2006 North America
Tour Reviews

From: Citizen Andres
Forget former Iranian President Katami's perp walk to Harvard unprotected by Governor Romney's finest. Forget Kerry's new Security speech at Fanueil Hall. Forget Cheney's secret fund raising Boston bash with the powers that be.

The real political show this weekend in Boston was Roger Waters "Dark Side of the Moon" tour, timed to reverberate in the echo chamber of US Election Season.

Waters wove together a 35 year compendium of art including, classic and leading-edge music, video, comic art, flames, and other effects to entertain while making a point.

It starts off innocently enough with a gigantic still life of a whiskey bottle and a shot glass in front of an ancient superheterodyne radio with a broken WWII vintage toy airplane on top. After an hour or so, still life -turned- freeze-frame begins to change. A hand takes the shot glass, and a short while later it goes back half empty.Exhaling cigarette smoke slinks by. We know we are in for a surrealistic trip of in-your-face geopolitical reality - the hallmark of Roger's art.

This tour's set fit together as if by intelligent design -both psychologically and musically. It was so good to hear old favorites like "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun." Clearly, Syd was well remembered, as it was followed by "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here". Fans responded to the tribute with lighters and lit up cellphones...

And as to be expected by any fan who actually listens to Roger's lyrics over the past few decades, the political overtones - against a perpetual war machine run by mindless proletariats with the resulting carnage of innocent civilians and our implicit acceptance by our own greed, fears, or just plain apathy - are everywhere in Roger's art.

After decades of imagining the scenes Roger paints with music and lyrics, the show brings it alive in 3-D with a graphical intensity that always seems 10-15 years ahead.The crowd response to this was predictable - those who listen and pay attention and agree with Roger are astounded and appreciative. Those who just know 'money' or hear "...it all makes perfect sense, expressed in dollars and cents..." and conclude "yeah, that's for me!", are suddenly surprised and offended when a message they aren't ready to accept is pounded into their senses with the appropriate flames, explosions, and images of submarines taking out oil rigs, Stalin, Reagan, Bush and many more in The Fletcher Memorial Home for Incurable Tyrants and Kings.

For those of us who 'got it' back 25 years ago or so, it's a breath of fresh air in a smokey cigar-filled back room of war mongers and deal makers who really don't give a crap about people in Lebanon, when it is more profitable to portray the most extreme as communists, insurgents, or terrorists, depending on the decade.

Thank Christ, Jehovah, Allah, Krishna, or your favorite pagan deity for people like Roger who are not afraid to rub this insanity in our faces.

The first set includes a new song, "Leaving Beirut" which Roger explains, was based on what happened to him when he was 17, travelling through Lebanon in a car that died, leaving him to hitchhike with no money. Finally, a crippled Arab takes him home, gives him the food the family was preparing for their dinner, (wife eats nothing) and insists he sleep in their bed as an honored guest. They have so little, and yet they willingly share what little they have with this teen-age foreigner.

He wonders aloud "are these the people we should bomb / are we so sure they mean us harm?"
Oh George! Oh George!
That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small...
America, America, please hear us when we call
You got hip-hop, be-bop, hustle and bustle
You got Atticus Finch
You got Jane Russell
You got freedom of speech
You got great beaches, wildernesses and malls
Don't let the might, the Christian right, fuck it all up
For you and the rest of the world

The second set plays 'Dark Side of the Moon' from start to finish without a break. It may be the best album ever created.

Now comes the trademark pig - the balloon that floats over the factory on the cover of 'Animals' - It floats over the crowd with a message for us Americans about to cast a vote to either keep the all powerful party dominated by the war machine; or to reject that with a vote for change. As we listen to the lyrics: "What do you get for pretending the danger's not real? Meek and obedient you follow the leader" and watch video of paranoid bureaucrats taking their place in the military industrial complex while the factories belch out smoke and rows and rows of consumer products all in pretty packages in monotonous infinity. Spray painted on the Pig's si des and butt for us to contemplate is Graffiti that says-

Only dimly aware.

Kafka Rules! OK.

