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From: Ian Reynolds
Well, what can I say. I guess I should have expected as much from Roger Waters who
apparently now hails himself as 'the creative genius of Pink Floyd'. The Ego has
landed, or what? Words that come to mind include banal, clinical, shallow,
polished and macrobiotic. I don't quite know what macrobiotics has to do with
anything, except that the show seemed so 'wholegrain' and well preserved, it made
me want to throw up.
The extravaganza of 'rock' populism kicked off at 8.30 precisely when the button,
or was it a tape, was pushed and the show commenced. Most of the adoring fans
would not have been born when many of the opening set numbers were performed, but
they 'la-la'd' along to the sing-along tunes, as if they were old family
favourites. Oh what fun.
Roger Waters is generally not renown for being a singer, but he made a fair go at it;
particularly during his personal and 'very humbling' anti-establishment songs -
you could almost believe he was sincere. He even said that bad 'F' word during
what could have been an anti-war, or anti-George W. Bush song - the audience roared in
fawning appreciation of this sentiment - just how cool is that?
There was a break in the show no doubt so that the aging showband could seek
sustenance in some green tea and cucumber sandwiches. The audience sought F & B
and had a struggle to reach the overflowing lavatories; but what the heck, this
was a 'rock' concert - such discomfort is to be expected.
After the intermission the creative genius and his employees played 'Dark Side of
the Moon' - for those that don't know it, this was an album released over thirty
years previously, and considered by many to be a 'classic'. The great showman
and his staff performed the classic in a perfunctory manner - milking it for all
that it was worth (probably a great deal of money). Timing was impeccable. Set
routines and riffs all perfectly played - a lady singer also tried to do a
passable Doris Troy impression, but she was careful not to upstage the aging
leader.
I left before the encore. This was as expected the tub-thumping
anti-establishment now pro-fox hunting ditty about not needing education and
another brick in the wall. I have no idea where the love of fox hunting fits in.
In summary the show was very Dubai.
Best regards
Ian Reynolds
I support the Dubai based charity 'All As One'. 'All As One' raises funds for
orphaned and destitute children in Sierra Leone.
Hi there,
My wife and I attended the Roger Waters concert held in Dubai Media City last
night. For some odd reason I had an urge to write a short note on the 'gig'. I
have never written a review before. I am a Pink Floyd fan but I was very disappointed
in the concert.
http://www.aaodubai.org/
Anyway, back to important things. With this in mind, we thought that we should have a boys night out in Dubai (we live in Bahrain presently), soÊthree friends and myself boarded the flight in great anticipation, having listened to my Floyd collection exhaustively over the past few weeks to WhetÊour appetites.
The Venue was at Dubai Media City, which was quite a hike from our hotel in the Diera district of town, and as we still had to collect our tickets at the Box Office, we were getting quite worried as we only arrivedÊat the venueÊat about 7:55pm, thanks to a rather delayed flight. The organization did not really help either, as there was only 2 windows open at the Box office to dish tickets out to a very long queue. We eventually got to the standing area at about 8:15 andÊto our relief,Êwe had time to get the first of many liquid refreshments that night before the Gig started. The arena was a wonderful setting with palm trees around, and we got a good vantage point to see both the gig and the exit to the bar!. Coupled with this was the fact that it was outdoors and the temperature was a very pleasant 22(ish) degrees C.
Proceedings started with a rousing version of 'In the Skin', and this really set the pace for the rest of the evening. There was absolutely no let up and not one low point in an evening packed with High's. Roger and Co.Êdid quite a bit from The Wall (Mother, Comfortably, Another Brick), Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Have a Cigar (Excellent!), Shine on, Wish you were Here, The Final Cut, Get your Filthy hands off my Desert, The whole of Dark Side of the Moon and a superb newÊsong called Leaving Beirut (complete with some excellent guitar playing from Andy Fairweather Low). The words and projections during this song were fantastic and there were a few embarrassed Brits and Americans after this number, but for me, the show stopper was Sheep from Animals, it was 'Stunning'!!!!!!!.
It really is the best gig I have seen in years.ÊRoger had Snowy White, Dave Kilminster and Andy Fairweather Low on Guitar, Carol Kenyon, PP Arnold and Tessa Niles on Backing Vocals, Graham Broad on Drums, John Carin and Harry Waters on Keyboards and last but certainly not least, Ian Ritchie on Sax. Having three guitarists meant thatÊSnowy and DaveÊoften played Solo passages in unison giving them a really thick sound, and in particular Dave Kilminster had all of Dave Gilmour's licks and solo's off perfectly. To cap it all, the pyrotechnics, lights, projections and 3D sound just left you for dead.
The atmosphere was fantastic and the night was one that I will never forget. As I eat my Humble Pie, Roger came acrossÊas a very genuine, humbleÊand deeply concernedÊguy (rightly so in my opinion).ÊI can now honestly say that I am now a Roger Waters fan, and hope that this tour is going to be available on DVD eventually. Just a pity that I won't be back in Blighty to catch him in May.
If you get the chance, you've gotta Go!!!!!
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