Köln Arena
From: Ralf Wilke
The sound was as good as I had hoped... the sound was absolutely perfect.
And soon, I am sure, a tape from this performance will appear.
There was someone at the gig, who took about 300 photos. I guess, in about two or
3 weeks, I can take a look at the first pics. I will then offer a couple of the
best shots on this page.
And I agree with Arnout E. Ratelband: "Disappointment for me was Harry Waters'
keyboard playing. He clearly misses the subtlety of Jon Carin. I also think that
the Flickering Flame does not work well as a concert closer. It was a complete
anti-climax to a nearly perfect gig. As well the song is one of his best!"
But in the end: You can't compare concerts of Roger to any performance of Pink
Floyd in the past or future!
It was fantastic. I've seen Roger for the first time and hopefully not the last
time. During the last two songs (encore: flickering flame!!!) I stood directly in front
of the stage, very near to Roger (only 2m). I could hear the sound of his
accustic guitar without the speakers. It was a really great feeling. And in the end I
got a handshake from Katie Kissoon. This was an unbelievable
moment too.
In the eighties I saw him performing The pros and cons of hitch-hiking in Ahoy, Rotterdam. All his solo works make a deep impression to me. So I went to Keulen.
I left the concert with mixed feelings. The joy of being there, the magnificant show was marvelous. I was a little bit down, because from the place I was seated in the Oberring we could not see the whole screen. But I couldn't let that overcome me. Even though I could not see the screen, it was still a really great experience anyway. The well balanced light show, using the whole arena. Not overdone, just right. What more can I say?
Please Roger don't let us wait too long for a new album, and I don't mean the "Flickering Flame," for I already have that in my collection. And please come again, I'll sure try to get a ticket for better seats.
Although I had some doubts that Roger wouldn't be as good as in the earlier days, the spirit of Pink Floyd was still there. The band was really fantasic and I would like to point out that Chester was pretty good at being David. I've never seen a show which lasted more than two hours before, and I don't think that Roger is as commercial as he is often portrayed in papers.
The favourite song of the audience is still "Comfortably Numb". Every musician has his chance to show what he can do during this song, and everyone feels the emotional climax in the superb guitar dueling solos. Neither "Money" nor "Another Brick in the Wall" excites 20.000 People as much as this Gilmour - Waters song.
Less interesting were the two tracks: "Dogs" and "Set the controls for the heart of the sun",
but it's only my opinion and I don't claim to be right. Hope to see the band again someday!
I was there together with both my sisters and we really enjoyed the show, even though we didn't have the best seats (ober ring first line)
The sound was very good and the visual effects were as expected in balance with the show!
It was very nice to see how Roger enjoyed playing for us, andhaving contact with the audience.
For me the show reached its climax when the songs from Rogers masterpiece "Amused to Death" album were played. The atmosphere created around it was very warm, difficult to describe. I've never seen a performance that great!
Now the end of the show. I've read lots of comments about the new song "Flickering Flame", which wouldn't be a good show closer. Honestly, I also hoped to hear "Each small candle", but thinking about it later on, "Flickering Flame" is a good closer. It was a very warm way of saying "good Bye", and this fitted perfect with the warm atmosphere of the whole concert.
So Roger, thank you for this impressive show and I hope we will hear form you
again in the very near future!
Hans Mulders
At first a few statistics of both shows!
The band included:
Roger Waters Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Andy Fairweather-Low Guitar, Bass, Backing Vocals
Snowy White Guitar
Chester Kamen Guitar, Vocals
Graham Broad Drums
Harry Waters Keyboards
Andy Wallace Keyboards
Katie Kissoon Backing Vocals
P.P. Arnold Backing Vocals
Carol Kenyan Backing Vocals
Norbert Stachel Saxophone, Flute
The Set-List (nothing new!):
In The Flesh
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall (part 2)
Mother
Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert
Southampton Dock
Pigs On The Wing (part 1)
Dogs
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 1 - 5)
Welcome To The Machine
Wish You Were Here
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 6 - 9)
20 min. intermisssion
Speak To Me
Breathe
Time
Breathe Reprise
Money
5:06 AM - Every Stranger's Eyes
Perfect Sense (part 1)
Perfect Sense (part 2)
The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range
It's A Miracle
Amused To Death
Brain Damage
Eclipse
Comfortably Numb
Encore:
Flickering Flame
The shows saw a really relaxed Roger, who obviously enjoyed the performance. He even signed some autographs during the intermission in Cologne.
His voice sounded clear and fresh, and he even managed the difficult high parts in 5:06 AM. When Chester Kamen handled the lead vocals (his voice sometimes reminds me of Richard Wright), Roger sang along to himself. All in all, the sound was very powerful with a lot of special effects throughout the shows. Pure energy though!
