CLEVELAND, JULY 27TH, GUND ARENA, 8:30 P.M.
Waiting 9 years to see Roger Waters is a long, long time. The wait was worth it. Period.
Before the concert...
Arriving at the Hard Rock Cafe late with my brother Andy (drummer) and friend Heston (guitarist), we bumped into Echoesian Floridian/Ohioan Mike Grega on his way out of there for a special VIP party at Gordon's, I talked to him briefly. Mike was excited, but we didn't get to talk much about the preconcert party my party missed. I wish we could have made it earlier. He looked pumped!
There were a few Echoesians, I think, there earlier, but we ran into tons of non-Echoesian Floyd and Roger fans. The vibes there were strong anticipation for a knock out night for Roger Waters'/Pink Floyd music. They played a Floyd tune when we were on our way out after a couple of drinks.
Met up with a close friend from college and met his fiancee (Amy) for the first time. She was an educated Floyd and Roger Waters fan. I told him (Joe), that he has got it made with her! Such a rarity for a woman of such beauty and intelligence.
We all walked down the food court of Tower City to Gund Arena through the tunnel. Once we got above ground, there were mobs of people. Joe and Amy had seats on the other side of us, so we parted after entering Gund Arena.
SURPRISINGLY, most of them were in their 20s. Which was a welcome sight to me (I'm 25, Heston 25, and Andy 20) because it is so inspiring to see a younger generation embracing Pink Floyd and Roger Waters music in a public setting of this magnitude.
I immediately went to the goods stand and purchased a shirt, the black one. Proudly charged it and put it on, I felt nearly complete.
We took an elevator up to the 2nd level and walked a little bit around the Arena to our seats.
Upon entering the Gund, I almost lost my breath. Seeing the huge stage right in front of me (we were sitting directly next to the stage halfway up the Arena) made me eager for the show to start right away.
We waited for about 15 minutes with nervous anticipation. Then the man said the show will start in 10 minutes. It was about 8:35 on my watch when the show started.
The concert begins...
NOTE: Knowing the setlist prior to the show, I thought that I might have ruined it for me. It didn't. So if you are reading this, go ahead and read all the reviews posted here. I endorse it. It helped me watch for every keen detail of the performance and not miss anything. Thanks to all the reviewers on this site for their effort and Dave.
In the Flesh. Seeing Roger walk to the stage was like losing all the tension I had in the 9 years waiting desperately for. He was smiling and wanted to rock. You could see it in him. This was a perfect opener. He stood upon the middle part of the elevated walkway. The audience went wild.
The Wall tunes. Wow. I thought Mother of all 4 Wall tunes from the beginning was the best in spirit and performance. Roger strapping on his acoustic guitar was a sight to see as well as him playing it. I felt like I was in an intimate setting, which I was, but he made it more intimate with his stage presence. He had "no ego" (as many people would describe him opposite in other past circumstances) during the whole concert and presented the music straightforward with all its meaning and purpose. The audiences went crazy about the bit about "Mother, should I trust the government?"
The Final Cut tunes. Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert was too quick I would call for a track listing. All I heard was the crash, which was cool, but I could not hear anything before the crash, could have been crowd noise. Southampton Dock was uptempo and the most happiest I had ever heard. I thought at first when he played it, it was too fast, but during the course of the song, it made musical and logistic sense to play it with a bit more forward motion. Loved it!
Animals tunes. PotW, pt. 1. Fabulous. All the juicy, emotional lyrics and voice singing made this a definite highlight for me and the enormous audience. Dogs. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friend, Heston, not a strong Floyd fan like me, but a great guitarist imho, loved it. It was like Christmas to an 8 year old for me. The keyboards were so cool, man in all the Floyd, roolz, dood! sense. Sorry, had to loosen up. :^)>
WYWH tunes. Perfect way for a 1st set closing. From where we were sitting, the Q Sound wasn't as effective as I would imagine it would be for floor people. It still sounded impressive. The bass in WttM wasn't as loud as everyone was describing. Maybe because of where I was sitting. WYWH and SoYCD was flawless in execution. Blew me away with the emotion of Roger's singing and the bnad's musicality. These 3 tunes were necessary for Roger to reclaim his Pink Floyd heritage and he did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe how beautiful, after many studio listens, this was.
