In The Flesh
Tour Reviews

by Jordan Gilmore
Saw the Waters show at Hershey last night...just wanted to contrubute my comments and impressions.

We left my hometown in Maryland at about 3 in the afternoon (normally it takes about 4 hours to get to Hershey but we wanted to allow some time for the rush hour traffic around Baltimore)—surprisingly traffic was not bad at all and we actually arrived at Hershey Star Pavilion at around 6:45.

The gates were opened at 7:00. The first big shock for me was how small the venue was. Hershey Star Pavilion is in fact a very large stadium, but only about 1/4 of it was used for the Waters show. My buddy and I agreed that about 5,000 people were present. The next shock was how incredibly great our seats were. We had reserved seating, so I knew they would be OK at least, but boy was I surprised when I saw how close we were. Even though we were in Row 33, we were front and center, and it seemed as if we were close enough to spit on the stage (or be spit on from the stage :) Anyway, we bought some refreshments and programs ($15!!!) and were in our seats by 7:20 or so.

By the time it was nearing 8:00, the crowd was getting antsy, and suddenly the loudspeakers announced that the show would not begin for another 25 minutes. The crowd was pretty pissed at this, naturally, and there was a lot of booing. But the time passed fairly quickly and as promised, the lights dimmed at approximately 8:25.

Roger and his band entered to a tremendous cheer from the audience, and went right into "In the Flesh". This song was very well done, as were the other pieces from The Wall. One of the best parts of the concert was the sound of the helicopter flying over in "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"—it was so realistic that just about everyone in the audience was looking up as if they expected an actual helicopter to be there.

Roger then performed a couple of songs, or a sort of medley, from the Final Cut. Now, I agree with the people who say that we shouldn't complain about the setlists; we're incredibly lucky to be seeing Roger perform at all. However, did he really make the best choice as to what to play from this album? There are a ton of better songs on this album, and in my opinion Roger played my least favorites ("Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" and "Southampton Dock"). I think that the crowd would have enjoyed stuff like "The Gunners Dream" or "The Final Cut" much more. This was the only part during the first set where the crowd sat down in their chairs, and I heard a lot of "This must be some of his solo stuff" and the like. That really doesn't bother me like it does some people, it's wonderful that everyone had the chance to enjoy this great show. (It did kind of annoy me to see Division Bell and Pulse T-shirts on some of the fans, however...)

The crowd rose to their feet again when "Pigs On the Wing 1" began...kind of surprising to me because not too many people I know are familiar with Animals. I feel that the performance of "Dogs" was the highlight of the show. This song was performed absolutely note-perfect from the album, and it was incredible. And, yes, as in the previous shows, Roger and the band sat down and played cards during the break in the middle.

Roger opened the Wish You Were Here set with "Welcome To The Machine", not as good a performance as I had expected but still pretty cool. "Wish You Were Here" was a real crowd-pleaser of course and another highlight of the concert. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Roger handled the vocals— he showed that he is fully capable of venturing into Dave Gilmour's territory. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" was great as well. The best part was Jon Carin playing that slide guitar at the beginning of the second half—something the other members of Floyd never do in concert. After making some remarks about Syd, Roger announced that he and the band would return in 20 minutes.

As intermission ended, the crowd rose to its feet again when the thudding heartbeat from Dark Side of the Moon reverberated through the arena. "Breathe" was well done, but "Time" was absolutely perfect. Here again, Roger handled Dave's vocals very effectively. The inevitable performance of "Money" came next (no, they didn't do the "keyboard teaser" from "Great Gig in the Sky" like they have in previous shows), and I have to say it was pretty good, even without that great sax part in the middle.

Roger then went on into some of his solo work. Now, I am kind of ashamed to admit that I am not all that familiar with any of his three post-Floyd solo records, but I did enjoy the five or six songs he did, most of which were from Amused to Death, I believe. "Perfect Sense" was especially good, as was "What God Wants".

