Velodrome
From: Ulf Knolle
It was a powerful sound from
the guitar backline on the stage, wow... I also loved the folks around me, it was very nice
talking with Arne and friends, or the guy from Mexico, he was at all times singing along with the
lyrics.
There were many great moments, such as when Chester was playing the high notes during his solos,
and when
Roger looked me staight in my eyes. It was another chance to say: THANK YOU FOR YOUR
MUSIC!
PS. Berlin, sorry again for my little pig and Arne. I hope you have a funny
backstage-visit next time!
After Erfurt and K&oulm;ln the top of my own little ITF-tour. The Berlin-Velodrome was
the perfect hall for 9000 fans. (newspaper-count). I had the very best place in the
second row in front of the stage. It was between where Chester and Snowy stood.
We moved fast to the inner room of the hall where the “standing seats” should be (my friends Thomas and Marius (and me too) are all 17 and because we are still students we could only afford just a bad ticket for 45 EUR). Standing tickets are just so bad as you can place yourself in front of the stage – what we did. The remaining 90 minutes we sat on the ground until the show began. It was our first Waters/Floyd concert and we have been everything else, but not disappointed.
The setlist was the same as on the other concerts. Chester Kamen is a brilliant guitarist as well as Snowy White and of course Andy FL! I didn’t like Doyle on the DVD from the 1999 tour, because he is very bad in singing and playing Gilmour parts. But Chester was amazing in both! Congratulations, Mr Waters, for that good choice of a musician. Harry Waters and Andy Wallace on the keyboards mostly were in the background of the show, but Roger’s son made a quite funny impression on me.
Roger’s three background singers are amazing beautiful and have wonderful voices (remember PP Arnold’s solo during “Perfect Sense”). Graham Broad in fact is a great drummer, but he always seems to be quite cramped, but he is not the youngest at all. Norbert Stachel is a great saxophonist, also a very good choice. Did I forget someone? Ah, the Godfather himself ;) Roger Waters is an unbelievable musician. Although he is not the youngest anymore, he looked like 30 years ago (except in the face) when he took off his jacket and played the whole show in black muscle shirt.
I think I don’t have to mention every song. The whole show was at least 100 times better than the DVD. The most important fact for that is that they used real videos on the screen and not only pictures (as it was during the 1999 tour). Everything was greater and I think all of you will agree when I say I like a marching hammer video more than a marching hammer photo…
The whole band seemed to enjoy the whole show and you could hear it. Very few mistakes were made, but that is uninteresting, because it’s live music! My friends and I almost where the only ones in our area who could sing all the songs. And If my imagination doesn’t play games with me I’m quite sure (at the “Breathe Reprise” at the end of “Time” ;) Waters looked to me (relatively long) and If he did he surely thought “ Woah that guys at the age of 17 who hear the modern rubbish in the radio can sing all of my lyrics?”. Maybe he did. Maybe he did not. But that’s not the important point.
All in all it was the greatest concert I have ever seen
(besides a club concert from Rammstein for 200
people), although we stood on our legs for about 4 hours, I didn’t feel any
pain in them. During the concert and between several clouds of joint smoke I
wished that show would never end. But everything has an ending, only a sausage
has two…. ROGER, COME BACK TO BERLIN !!!
