Roger Waters World Tour 2007
Northern Hemisphere
Tour Reviews

The Continental Airlines Arena

From: Bill Weinstein
I guess you could say that I am lucky to have been some places at the right time. I was lucky enough to see Pink Floyd do the earliest iteration of DSOTM at the 1200 seat Akron Civic Theatre in April, 1972. I was lucky enough to see Pink Floyd play the University of Cincinnati Homecoming in March, 1973, and play DSOTM one week before it was officially released. I was lucky enough to see them do a similar show outdoors under a beautiful sky at Blossom Music Center that summer. And I was lucky enough to see them on the Animals Tour in June 1977 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, with a crowd of 83,000 plus that we were all saying broke the record for the single largest crowd at a single group concert to date, and with the single most spectacular concert effect in my lifetime - hundreds of 6 foot shrink wrap sheep floating out of the sky during Sheep, of course. Pure Magritte. Pure surrealism. Pure Pink Floyd, and presumably pure Roger Waters.

I was also lucky that the music Roger and the band were doing was deeply resonant with my own life and experiences back then - I was pretty happy go lucky when they were too (relatively speaking) pre- '73, and then I was entering the professional world and money was starting to come in drips and drabs, and the pressures and constraints of the "machine" and the "system" were making themselves felt, when Shine On and Animals were being performed.

I was lucky to see David and Roger both doing solo tours in '84, and I was lucky to hear "Learning to Fly" the week I went home for my wedding in September, 1987, and to see the band sans Roger shortly after at MSG. And I had to laugh as I left that concert with "will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64" coming out of the sound systemÊ

And now I felt lucky to be seeing Roger again, with my 15 year old son who loves Pink Floyd, of all things - an occasion I could never have imagined when I was attending all those events all those years ago.

So it was with a great deal of excitement that I entered Continental Arena last evening, and made my way down to the floor. Dewar's was on the screen behind the stage, and Neil Young's "Down by the River" had just started warming up the sound system softly. By the time Chuck Berry came on, it was clear everything was getting going just fine. And then, as if my magic, the fixed scene on the screen changed, the radio dial twisted, and on came Vera Lynn, doing, of course, "We'll Meet Again Someday," a song that means something to me only vicariously because it obviously does to Roger. But then came some Chet Baker and what I think was Coleman Hawkins, and I had to rejoice - in how much broader is my knowledge of music and appreciation of other great forms, like great jazz, since "our last sojourn" together in 1984.

This feeling of expansion, alas, was not to be sustained. Yes, the stage show is spectacular, I can only imagine the workout those servers were getting. I had told my son before that there was sure to be a lot of pyrotechnics and fun things to watch and see - Roger is nothing if not an entertainer -- and we were not disappointed there. The sound during the first set was extraordinarily clear (and loud) for a lousy venue like the Arena. And there were, of course, the songs. My personal favorite was "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," which was wonderfully modernized, had incredible visuals (and old photos) conducive to trancelike states of self-hypnosis, and featured a fabulous jazz-like workout by Ian Ritchie on soprano sax with effects. And there was "Sheep," very long and winding, with its own new special effect that I won't spoil for others.

But the reality is that as good as the band was, they were not David and Roger and Nick and Rick, and there was something about them together that was the reason for the infinite magic they produced. Whenever one of the three lead guitarists did the guitar, I was always reminded just how great David Gilmour was and is. When Jon Carin did vocals, I was always reminded about just how beautiful was and is David Gilmour's resonant, cello-like singing. On the other hand, PP Arnold was herself on "Perfect Sense," and it was just great, as we watched society amusing itself to events of death and destruction on the screen.

As for the second set, DSOTM, well, at this point the question is just how many times can one listen to an album over 35 years, and still get radically excited about a live performance that is at best an almost exact replication of the original. Yes, "On the Run" was spectacular, but because of what we were watching. I mean, it just wasn't the same as watching David and Roger working really hard on those ARPs to make the music actually happen.

For me, the present reality is that Roger's music which resonates most deeply with me now is Amused To Death, a prophetic vision, that, sadly, is not even as dark as where we have actually come in the past 15 years since its release. And what also resonated with me was Roger's obvious disdain, if not outright hate for totalitarianism, and the current political environment, including W and this insane war in Iraq. Indeed, it wasn't until last month, at the age of 52, that I was actually able to appreciate the hypocrisy of British colonialism and its exploitation of its victims that he described in "Fletcher Memorial" and "Southampton Dock", and that was something new. So what resonated most for me at the concert, when I wasn't being entertained - which I was substantially during the first set and somewhat during DSOTM - was the political message - the same political message that has been maturing in Roger, and in me, for all these years.

As for my son, well he was clearly one of the youngest persons there, which says something as well.ÊPerhaps discounts for children under 18 is in order. And his reaction was that while he enjoyed the concert, he felt somewhat uncomfortable being surrounded by so many old people in Pink Floyd t-shirts (and too close to his dad, of course), and seeing "grandpas smoking pot," and boogeying to Pink Floyd songs that portray nothing if not isolation, frustration and even desolation, in this world and beyond.. He has a point.

Now, a concert where Roger comes out and first spends time talking about the relationship between Ca Ira and the Terror, and then does Amused to Death completely, that would be a completely interesting show.Ê

I finish with a few observations. One, Roger seemed truly touched by the crowd's appreciation, which I have never seen before. Second, I was touched when I learned that his son, Harry, is playing with him, god would that be fun. And third, this was the first concert I have seen where Roger did not end with "We'll see you again." I always believed it before. But we are all a little bit older, and a little bit wiser, and maybe a little more realistic than before. Good to see you again, Roger. And that's the news. ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ

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