KisStadion
From: Michael Simone
Again I had made reservations for a hotel over the Internet, however this hotel,
as promised had air conditioning in all the rooms... (thank God!!) and (unlike my
hotel in Vienna) Internet access that really worked!!!
I was pretty messed up and seemed in a daze with only 3 hours sleep. So I
attempted to get a few hours sleep before the show began. Tibor was to pick me up
at 6 PM and would take me to the concert and help me pass out REG flyers. Because
of his extreme kindness and hospitality I offered Tibor one of my guest tickets
and back stage passes.
The open air KissStadion was a small open air stadium venue with benches for
seating around the sides and in back and standing room only in the center and in
front of the stage. We began handing out REG flyers to very receptive fans... at
least much more so than in Vienna. We set Flyers at each t-shirt and concert
memorabilia table which were grabbed up by fans buying concert stuff.
I passed out more REG flyers down in the crowd in the center of the area and in
front of the stage. Sometimes people were not interested and sometimes people
were... I had my back stage pass on and my REG membership card hung around my
neck so I may have looked somewhat official to some. So many took the flyer out
of curiosity more than anything else. It was really funny, and an experiment in
phychology. I would come upone 5 or 6 people who refused to take a flyer and then
nearby people standing or sitting would take one and then once 2 or 3 people took
one... and then everybody had to have one... people almost lined up to get one,
and those who previously had refused a flyer waited desperately to have one as
well, now that everyone else wanted one. This was repeated time and time again,
and soon I had no flyers left, well over 500 flyers passed out!
As I walked around at the back of the crowd, who did I spot but Andy Wallace
accompanied by Harry Waters. It was funny, nobody knew who they were. I said
hello again to Andy who I had met several times on the 1999 and 2000 tour, and
introduced myself to Harry. We exchanged pleasentries and I gave Harry and Andy a
copy of the latest REG magazine (I brought a copy for each member of the band).
Harry immediately spotted pictures of the band and seemed to like the picture of
himself and Andy. Both were interested in the fan reviews and said they would
read them later.
As I stood and chatted with Andy and Harry, a couple of fans came up to me asking
how to go about getting Roger's autograph... I said sorry I don't know.... and
continued chatting with Andy... then when Andy and Harry left me to continue
enjoying the atmosphere of the crowd, the fans asked me more questions about the
getting Roger's autograph... and I said... why don't you ask them... pointing to
Andy and Harry walking away.... in fact, why don't you get their autograph...
why, who are they said the fans... I said, not only are they the keyboard
players in the band but that is Roger's son... I smiled as their eyes bugged out
in astonishment.... and they proceeded to get their autograph and thanked me
profusely afterward.
Unfortunately there was no VIP section at this show... (not that I consider
myself in any way special, though I do appreciate any perks I get for doing all
the work I do for the club.) So we had to stand at the front and to the side of
the stage. And as tired as I was with a deficit of sleep, I endured standing for
3 hours but still managed to ejoy the concert in its entirety. But boy did my
feet ache by the end of the show.
During the first hour, as the sun was setting, the entire arena was invaded by
small hundreds of tiny gnats hovering about everywhere in front of your face,
getting into mouths and eyes if you were not careful. Blowing cigarette smoke
seemed to do little to dissuade them from annoying you. Even Chester Kamen began
swatting at them between licks... but once it got thoroughly dark the gnats went
away and were no longer an annoyance.
The show once again was excellent... the surround quad sound was enjoyed by
everyone. Again a wonderful Summer evening. The heat of the day quieted into
soothing cool breezes which passed through the crowd like welcome messengers of
good tidings. The cresent Moon cornered the sky wearing the costume of a mock
acclipse, which fit the theme of the night.
The age range of this crowd was surprizingly even younger than in Vienna. The age
range of the majority of the audience seemed to be between 18 to 25 or 30... It
was amazing how many high school age kids thronged to this show. I had the
oportunity to speak to a few of them, who surprizingly could speak English pretty
well. I asked their age... '17' said the two boys... I said how is it that you
like the music of Roger Waters? They replied 'Roger Waters and Pink Floyd are the
best music, the real music, with meaning... not like most bands of today....'
Pretty smart these kids!
During these shows... having marveled at many of them, I like to look around at
the faces of the audience. Time and time and time again I get to see the faces of
excitement... of worship... of increduality... I watch faces of those who have
spent years of their lives listening to the music of Pink Floyd and Roger
Waters... music which has individual and personal meaning to the lives of these
people. And seeing the emotion and expressions on their faces when they finally
have the oportunity to see the songs that have meant so much to them in their
lives... played live before them, passionately by their author is indescribable.