Intermission.
DSotM tunes. Doyle Bramhall II is going to be big. Mark my words. The way he sang and played his left handed guitar (yes!) were PHENOMENAL!!! His second (?) solo album will be released on the day after the last ITF tour date. Pick it up. I heard an interview with him on 98.5 FM WNCX the day of the concert and they played one of his new solo tunes. BUY IT!!!!!!! Still can't fathom how when asked that he didn't have any Floyd records, but loved them, could play Gilmour's trademark musical genious with so much grace and reverence, but with his own style.
I know Roger Waters made the right choice in pick Doyle Bramhall II to front his band. WOW!!!
5:06 A.M. Every Stranger's Eyes. This almost caused me to tear up. After hearing Roger sing this, I wanted to hear the who PaCoHH album LIVE. One of the best ballad's of the night. He had several!!! Which was great because I thought going into the show, it would just be Every Stranger's Eyes.
The Powers That Be. AWESOME!!! 90's spin on this tune gave it a life I could never imagine it could have reached. I love the original and the new version. Listen closely to the keyboard intro. I am sure there is a secret message in there somewhere. Not Sylvester Stallone, but something magical.
Amused to Death tunes. This was the best part. The audience, overall, was quieter, except during Perfect Sense. EVERYONE participated during Perfect Sense with the Global Anthem bit. Roger was excited and flailed (conducted) his arms to the audience "Can't you see..... It all makes perfect sense....." It's A Miracle and Amused to Death were definitely personal highlights. "OOOOHHHH, Western woman.." The vocalists, P.P. Arnold and Katie Kissoon were ON tonite and full of God's great musical expression.
After the song "Amused to Death", it was a little quiet for the audience. Roger said ENTHUSIASTICALLY that Cleveland were "great listeners" tonite. He went right into ABitW, pt. 2. That ROCKED!!! Thank God my band I am in (I am a bass player, thanks to Rog!) is doing ABitW, pt. 2 for our own setlist. Heston ws really impressed with it and the encore. I am getting there... HOLD ON!!!
ENCORE. Before they came back on for the encore, the audience were wild and not going to leave until Rog and company came back. After less than 5 minutes of sheer applause, screaming, whistling, they came back. They played a really grassroots version of Brain Damage (Rog's bassline was the funkiest I ever heard him play!!) and Eclipse. Comfortably Numb was soaring. The 2 guitarists (Snowy White and Doyle Bramhall II) went to the center stage elevated walkway and played Gilmour's solo dare I say more energetically and raw than my favorite guitarist of all time. Sorry, Dave Gilmour; I still love your guitar playing and think you are number one. Dave and Roger, why don't you get off your grudges and reunite?!?!
On our way up to leave, the band was taking a Broadway style bow to the masses. WOW!!!!
After the concert...
We left and as we got outside there were thousands of people cheering happily! We were just trying to get out of there. I really think Roger did it best to wait this long and present a show of this importance and necessity.
I am impressed and blown away. I am going in 2 weeks to the Columbus show. I will be sitting 5th row center on the floor. I will be able to see Roger and the great musicians in his band play up close. Stay tuned for a review of that experience when I will report exactly what I see at close quarters.
ROGER, YOU ARE THE BEST ROCK AND ROLL MUSICIAN EVER!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Barry
...the kid from Cleveland...
This was my very first "Waters" experience and I was absolutely ecstatic that I was going to there! We got our tickets at 10:10 a.m. on the day they went on sale over the phone! I was beginning to think we would not get the tickets initially but was overwhelming thrilled when I got through the line! We were disappointed that he was moving to the Gund 'cause we (especially my husband) was looking forward to seeing Roger in a small setting as Nautica is.
