Roger Waters World Tour 2007
Southern Hemisphere
Tour Reviews

From: Paulo Sergio Evangelista de Almeida Moraes
Roger Waters Show - March 23rd 2007 - Rio de Janeiro - Sambadrome

On October 26th 2006. I attended the Brazilian G3 show with Eric Johnson, John Petruccio and Joe Satriani. Before the show, I was talking with my friend Dirlei when he asked me: "So? Are you going to the Roger Waters show?" "What show????" I said. "He's coming back to Brazil again in March next year!" he said. The news shocked and excited me as we watched the 3 guitarists continue their show which lasted until 2 am.

Then on the next morning I started looking for all the news about the return of the best rock composer in the history of mankind. Roger Waters was coming back to Brazil again! Unbelievable! The news indicated we would have two shows in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. After seeing these 2, I will have attended 5 Roger Waters shows in my life - amazing for a guy who until 2002 thought I would never have the opportunity to see even one!

One week later, with all available information gathered, I sent an e-mail to Michael Simone (the president of REG - The International Roger Waters Fan Club), wondering about the scheduled Brazilian shows for March 23rd (SP - Morumbi) and 24th (RJ - yet to be announced). But Michael informed me that Roger's manager had not yet confirmed those dates.

Time passed slowly while I waited and waited until February when official word finally arrived. Although there was an error with the inversion of the dates for the Rio and São Paulo shows, it was quickly corrected, - Rio was scheduled on March 23rd and São Paulo on March 24th. I live at São Paulo and so I began the preparations to travel to Rio - the show was to be at the Sambadrome - the same place as the 2002 show.

Friday, March 23rd Rio de Janeiro - I flew in during the afternoon, arriving at 5:30 pm at the Sambadrome. It took almost 30 minutes to pass through the police and show security check points and then - it was wonderful!! - I found myself in the middle of the field, where curiously the production team had parked a modified 1950's convertible automobile that had been converted into a bar.

The crowd was filled with people from many generations, from parents with their kids, to Roger Waters fans from age 13 to 70 years old. Pictures, pictures... I took many as I walked throughout the "stadium." And suddenly there was a swarm of people streaming in to occupy the entire field in front of the stage. It was obvious that everybody there were prepared to stand up for 4 hours forming a solid mass like a can of sardines to ensure a good place in front of the stage. "Hummm, staying there for 4 hours would not be a pleasant thing" I thought as I turned to go sit in the bleachers where I had obtained a VIP seat with no possibility that anyone could block my line of view of the stage.

35 thousand people at Rio's Sambadrome! Unbelievable!! The sound was pure quality, Dolby Surround 5.1. Massive cranes hanging huge speakers all around the Sambadrome so we could feel the 360 degree sound effects of the show. Just perfection.

The show was carefully crafted ensuring every little detail was right for the creation of the perfect environment. We had seen the huge main screen on the stage since we had arrived, with the still image of a giant radio, a bottle of " red label," a glass with whisky, and sitting above the radio was a model of a WWII English bomber. So everybody thought it was just a background. But it was not.

30 minutes before the show actually started, we discovered it was not a still image but actually an animated system. As a huge arm appeared on screen, turning the dial on the radio and searching the different stations, or taking the glass to drink from, or refuelling it from the giant bottle. The crowd went crazy, shouting and screaming with their arms in the air. It was such an unexpected effect to happen - after so many hours the crowd had grown accustomed to thinking that it was only a static image. So when the arm moved, we were amazed. The giant arm lights a cigarette and the smoke actually goes to the air and sky above the screen. The impression was that it was real and in three dimensions. The quality of the image resolution was amazing, the likes never before seen here in Brazil.

And then not long after that came the master - Roger, as he attacked the tranquility of the stadium aura with a huge shot of adrenaline and excitement with "In the Flesh part 1". The sound was perfect, the first climax of the show, with pyrotechnic effects all other bands must envy. He then goes on to "Mother" in another elegant performance. "Set Controls for The Heart of The Sun" is impeccable with a wonderful arrangement. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond part 1 to 5", was perfect. Roger then prepares the audience for the acid test with "Have a Cigar." A savage song from the album "Wish You Were Here" which neither Waters nor Gilmour originally sang.