Don't be led to the slaughter, Vote Democratic Nov. 2

Impeach Bush Now.

The pig is released to the roar of the crowd and floats up above the meadows, tracked by a totalitarian searchlight.

Hey you, White House, ha, ha, Charade you are!

Thank you Roger, for helping us learn what the rest of the world learned a long time ago. And for doing it with such style and panache. Perhaps the tide is turning.

What God wants, God gets. God help us all.

From: Robynne Wildman Cote
I walked in the door ten minutes ago, it's 12:27am September 10, 2006. The show Saturday night 9/9 was EXCELLENT! Set list was as previously stated. Every song was fun for Roger, for his bandmates, for us. Fabulous job by everyone in the band, but special kudos to the ladies. As always they knocked me out with their power, passion and great Fuckin pipes! Damn they are fantastic!

"Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun" was well done. Most of the crowd where I was were swaying in their seats until about the middle of the first set. When "Wish You Were Here" started everyone got on their feet and the lighters came out all over the place.

No problem with Roger's political views tonight, as "Perfect Sense" and "Leaving Beirut" were played brilliantly, sung brilliantly and met with cheers.

If you have read other reviews you've read about the Pig as "Sheep" ends. It's all true and I just loved it! I got a couple really good pictures of it, even though I only had my cell phone camera.

Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety was a dream come true. I had the goofiest smile on my face the whole time I wasn't singing along. Which the whole place was doing.

The encores were as good as ever. I loved ending with "Comfortably Numb", and yes I was... by that point... Thankfully, I wasn't driving.

All in all, it was an absolutely wonderful time had by everyone I saw and heard on the way out and while in the midst of it all.

I haven't missed one tour since 1985. I'm glad I saw this one too and I'm looking forward to the next. Keep Rocking Roger.
Thanks.

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From: Bob Rush
Good morning Michael. I just received REG Issue 42. Thanks to you and the rest of the contributors and publishers for a fine Roger Waters fanclub newsletter. Please continue to publish this fine publication. I was one of several thousand Roger Waters fans who attended his concert last night (Saturday - September 9, 2006) at Great Woods in Mansfield, MA. What a great concert! Take care of yourself Michael and have a great day.
Regards,
Bob


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From: Sarah Furtado
Hello, I had just attended Roger's concert last night. This is my third time seeing him in concert and I think every show gets better and better every time. I look forward to buying his next solo album.

There are only two things that I didn't understand last night...
One is his hatred toward the Republicans. I am not disagreeing in any way shape or form, but I do have to say, in today's world, there isn't much of a difference between Republicans and Democrats! To me, they are all pigs!! They all work the same. I believe that there could be a new world order in the making, you never know??? I think the US government is... in general it's a joke.

I did however enjoy his way of getting his point across about the "war on terror" with the pig flying through the air, and I very much enjoyed the song about the Arab family he had met on his journey... that was a very touching song.

My second thing is that I wish he would play more from the Final Cut, which is my favorite album, and more of his own music as well.

I am only 28 years old and have been listening to Pink Floyd since I was 16. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to see the band perform as a whole. And I could not attend a Pink Floyd concert without Roger Waters because, to me, he is the band. I also am a fan of Syd Barrett, I do have to say I have all of his CD's as well. And to make things clear, I was never and am still not one who consumes drugs to enjoy the music. I enjoy the words and the meaning behind the songs.

I do hope to see Roger again.

A loyal fan,

Sarah Furtado

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From: Frank Murtagh
Tell your pinko buddy Roger... If I ever see that Anti-American old fart, I will kick his ass until he dies! Better yet, I'll make it even for him... I'll let my little kid kick his ass. If he ever comes to Boston again, get security for him!
Frank Murtagh
Boston, MA