After months of waiting the night was here and we would be in the presence of Roger Waters and it was just as I expected. I hear the shows from the "old days" were absolutely out of this world (with all the props and lights and extras going on) but this show was awesome! 5 of us went and we had really good seats too, considering. We were in the club seats, 2nd row on the left side of the stage. We could see Roger perfectly and the view was fabulous! I couldn't have asked for more except to be front row, dead center—now that would have been something to remember!
However, my husband did get Rogers attention once during the show! Roger looked up at our section and my husband, the only one standing and yelling "Roger, Roger." and Roger acknowledged him! He was thrilled to death to get Rogers nod of acknowledgement.
The Water's fans were positively pumped and as loud as Clevelanders are! I didn't see too many empty seats in the stands, even those really high ones! There was a great crowd there and everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives! (I know we did).. A friend of ours that was with us, it was his first "Floyd" "Waters" experience too and he enjoyed the show to no end. Everything, it was majestic, dreamy and just flowed right together!
I can't even say what my favorite part of the show was because I loved it ALL! Everything was great and the band just really came together perfectly! Their sound was perfect and Roger, well, he sounded just as I've heard! and I think (from seeing all kinds of pictures of him) that now, he looks his ABSOLUTE BEST! Very "normal" looking guy, not fancy and very humble! He really looked like he was having a great time, enjoying his music and giving us his complete self! Roger Waters, one of the few "true artists" today!
I was happy to hear "Amused to Death" off of his new one, done very well "Powers that Be"—was looking forward to hearing that one too but did not expect the difference they added to the song—it was great just the same though!
Encore. The Clevelanders went nuts! For more than 5 minutes, I would say, everyone—not a person in the place was sitting, no one's mouth was shut and here they come they ended just perfect!
BTW, the left-handed guitar player—AWESOME guitar player! He really, really sounded GREAT!
Roger so glad he came to Cleveland
and Can't wait to see him again (soon!!!)
Cherie—Cleveland, Ohio
by Cherie
I attended the July 27 Cleveland show. I expected a lot -- and got it! Roger has emerged as one of the true great artists of this century. And he showcased the works of his life to all that were lucky enought to be in attendence. Seated in the back of the auditorium, first level, I had a hard time seeing the band but the sound was remarkable. And the way that Roger choreographed the show makes him a true master. Simply put, I detected not a single flaw in the show. Everything from the sound, to the lights being dimmed to start the show, and the second set was pure magic. The material from his solo albums was amazing. And what about that band -- phew, serious musicians!
The crowd for the most part was great! You had your handfull of morons that insist on yelling to "Turn it up" but they were few and far in between. Most people knew that Roger was reclaiming HIS art.
Roger managed to bring back a great time in my life, and he did it with honest sincere enthusiasm. Could I compare him to Amadeus???? Absolutely!!!!
Thank you Roger!
The show began promptly at 8:30 p.m. The arena was filled to capacity with energetic, screaming fans. The show opened with "In the flesh", from The Wall album, which also celebrated its 20 year anniversary, this summer.
Roger Waters appeared on a high rise platform that was situated above the stage. When he started the song with the lyrics, "So you thought you might go to the show," his voice sent chills on my spine. There are very few performers that I have waited
all my life to see and Roger Waters was definitely part of my "must see" list.
After other songs from The Wall were played, Roger began the song "Dogs" from the Animals album. This album was always one of my favorites and being able to hear songs from this album was a rare privilege.
The songs "Welcome to the Machine" and "Shine on you crazy diamond", were also highlights of the show. The band took a fifteen minute break and during the intermission, I sat mesmerized in my seat, asking myself "Can this show get any better than this?" Roger Waters definitely had the crowd worked into a frenzy and the second part of the show highlighted his solo career. The sound quality of the song,"The Powers that be" from the album Radio Kaos was unbelievable. Even though our seats for the show were lousy, I still enjoyed every moment of the performance.
The encore included the song, "Comfortably Numb" which definitely ended the show on a high note. I hope that I will be able to see the show once more this summer, because a repeat performance would definitely be worth the price of another ticket.
Roger Waters and his band definitely do not disappoint their audience.
Thank you for a life-time dream come true, Roger.
by Jay Skrypzak
