The International Forum
would like to know what R.Waters' official fan
mail address is. I've been a Waters fan since I was in Jr. High..
It is my first time to see him live and I really would like to just give it a
shot and write a letter but I don't know the address.
From: Bill Zenon
I was introduced to The
Wall by my friend in Jr. High School and then listened to Dark Side of the Moon
and Wish
You Were, Welcome to the Machine, etc.. and felt like this stuff doesn't have
much depth to it. So then I stumbled on The Final Cut and thought wow..this was
what I've been yearning for after listening to the Wall. I felt the same feeling
once again when I heard Amused to Death.
I can say the first set was amazing in sound, the audience was extremely happy,
cheering screaming, both Japanese in their strange accents, and of course the
huge
number of Gaijins (foreigners). The Japanese fans really loved the old Floyd
stuff and Waters often walked from the far right to the far left of the small
narrow stage sides as he was stringing along. The crowd went wild. The sound was
1000 times better than any CD, better than I've ever heard, and almost to
perfection, since this
was his third show in Tokyo.
I loved the second set as it was mainly Amused to
Death.And Waters' expressions and gestures
were captivating. The tracks used the same sound bites from the CD, and Perfect
Sense was done amazingly well, as Waters' gestures of being dumbfounded showing
his disbelief in how stupid people can be, his hands over his head in frustration
as the message of Perfect Sense poured into our hearts. Before the torpedoes
struck, as Albert's voice said "and there goes 2" Waters put his back to the
crowd
and raised two fingers as the torpedoe's strike in the song. It was really
amazing
to see his most heart wrenching work come to play with the huge screen showing
the cross hairs of the target, and the torpedoes crashing as he turned back to
the
crowd and carried on.
He continued with The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range, and for that trackthe
opening wailing guitar
was slicing in sound and almost piercingly amazing. For It's a Miracle, thevoice
of maybe Jimmy Steward (??) with the flashlight searching in the dark wasin
synchwith the hall lights all off and a singleflash light searchingin the
pitch dark as the song began. I was a bit worried when he sang the lyrics "And
Yosemite has been turned into a golf course for the Japs," butnothing happened,
and the crowd kept cheering.
The screen images for Amused toDeathwas showing an ape
switching channelsof home shopping andall sorts of crazychannels worked great
with the opening of the tele-sales man's voice. Of course the end of the song
had the last part of the tale of Bill Hubbard showing the man's face as he was
speaking and the wall of names of those who died.
Comfortable Numb which was a
very long whale of the guitar dual between his two lead guitarists as they faced
each
other on the top platform above the main stage. Lastly, as the final song, Each
Small Candle was near an end,hundreds of people pulled out lighters and the
house lights went out and the audience turned intohundreds offlickering lights
.. Waters after noticing this quickly pulled out a lighter and joinedus with a
small flicker of his lighter as the show ended.
After the show finished I read the interview that was enclosed with the program
book and really understood what Roger meant when he criticizes Pink Floyd for
chasing after numbers, filling football stadiums and losing the artistic and
sound quality in performing for the greed of money and numbers. Water's brought
back the artistic and amazing sound to live shows. Please don't retire Roger.
Hello.. I was just reading your site. I'm not very good at writing and I'm
probably
one of the worst people to write a review about Waters, because, as most fans
were
once Pink Floyd fans. I can't say how
much his music has inspired me, however I can say after just getting back from
the show here in Tokyo I was really really shocked, moved and literally amazed.
It was more than I would
have ever dreamed of.. tracks from the Final Cut and Amused to Death literally
kept me off my chair. The last song before Each Little Candle was Comfortably
Numb which was the most amazing version I've ever heard.
Bill Zenon
Tokyo, Japan
For the first 3 shows, Roger introduced "Set the Controls.." with the words of "Now we are going back to 1960's...", but he said nothing on Saturday and Sunday.
The audience was very excited about Roger's performance on this evening though. It's always said that Japanese audiences are too quiet, that is true normally. But this night was an exception. They often greeted him with standing ovations to his impressive playing.