Watching many in a daze of memory as tears stream down their faces capturing
emotions of days gone by, of lives filled with both hardship and sorrow and hopes
and love... all plain to see in the faces of fans seeing this music played live
for the first time... it allows me to feel and remember my own tears and shivers
down the spine. The feelings the songs of Roger Waters communicate are special
amongst most all other artists and musicians. I'm not even sure Roger knows
completely, or understands, the affect his music has on the hearts and minds of
millions, or the effect of the emotional communication that takes place. It is
one of the most enjoyable parts of the shows for me.
The show was great... but Snowy and Chester didn't seem to be as into it as in
Vienna, though Harry seemed to be into it more so... Roger seemed to definately
enjoy himself and interacting with the crowed. He was continually going over to
the right hand side of the stage and gesturing and singing to us...
Once again, no after show meeting with the band... and no autographs for fans...
the band left immediately after the show. But a great time was had by all.
I arrived in Budapest via Hydrofoil boat down the Danube from Vienna. I was
extremly hot, tired and disgruntled, and felt ready to passout. To the rescue
however was soon to be REG member Tibor Bisztricsany. Of his own accord Tibor
arranged to meet me at the boat landing in Budapest, and he and his daughter
drove me to my hotel.
The Pink Floyd became my favourite band in the early 90's and (unfortunatelly) I have only the 'Pulse' video from them. So, maybe, seeing the Pulse, I expected something like that from Roger's show, but as I heard from one of my friends, he likes to keep concerts in much more smaller venues than in bigger stadiums like PF.
Having seen no other concerts (not only of Roger's but of others too), I cannot compare it with others, so this review is a subjective one.
OK, a few things that I didn't like: Snowy's acting on the stage, he seemed bored to me, although he tried to smile sometimes. I missed that Roger didn't say a 'Hello' to the audience or a few words. Chester Kamen is a good showman, he really tried to keep the atmosphere hot and whether he really enjoyed the show or not, but for me (and I think for the public too) it seemed that he enjoyed what he was doing. Andy Fairweather Low didn't come in the spotlight too often - only once during 'Money,' but it was quite OK for me.
When the second part of the concert begun I saw that Roger enjoyed it much more, especially the songs from his solo albums. He didn't hide his feelings, he was more dynamic on the stage and also the audience became more excited. OK, we don't have to forget that he is almost 60, and keeping this in mind, I really admire him.
All in all, I really liked the
whole show, and so did everyone else that I saw too. But... there was maybe a
little bit too much show business and not enough real sincerity (at least
for me :-). Anyhow, if he came again to Budapest for another show tomorrow,
I would be there indeed. I really liked very
much his music, and I wish very much that one day he will play
again together with the other members of Pink Floyd on a world wide tour!
Thanks
Szicsi
I learned about the tour in last October. Ever since I have been counting the days to the concert. I had purchased 3 tickets to the Austrian concert. Unfortunately, my son could not go because of a school fieldtrip. It really bothered me. This would have been the very first concert of his life, and who knows when he would have the chance to see Roger Waters again. I had to sell his ticket to a friend of mine.
I had another friend from Hungary who was so exited to see the concert that he left the tickets at home! He only realized this at the gate! He bought new tickets right away. No way he would miss this concert! I would have done the same.
After the concert we all drove to Hungary and slept at my mom's place. She lives close to the Austrian-Hungarian border. It took me less time to drive there than back home. Though I had to drive back to Austria the next day to meet my son who just arrived back from the fieldtrip. His first quetion was 'how was the concert?' The only answer that could be was that it was just fantastic. I saw on his face that he was so sad that he could have not seen it. I knew that he expected one question: Do you want to go to the concert in Budapest? Of course he wanted to.
We decided right away that we would go. First I had to drive home for his passport and for the address of the concert. Through the internet it took only a few minutes. We left at 14:30. I had to drive 400 km... and there was the bordercrossing. The concert in Budapest was to start at 8 pm. No tickets yet. The pressure was on.
We got to the border at 16:30, and half of the trip was still ahead. I exchanged some money, had coffee to keep me awake, and Fanta to cool me down in the soaring 35 C degrees temperature. Then lets go... Roger Waters was waiting for us.
By 18:30 I parked the car just a few streets away from the stadion where the concert was to take place. On our way to the stadion, I called the ticket office and was happy to find out that there was some tickets left for the concert.Ê
At 19:00 we were very close to the stage. We would stay there for sure! I could see on the face of my son that he was the happiest kid in the world. This made me very happy too. I could not have given any better present to him. This would be the first concert of his life and look who was playing!
The only problem was that not any other concert would top this. My first thoughts after the Austrian concert were what should I see after this. I think I would be only disappointed.
