In The Flesh 2002
Tour Reviews

To say we were pumped would be an understatement. Windows down, In The Flesh blasting, telling anyone who would listen that we were off to see a genius. And that is how it turned out.

The understated power, class and magnificent sound ensured that Roger's concert in Melbourne was an experience I, my wife, her sister and their dad would not forget.

These aspects of the concert only served to enhance the majesty of a master modern poet and story teller, an artist who we pray will return. Thanks Roger for a wonderful night, tears yep, joy and just a wonderful night.
Cheers
Jo and Glenn Stewart
Melbourne Australia

A fantastic show with Roger looking very relaxed and genuinely happy to be playing live, even interacting with the crowd (no wall there!). Roger's solo stuff stands up particularly well in the company of the Pink Floyd songs, and the four song sequence from Amused To Death was a real highlight.

There were a couple of minor glitches, mainly at the beginning of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, where Snowy White's guitar volume fell close to zero, and Harry Waters keyboards were too far forward in the mix to the point of distortion. Also, the childrens chorus in Another Brick In The Wall might have been a millisecond out of phase.

Unlike the Sydney review, I thought Chester Kamen's vocals (particulatly in Dogs) and guitar work were fine. However, Snowy White did seem a bit subdued, and Harry Water's probably needs a bit more time on stage to polish up a bit more. But these are minor quibbles that only made the show that bit more real.

To misquote Bono from Rattle And Hum, here were some songs Pink Floyd stole from Roger Waters, Roger Waters is now stealing them back.

I was hoping to attribute their "lacking" performance to jet lag, from the trip to Australia. Gladly I can say that the Melbourne concert was exactly what I had hoped for. The guitar work was once again faithful to the music and there was much less impromptu improvisation from Kamen. He played the solo from "Dogs" perfectly and avoided the temptation to play spastically during Shine On.

Snowy White was still a bit lacklustre though, and again no Gold Les Paul guitar? My friend Ian had a theory. That Qantas Airlines lost his Les Paul and he was pissed off with Australia and sulking. But never the less, he was 200 percent up from the Sydney concert and made no noticeable mistakes.

A few incidents that happened:
First set Graham Broad's drum kit began to disintegrate. A Roadie jumped in and saved the day, adjusting and tightening the various bits and pieces. The best part.... If you were blind you wouldn't even have known it was happening. Broad kept it together and didn't lose a beat. While Broad's drumming in Sydney was perfect, here in Melbourne he seemed to give just that much more. He was more vibrant and aggressive with his drum style which made the impact of songs like "Time" and "Money" just outstanding.

During the third solo in "Shine On" we had a major loss of sound from Snowy. This was his first big solo for the night and you could barely hear it. I was watching the sound desk and they began frantically adjusting and turning knobs and dials, but to no effect. Again the Roadie on stage jumped in and began moving the stuff around with his lead connections to his effects pedals. While we lost that entire solo, the problem was fixed with no further hassles.

The sound mix was much more effective than in Sydney. There was a higher fidelity in the sound system and Roger's lyrics were far clearer and defined. Although the bass rumble for "Welcome to the Machine" didn't seem to saturate the stadium as much as Sydney. (needed even more sub woofers)

Having expected so much from the Roger, and having waited the best part of a quater of a century for the privilege, I can say that all in all it WAS the most important music event of my life. While the Floyd in '88 had the impressive visual effects, Roger brought with him much much more... I can now die in peace.

Roger concluded the concert with the following; "Thank You... It had been a real pleasure to perform for you. It's a bloody long way down here... But worth it." I was touched.

That's all. Hope the rest of the tour is fabulous for those still waiting. Michael Weinman

Andrew Stenhouse's review covers things very well, and I too agree that Chester Camen's vocals and guitar work were very good. Sure he does not sound like David Gilmour, but I did not go to see an imitation Pink Floyd show I went to see Roger and his band perform in the way that they have chosen.

I will remember for a long time how the music felt feeling your chest pounding to the bass and drums is extraordinary, and no CD or DVD will ever create that feeling. Adding to the experience were the emotion on the performer's faces, and complimented with the backdrop of visual images. Alf Razzell (ATD) is no longer just an old man's voice, but an image in my mind now.

The band seemed very tight and together on several occasions Roger and Andy F-L would be chatting away at the back of the stage, sharing a joke. Also towards the end of the concert, the end flew off one of the drum sticks and landed right in front of the backing singers. At the end of the concert this was returned (by PP I think) and she was greeted by a big hug. They all seemed to be enjoying their time there.

The Final Cut sequence was the highlight for me in the first part of the show, although more purist Floydian fans would probably have enjoyed the Wish You Were Here set more. It seemed to me that the Over 40's were there for the Floyd stuff, while the under 40's (I qualify - just!) were there for the solo work.

I enjoyed the second half particularly with Roger enticing the crowd to sing the global anthem of Perfect Sense. By the time of Comfortably Numb, our portion of the crowd was in full voice!

Roger is not a showman like Freddie Mercury, but I have never had goosebumps or been close to tears so many times in a concert. This performance had real feeling. The crowd gave him at least two and maybe three standing ovations. We flew back home early the next morning very happy.
Burns Fallow

Roger played all his Floydclassicsas well as from his solo albums. My brother, brother-in-law, and I, were fortunate enough to be in the second row and we were blown away. The other band members were excellent although Snowy White looked as if he was ready to fall asleep a couple of times. The best concert I have been to.
Hurry back Roger!
Regards
Jim Fotiniotis

When Roger first walked out on stage and launched into "In The Flesh" there were so many people standing with their jaws open just like the audience in the Wall movie during "In The Flesh", I noticed a lot of those faces had tears running down their cheeks but once they cleared up there were permanent smiles that people couldn't get off their faces.