Roger looked several times at the backdrop films and even had a smile on his face, when he saw himself falling into the corn field (an old '67 video - some stills of it are on the last page of the tour book).
The song Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun features not only a part of this video, but also stills from the Arnold Layne promo video and the old fashioned oil slides from the 60's (more of this especially during Shine On You Crazy Diamond over a photo of Syd).
All members of the band did a wonderful job, but Snowy White seemed on both days somewhat indifferent and mentally far away. But he's obviously not a very extravagant guy!
Throughout the intermission in the middle of the show, you can hear a fimilar sound collage with birds, planes, barking and other snippets from mother nature. But it's not the same as the one before the Floyd shows. Low points of the show was the weak and uninspired Parts 1 and 2 of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Waters' son Harry couldn't reach the atmosphere of the original song, and Snowy didn't catch the feeling of Gilmour's guitar playing. It sounded a bit simple and the magic of these parts of the song were gone.
I also didn't like,that Brain Damage followed Amused To Death. The melancholic end of Amused To Death with the moving words of Alf Razzell and the memorial of Bill Hubbard just didn't fit with the funny 'the lunatic is on the grass' a few seconds later. The encore The Flickering Flame (a fantastic song!) left the audience waiting unsuccessfully for a real powerful end to the show.
The highlights of the show were in my view the performances of Pigs On The Wing, Dogs, Welcome To The Machine (with the original backdrop film) and above all Perfect Sense Part 2. This song was the killer with P.P. Arnold at her best! The whole audience sang along with Roger conducting his huge choir.
The concert in the Koeln Arena in Cologne had a slightly clearer sound and the Arena itself was very impressive, with the ranks winding up endlessly up to the roof. The show started promptly at 08:01 pm and ended at a staggering 10:56 pm (intermission 09:19 pm - 09:40 pm). So we had 154 min. pure Waters!
I really enjoyed the show and won't forget this very moving moment (at least for me), when Roger first hit the stage! This was a lifetime experience! With my seats in the 5th and 3rd row (center stage), I sat in a short distance from Roger and was able to see all his little gestures.
One guy told me, that Roger signed autographs in his hotel in Cologne on the day of the concert, and on the next day a lot of items for his fans. This guy alone got around 30 autographs from him! Unfortunately, I found out about this one day too late, as I was wandering around in Cologne this very day and even passed by this hotel a few times. So it would have been easy to get an autograph and just say a few words to him!
Although this part of my journey failed, I have to say, that these 2 shows were worth the money I spent for these high priced tickets. I will always remember Roger's open attitude to the audience. Hopefully, when he tours again in the future, he will play more solo stuff. I would like to hear more of it. He could just kick off Another Brick In The Wall and the Dark Side songs, mainly Money. I think, we've heard these songs often enough in the last 20 or 30 years!
On the other hand, at age of 58, it's more than doubtful that Waters will ever tour again. His new album should be out in 2003, but, as we all know, this could also mean 2004 or 2005 ...
The only hope I have for another tour, is the obvious joy, he felt throughout the shows. So let's hope for more magic moments with him ...
When the show started it was like a dream come true. Powerful sound and a perfect view from center stage row 16, a bit on the girls' side. It was indeed very loud, and the guitars sometimes hurt my ears. But overall still very nice.
The movies were fantastic, especially on Welcome to the Machine! Perfect visualization of the song, really! When the hammers moved on the screen during the first song I realized that the visuals must have changed in comparison to the U.S. Tour. I think they only used slides there. Now it was really impressive!!
I must say, I was really anxious to know, how Chester Kamen was gonna do his job, because I think Doyle Bramhall did really well. But frankly, Chester blew me away! He makes everything sound totally Floydish, but still puts his own energy into it. But this energy fits better than Doyle's energy. Doyle is a great Blues player, with a kind of Stevie Ray Vaughn style. But can anybody tell me how that matches to Old Floyd stuff? I really liked Doyle's guitar, but it sometimes sounded like Pink Floyd with a guest Blues Player, instead of just Pink Floyd with new energy. I hope you understand what I mean. It's a question of musical language.
Anyways, I think Harry Waters had a bad night tonight because his keyboard playing in Shine on indeed did not get close to Jon Carin or even Rick. Listening to many recordings from 99-00, I think Rogers solo stuff has improved VERY much. I even think it was received better by the audience than the Floyd stuff before.
A little set back was the shortened Another Brick solo and the Comfortably numb
solo, which I think was much more melodic on the U.S. Tour. Chester really goes
crazy, which makes everything just noisy, instead of beautiful. Snowy comes in
differently as well. But what can I say after such great work in Dogs etc...
Over all, an inpressive show in an impressive arena, with really loud sound.