On Saturday and Sunday night shows, "Set the Controls..." was played after "Dogs", which used to be followed by "Shine on... part 1". More accurately, UDO music promotion company offered the list to my friend Hattori as follows;
First Half
I was in the 29th row, slightly left toward the stage. This night, I went to Roger's hotel again with my friend Harada, another REG member, who could not meet Roger on Saturday. I myself did not intend to ask for his autograph anymore. But I wanted to express my deep gratitude for his coming to play in Japan after 30 years from his last visit. I did tell him so, and he replied to me, "The pleasure is mine". Also I mentioned something about my worry... as I had long wondered if he did not like Japan and its people... He of course denied this, and added "It's great to be here". Still many Japanese somehow feel sad about his harsh words on us Japanese in "Not now John", and "It's a Miracle" and so on...
Also, I showed Roger my REG membership card and told him I am a REG fanclub member and Michael Simone, the president of REG, asked me to say hello to you. He gave me a big smile and said thanks. By the way, when I spoke to Snowy, he remembered meeting with you in the States. I believe you had a good conversation with him! And PP Arnold wanted to have a REG flier I had with me, so I gave one to her. She will look forward to the tour reports submitted to REG homepage. (she wanted us to look up her website and write to her, too!)
At least I know 4 different person were success in recording all 5 shows. A friend of mine said both side of his seat were recording the concerts in Osaka, it was very quiet at the venue and he finally understood that they were so quiet because of recording!! So you can expect lots of boot CDs in the market within a month here in Japan, though I do not like buying any of them.
Well, that's almost all for my memories of Roger's tour of Japan. I came back
to Osaka yesterday morning, to the office directly from the airport, had
some business meeting until late in the evening. And tomorrow I will have a day
trip to Tokyo again....
This weekend, I'm sure to do something about putting those Roger Waters
autographed memorabilia
things right in order.
Actually, they didn't stand up to give applause to the band till Roger started to introduce the band members to us in the last part of the show! They were very quiet while the show was going...
I'm basically a hard rock & heavy metal fan, and have attended a lot of gigs of that kind here in Japan, and we have always stood up and applauded the band during the shows!!
So, I didn't know why much of the audience behaved so calmly during the show. I don't understand...! I've seen 2 of Roger's shows at Madison Square Garden in 2000, and felt more energetic atmosphere there than this unenergetic kind of Osaka & Tokyo shows.
Maybe, there is some sort of gap between the cultures, and how they enjoy
the shows. But I do want to believe that the Japanese audiences did really
enjoy all of Roger's shows!
Yuri Tsuda
And towards the end of the show, though this may probably seem a coincidence or even, A MIRACLE!? When he played the song of COMFORTABLY NUMB, I was standing up and raising both hands spread wide above my head, when just then he began to walk towards us at the side of the stage. He came to the end of the stage, and spread both his big arms as my arms were spread. Entirely, giving acknowledgement to the audience up on the second floor, and to the entire audience in the hall. I think that most of the people there could feel the aura of emotion that swept through the crowd.
Before the encore and end of the show, I expressed my gratitude, and shouted his
name.
I hope that gratitude doesn't stop with the words but that it is
conveyed with a love that can still be felt, even from Japan!
All in all 3 Tokyo shows were fantastic, and Roger gave a great performance for us. And Tokyo audiences were much better than in Osaka. Thanks for the great shows, Roger!! His last words were "Thank you so much. See you again. Good night!". Yes, I hope these words are true. Please come back Japan again.
After the show we went to the band's hotel again and again waited for Roger. At last, the time had come! Roger and some band members (I can't remember who!) came back from dinner at 11:30pm. In front of Roger I felt nervous and my body was shaking. So I couldn't speak any words except "Thank you for coming to Japan". He smiled and gave his autograph and I was able to take a picture with Roger!!! Yes, my dream had came true. At last I was able to meet Roger, and on the last day of his Japan tour. Thanks again Roger! I really hope you come back Japan soon again!
Now that a week with Roger is
over, I feel sad. But when Roger tours again, I will go everywhere I'm able! Until then, see you
Roger!!!