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From: Gene Tradd
What a freaking ASS. Not Roger! That guy who said he was going to let his kid beat up Roger. Now that is the great thing about America and what it stands for. Everyone has the right to make as big of an ASS of themselves as they want. The only problem is it gives the rest of us yanks a bad name. Boston loves Roger, his music, his philosophies, his class and his never ending desire to give something back. Did ya see him on stage? He just loved what he was doing, right to the very last note of Comfortably Numb. He was into it. Big time!! Not going through the motions. Not for the $$. For the love of his ART. It just so happens that he has an avenue to express not only his musical talent, but most importantly his view of the world and the injustices that have occurred and continue to occur. If ya dont like his view, and by now I think he's made it VERY FUCKING CLEAR, then dont go to his shows! This is still the land of the free and the home of the brave. So on this 9/11 five years after, thank your lucky stars that we can still get up on stage and trash an administration that we dont agree with. It sure beats the alternative
Gene Tradd
Boston, MA


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From: Ben Lary
The concert was incredible, I had never seen him in concert and was blown away by his incredible vocals and the musicians ability. The sound at the tweeter was great, and the stage effects were amazing. I have to say that anyone with tickets to one of his concerts is in for the concert of a lifetime. And to the guy who says he'll beat him up next time he's in boston, Don't Be Such A Sheep.


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From: Adam Dion
Hello, My name is Adam and I saw Roger Waters at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, MA on September 9, 2006. This concert was one of the best concerts I have ever been to, and I have been to alot. I was absolutely blown away and mesmerized by the music and scenery of the stage. I will definatly go see him again if he comes back around here which I hope he will. Thanks!


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From: Matthew Hurley
I saw Roger at the Tweeter Center Saturday night and it may well have been the best concert I've ever seen. I was psyched that he did "Sheep" my favorite Waters song with the Floyd and when the flying pig took off into the night right above my head the younger kids around me started saluting and screaming. It brought me back to when I first discovered the Floyd when I was in high school so I shook my fist and screamed right along with them.

This was the second time I've seen Roger and I thought the light show and the props and the song selection made this an even better show than the 'In The Flesh' concert I saw (which was great). I do wish he would include more solo stuff, particularly from The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking - we were hoping he would play "Every Strangers Eyes".

Also "Not Now John" would have been great after "Leaving Beruit" particularly because there were a few people behind me very upset with that song (they even booed). I couldn't understand why those people were so upset with "Leaving Beruit". What did they expect from such a political animal like Roger. Don't they listen to the lyrics!?! His anti-war mindset is all over everything he writes from way back to "Free Four".

When that pig took off into the night though, with all the anti-Bush propaganda on it, amidst the dive bombing crescendos of "Sheep's" power chord ending, even those people were floored.

With the war in Iraq in nearly every song from The Final Cut, it even seemed to resonate with those young kids. And they knew all the lyrics to "The Fletcher Memorial Home", which really pleased me.

The more I think about it... Roger has written so many great songs, he could play for days on end and still not get to them all. I have the same reaction when I see Paul McCartney. Neither can do that 'one' song you might hope for when they have so much to choose from. Hell, I was hoping Roger would play "Who Needs Information" from Radio KAOS - that would have fit in nicely as well.

All in all, it was a tremendous show... thank you Roger for all you've given to me and the rest of your fans...

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From: Michael McMenemy
REG,
If I may call you that, I saw roger at the Tweeter Ctr in Mansfield Mass,USA Sept 8th & 9th and was well worth It. I got a great chance to get tix because if you have an American Express card you can go on to the auction 7 days before the public has access to the tickects. So the first night I got 2 tix sec 2 row e seat 29, 30, although I paid $450.00 A piece, it was fantastic. The second night I just went down and luckily I got sec 2 dead center 16 row back. The kid wanted $1,000.00 for both, I said I'll give you $700.00 cash right there In front of him. He said ok dude, but I had the tx checked first for bogus tix and they were the real deal, so I saw Roger again dead ctr. only a few more rows back. If he comes back to the U.S. up north highly unlikely, I'll be there. To be honest with you, Roger is Roger and he does what he wants, when he wants, and that's cool with me, but when he Is up on that stage, he Is simply "the genuis behind pink floyd" no doubt. Great shows Roger. If your up in North America, please stop in Massachusetts, we love you here, and you are the best. People said you're crazy paying 900.00 To see a concert, I said did you ever see Roger Waters? I said go see him then we'll talk. Thanks for the memories R.W.


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