A few thoughts about the concert: I was in the second row on both concerts. I was pleased that the fans and the band were not isolated by many meters. So there was a great atmosphere. I bought the CD and the DVD, but the live concert is the real thing. In summary, it was just perfect. Every member of the band gave his best on both concerts. There was no lasershow, fog, or fireworks, only great great music. Great music and lyrics with deep meaning that would stay with me forever.
Roger Waters is a genius musician, a real artist with heart and soul.
This was the best weekend of my life. I only wish that I could meet
him once in person, and to listen to his new recordings
Steven, one true fan
On Saturday evening, we turned up in the vicinity of the Kis Stadion about an hour and a half before show time in order to get the car parked, and found that hardly anyone was around. The temperature at 7.00pm was around 95 degrees, so we packed up a rucksack with bottles of water to take to the show.
After queuing for half an hour (the advertised gate opening time wasn't adhered to) the security chaps advised us that bottles of no kind were allowed into the stadium, so we hid ours behind a tree just inside the gate. This was to prove immensely useful at half-time. We were among the first into the stadium (which is quite small, maybe around 10,000 - hence the name "Kis" which means "small" in Hungarian) and so made our way to the barrier stage-front and hung around on the roasting concrete till showtime.
Being alienated from the World Cup in this foreign clime, I approached the sound-desk area and shouted to Andy Gibb to find out the England score, which turned out to have been 3-0 to the sassenachs. "Don't be like that!" quoth Mr Gibb on observing my pained expression at the news. Never mind, Brazil did the job quite nicely a few days later.
The crowd was (obviously) mostly Hungarian, but there were the usual loudmouthed Americans who always seem to appear at these gigs (I recall similar fools being present at the Berlin show in 1990), planning their assault on the front of the stage. We managed to blag a couple of T-shirts with the English money we had (our Hungarian forints had been erroneously left in the car), and sat and listened to Peter Gabriel on the pre-show tape.
The show started at about ten past eight, while it was still light and still roasting hot. Snowy White appeared somewhat disillusioned, even pissed off about something. Whether he'd fallen out with someone or was miffed that the lightshow/projections couldn't be seen in the light is anybody's guess, but it was quite amusing to observe his grimaces and pouts. Roger appeared on a riser at the rear of the stage for the opening segment of Wall songs to great acclaim, and it has to be said he resembles an aging stick insect. Quite the opposite of Fat Dave from the old band. An interesting allusion to happy fat cats and bitter poor cousins could be made, but let's not take it that far...
So, everyone knows the show by now. For me, the first set dragged a little - probably due to over-familiarity with the music. Only when Andy Fairweather-Low bounced forward making huge guitar noises did a level of excitement grow. WYWH was sung with great gusto in loud Hungarian accents, and I found the fade at the end of the song most impressive.
The quad sound system was nice, but pretty ineffectual most of the time. Two small stacks at the top of the back of the stadium worked well when dedicated, as in the helicopter noises and oil-rig attack, but were mostly swamped during songs. Sound quality was otherwise excellent in this outdoor situation, but could have used a few more decibels.
Half-time: out to find the water bottles and consume a straight litre and a half of water in one go. Budapest can be very warm at this time of year. On the way back in, a chap from the seated area shouted down and asked us to lend him a ticket so he could get into the floor area. We did, and he seemed very happy with it, returning our ticket after he'd passed the security blokes.
I enjoyed the second half much more. The Amused to Death material was fantastic - personally, I'd have settled for the whole album played live and the ditching of the old stuff completely, but that doesn't sell tickets. If Roger goes out again, I'd have to think twice about paying to hear SOYCD, CN, ABiTW yet again. Time to drop the past, I say.
Also, I think finishing the evening with "Flickering Flame" is an interesting idea, but less than sensible. Following Comfortably Numb, it serves only to flatten the atmosphere, drain the adrenalin and leave the concert-goer with a feeling of unfamiliarity and a sense of the new material being merely a rehash of old ideas. The sunset backdrop was nice, though. We bumped into the Bill Deak Blues Band (renowned in Magyar rock circles) sitting at the back of the stadium after the show.
As for material generally, I think the set would have benefitted hugely from a rendition of "Not Now John" with Mr Fairweather-Low given noisy guitar duties.
All in all, it was worth it to hear the AtD material played live. As I
said, however, I don't think I'd pay to see the old material played live
again unless I was combining the gig with a trip abroad for added fun.
(I still haven't seen Roger play in my own country.)
Angus Mair and Vano Ildiko
P.S. Unfortunately for me, on my travels I managed to miss Motorhead in
Vienna; Supertramp, Tankcsapda and Dream Theater in Budapest and the
latter also in Prague - all by a couple of days. Next time I may plan my
itinerary better. We did, however, get to visit many interesting places
and drove through Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria,
Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, camping in strange places.