One curiosity I had was how Waters' vocals had stood up over the years, now at 63 years old (the first time I watched him he was 58). And fortunately to my surprise his voice was as powerful and crystal clear as ever. At that moment the light rains and wind that were refreshing us stopped. "Wish You Were Here" began, and obviously again there was the sound from the radio as part of the song, but here it was visualized, as the herculean arm reached to change the dial of the radio on screen, performing the classical effect at the beginning of the song. It was wonderful!!

Next came; "Southampton Dock" and "The Fletcher Memorial Home" (one of my favorite songs) with Roger's signature vocals. What a great voice!!! And there was of course the classic image during "The Final Cut" - of the soldier with a knife stabbed in his back... I wonder if this symbolized Roger's father, betrayed by the British Army, left to die on the battle of Anzio????

The visual part of the show was constant and stimulating and contained never before seen pyrotechnical effects. "Perfect Sense part 1" was perfect, with the floating astronaut gently passing above the musicians heads, and approaching Roger so close it was possible for Roger to touch its hand.

And then the non-scheduled surprise. In "Perfect Sense part 2", just two or three phrases from the end, in the last huge effect of the song (There were a series of several explosions from left to the right of the stage), the Sambadrome electric power generators overloaded and the power was shut down! No lights or amplifiers were working on the stage but Waters, PP Arnold, Carol and Katie succeeded in ending the song. The crowd gave them a standing ovation and Waters left the stage to investigate what the hell had happened. That was just as well for me, and for hundreds of others who were able to use the temporary break to run and discharge tons of processed beer...

10 minutes later, Waters was back, he apologized saying "the generators had been overloaded because the audience had sung the song so loudly," and then he smiled and began "Leaving Beirut" - unknown to most of the audience but not for me, and I sang along to it with Roger.

Since I had read the setlist long ago from the end of the 2006 tour, I had prepared myself for "Sheep," from the 1978 Animals album, with the fixed idea that it would be the climax of all the show's climaxes. Was it possible to recreate the atmosphere the song evokes when listening to it on the album? This song, as well as "Dogs" are my most favorite songs. The melody, the progression and changes, Roger's voice cutting the air like a sharpened diamond edged knife... And the pig?

"Sheep" began: "Oh My God, this was really the highest peak of the show." Waters was perfect, his voice was a constant flux of energy proclaiming to the skies that mankind must break free of mediocrity. And then came the pig. My God, the PIG...!!!! The breeze and light sprinkles of earlier in the day had stopped. It was a clear night in Rio de Janeiro. THE PIG began its tour of the Sambadrome. Waters must have researched what Brazilians would like to see written on THE PIG, and the message I liked the most was "Hey, killers, leave our kids alone."

Now, how can anyone improve upon such perfection in a show??? Waters can!!! When suddenly, out of the left side of the stage, an enormous tongue of fire reached into the sky. I was a minimum of 60 meters away but I felt the heat of the fire. 3 times the flames roared up higher than 15 meters, as clouds of smoke mushroomed above the Sambadrome for at least 5 minutes.

And then it was GOODBYE PIG - the ropes that were connected to it were released, and THE PIG began its slow assent, traveling towards the stars. Because there was no longer any wind we were able to follow THE PIG as it floated higher and higher for almost 10 minutes until it finally disappeared in the dark.

Now there was a 20 minute intermission break. How was it possible that after 1 hour and 30 minutes we still had the same amount of time more to enjoy the second part! If it had ended at that moment I certainly would have thought it was enough to be classified as the best show I ever saw.

And then we had "The Dark Side of The Moon" in all its glory, and with no disappointments. I really do not need to go into lengthy explanations here, everybody knows "Dark Side...", I only want to say that the performance was done with the same level of perfection as it was on the album that remained on the top 100 list for more than 12 years, and sold 30 million copies. Carol Kenyon singing the vocals of "The Great Gig in The Sky" - was absolutely unbelievable!

After Dark Side, there were 5 songs for an encore - "The Happiest Days of our Lives," "Another Break in The Wall part 2" (with children from a local program of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, all of them with T-shirts that read "O Medo constrói Muralhas - Fear builds walls"), "Vera," "Bring The Boys Back Home" and "Comfortably Numb."

After it was over, I went back to my hotel, mesmerized, still not believing I would see another show the next day...

National Association of FanClubs