is where "In the Court of the Crimson King" was recorded. They were willing to hand over the footage for 50-60 euros, but despite members of the community willing to donate the money to the Genesis fan they decided not to buy it immediately, they instead forwarded this information over to King Crimson's record label DGM who never replied to their email.

While this story seems all well and good with the footage being available for only $60ish, tragedy would strike. It's unknown why (presumably because of not purchasing straight-up and bringing the label into the conversation) but this contact completely stopped responding to all emails a few weeks after the initial offer, it has now been over 8 months since they last responded. The Genesis fan told us to "totally forget about this" a few days ago.

It's a painful tale of choosing not to strike while the iron is hot, and having the opportunity of a lifetime slipping away because of it. It's good to know this footage definitely exists and that it has been digitised by its owner but is incredibly unfortunate that it will probably never see the public any time soon, if ever. The owner likely has personal affiliations with the unnamed German TV show in which this originally aired, so there's a good chance nobody else has this film.