The roar of the crowd was certainly contagious and after 3 hours I was definitely not ready for it to finish. The "Dave Gilmour" stand in did a fantastic job singing but I thought his guitar playing could have been a bit better. But all in all I loved every minute of it.

I drove 700km from Adelaide for this concert, then drove straight home afterwards, and I would do it all again if he was to come back. I reckon this concert brought a lot of people out of their houses, lot's of the middle aged guys and gals that have been waiting a long time to see Roger Waters. Remember last time Pink Floyd was here Roger was not with them! It's not every day one gets to see Pink Floyd songs sang with the vocals they were originally recorded with. But in saying that, I think that the Amused to Death segment of the concert was the hi-light.

Some reviews have been less than favourable towards the concert, but I can't imagine why? The man - "Roger" - came to Australia and played for us, something he hasn't done for many years! I would have been happy if he had been sitting on a bar stool with an acoustic guitar. What more can I say,... I loved it.

The show was extremely sequenced. There was no stage patter. I believe Roger needs to change the set list to bring a bit of spontaneity to the show. When that happens the show will improve from a good show to a great one.

There were a couple of technical problems throughout the show, but the sound greatly improved as it went on. i.e when Snowy's guitar lead gave up the ghost during his Shine On guitar solo. Over all, an event, not just a concert.

I am glad I went! It was fantastic! I did not know what to expect. I had all these thoughts of The Wall concerts in Berlin 1990. I was expecting a styro-foam bricked wall as a backdrop and all these guest artists! Boy was I wrong. It was better!

It was very intimate and it made the Rod Laver Arena seem like a school hall, where every one knew each other. In fact the crowd was already subdued by the time they all came and sat down. I was directly at the back facing the stage straight ahead. Looking around at the crowd, I saw people of all ages, which was also surprising as I was expecting only 30 something fans that remember Roger from his Pink Floyd days. It was great to see so many young people with Pink Floyd t-shirts walking around. Everyone had a very calm feel about them and everyone was pumped to see the man himself! The REAL Pink Floyd!

The most amazing thing was the overall quality of the music. It sounded fuller, with more oomph! I mean we've all heard the songs hundreds of times before, so it was not new, in terms of the lyrics and what to "expect". Boy was I wrong again! The music sounded totally new, the singing quality, especially with the wonderful voices of those ladies, just made the songs sound entirely new, with new life and new vigour. I was stoked.

By the end of the concert I wanted to cry! People were shouting MORE...MORE...MORE..... I lost my voice! Only one encore, which was the last song on his In The Flesh double CD album. In fact the songs were exactly the same as those in In The Flesh, with the exception that Set The Controls for The Heart of The Sun was played after Dogs.

Listening to Animals and other studio albums just does not cut it, with Roger's live concerts! Please come back to Australia, Roger! Thank you.

PS: I took my mini-disc and recorded the first half up to Shine on You. So if anyone has a recording of the second half of his Melb show, please email me!

Couldn't find the bar - bugger - so went to the venue. A huge arena where they hold the Australian Tennis Open. Lots of pictures and statutes of old tennis players.Picked up our tickets from the box office and the went and sat outside in the sun to rest and chill out

Could hear the rehearsals inside - Money over and over again and again.Got very dull after the 20th time ;-).

The venue has one of those systems that scans the tickets - very neat, but no security check. Very useful if you wanted to record the show ;-). Our seats were a little further back tonight in the centre so hopefully the sound would be better.

Again 15 minutes late, the lights dim and boom - the fireworks herald the start of the show. Same setlist again but this time the projections are different. Used the oil slides much more this time. Instead of just using through Shine on they used it during Set the Controls as well.

At the end of Amused to Death a list of names is projected onto the screen like it is off a memorial and indeed Bill Hubbards name is there - but the others are a little odd - Bomber Harris? He was WW2!! and didn't die either (mores the pity if you have ever been to Dresden) Also when you look at the names they seem random but if you take the first name off one line and the surname on the line immediately above or below you get things like "James Guthrie"!!! I wonder if there is an in joke there. I'd like to see a still shot of all of them. Maybe this is Rogers enigma?

This was my third show and to be honest I am not that impressed with Chester Kamen - he really can't copy Gilmour and has neither the stage presence not flair of Doyle. He seems lost on the classic stuff and spends most of his time trying desperately to replicate the album versions but fails miserably. Snowy also seems to be asleep most of the time - or at least that's how he acts. His seeming disinterest really ruins the sound. Also the guitar duel during C Numb is no where near as good as the 99 and 2000 shows (I was lucky enough to see both tours) - BRING BACK DOYLE ;-). Also to me it proves just how good Gilmour is as both these guitarists cannot copy what he does on his own. Gilmour even managed more in London in January with his acoustic!

Roger again referred to the fact that Australia was a long way to come (and believe me it is a bloody long way) so maybe the distance was having an effect on their performance - except PP Arnolds. Her bit in Perfect sense is SO good. Again she got the loudest and longest applause of the night. God knows how she does it but her solos made the hairs on my arms stand to attention. She also helps Rog out a lot of some of the other tracks. He would be lost without her. She is the only one he applauds other than giving Andy Fairweather-Low a hug at the end of the show.

I just hope the European shows are better sound wise cause I've got ;-) to sit through this 7 more times.
john elliott (jce)