2006 Europe
Tour Reviews

From: Matteo Mussoni

ROGER WATERS - ON THE ROAD - EUROPE - 2006 The Creative Genius Of Pink Floyd Performs The Dark Side Of The Moon

Lucca (Italy) 07-12-2006 09:30 pm - 00:15 am

I was at the concert in Lucca...

Let me say first: OH MY GOD, WHAT A CONCERT!!! From the first chord I fell under the spell of the spirals of music, hypnotized by the magic. It was one of the best 4-5 concerts I've ever seen in my whole life. I've seen so many concerts in last 15 years (consider that I was in Milan to see the Rolling Stones the evening before...), but I think this show was comparable with the one Pink Floyd did in 1994 in Modena (Italy) from which they realized Pulse.

The venue was very beautiful: a little square in the oldest part of Lucca, a Medieval Town in Tuscany, well worth visiting. Three generations of fans attended the event. Syd's spirit stirred above our heads: it was almost perceivable, the sympathy palpable.

At 9:30 PM, when the city lights turned off, our excitement exploded with the notes of "In The Flesh." From the beginning there was intense participation from the crowd, and there were no problems with the language: we sang all the songs as it were our mother language.

The sound Engineer did a great job: the acoustics was simply perfect, you could hear each instrument clearly, each chord, each note, each word. Great job actually!

"Mother" followed as the second song. Then, a very emotional Roger Waters dedicated the next songs, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," "Have A Cigar," and above all "Wish You Were Here," to "my dear friend Syd." I'm sure a lot of fans were very moved as well... I know I was.

The first part of the concert continued flying on the wings of emotions and memories. Among the great classics were "The Gunner's Dream," "Southampton Dock," "Fletcher Memorial Home," "Perfect Sense," the more recent and very heart felt "Leaving Beirut," "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun," and ending with a drawn-out version of "Sheep."

After 15 minutes intermission, it was time for the climax: Roger Waters and his extraordinary band of musicians called onto the stage another "very dear friend from Cambridge" Nick Mason, who came out to perform the whole of "The Dark Side Of The Moon."ÊThe crowd simply exploded saluting the great drummer and shouting his name as the two companions of a long time ago embraced in front of them.

The perfect album was played and sung perfectly live, with much credit going to the trio of female vocalists for their performance during "The Great Gig In The Sky":Êa 43 minute journey into the dark side of the moon...

All this would have been enough, well worth paying the price of the ticket... But Roger didn't think so (fortunately) and came back to play again. An amused Nick followed his old friend and took his place at the drums again to beat out the time for the last ride: "The Happiest Days of Our Lives," "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2", "Vera," "Bring The Boys Back Home" and my favorite song: "Comfortably Numb."

What else is worth saying... Maybe only that the concert seemed to finish too early: 2 hours and 30 minutes aren't enough when you're watching and reliving history.

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