After thanking the crowd, Roger and the band then played "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse", probably my favorite songs from Dark Side. "Brain Damage" wasn't the most inspired performance in my opinion, but "Eclipse" was excellent, and received thunderous applause from the audience.

The band then left the stage, only to come back a minute later to perform "Comfortably Numb". It was a great performance of a great song, but I was kind of disappointed by the ending solo. Don't get me wrong, Snowy White and Doyle Bramhall are two damn good guitarists, but the problem was that after the first couple bars, they strayed from the original sound of the solo. I would have preferred that they stick more closely to the original, but I'm not complaining—overall, it was fantastic.

One additional note—This was the first concert that I have ever been to, and frankly I don't know how I'm going to top this one. The crowd was a mix of 18-year-olds and 40-somethings, and generally well-behaved, except for a few morons who thought it would be cool to throw those green light sticks all over the place. Overall a great experience that I won't soon forget.

by Valentin Katz
I attended the Hershey Park show at the Star Pavilion. First off, let me commend Roger for choosing such an exceptional facility. It was very cozy despite the fact that it was outdoors. It was a tiny pavilion with a 7200 capacity.

Now that I've got that out of the way, let me inform you that that was the greatest show I've ever seen, and I've seen Phish and Page & Plant. He blew them away. The passion and energy that he played with was astounding. The show was delayed by half an hour, presumably to wait untill it got dark, but there are no guarantees on that. His band came out first and the cheering and smoking began. Then Roger, enters through the back and stands atop this large podium at the lower end of the stage, and just spreads out his arms as in basking in the glory of the moment and telepathically asking, "Who is the man?"

He then went on to start off the The Wall which suprisingly was rather quiet at first. But this was merely a facade as he was just warming up.

He began to rock and I read earlier reviews that said his bass was quiet, at this concert, I could feel his bass pulsing through my body the entire show, getting stronger and stronger as the show progressed. He played Dogs. Which seemed like a never ending trip through the mind of Waters and Orwell. There was distant barking coming from the rear speakers and the lead guitar rocked just as well as Gilmour could.

And then, they played Shine on you crazy diamond which up to that time, was the greatest live song I've ever heard. While Roger sung the vocals to it, there was a portrait of Syd Barrett on the huge screen, zooming in on his face every 20 seconds, it was quite extraordinary, hard to explain. At the end of the song, a huge diamond levitated from the rear of the stage and started acting like a mirrorball. The energy and the feeling was absolutely amazing. Roger and his rather unnrestrained annimation spread all his energy to his listeners.

Intermission, and then the beginning of Dark Side. It sounded exactly like it does on the album except for the vocals. Which I should comment on right now, Roger hasn't lost anything, his voice is exactly the same as it has always been. The other singer, although much different from Gilmour's voice, still was satisfactory and had his own take on the classic floyd songs. Money was quite a pleasant surprise along with the images on the big screen. One, if I'm not mistaken was of a naked woman's torso with a huge necklace with a $ sign on it, I think trying to symbolize how money even destroys the purity of a woman.

And then, he began his solo stuff. Which by the way, he looked like he was much more interested and into doing his solo stuff than classic floyd. My personal favorite was the first song off Radio Kaos. But the biggest moment of the night came during Perfect Sense. Right in the middle, Roger took off his guitar while the band rocked on louder, and while they sang the words Perfect Sense, he went directly to the crowd and as the music crescendoed, the lights went directly on the crowd and he pleaded using facial and body movements, he pleaded with the audience, "It makes perfect sense!" It was very touching and intimate. The biggest response from the audience was during Its a miracle, he sang, "and if they have sex in pennsylvania...its a miracle".

He then did a wonderful extremely long Amused to Death, and finished up with Brain Damage and Eclipse.

After that, the house lights went on and the band left, all the fake fans, left and but within a matter of minutes, the house lights dimmed and introduced the band exluding himself. And I heard one explosive Comfortably Numb. At the end, the two lead guitarists got on the elevated platform where Roger had first entered and went back and forth on amazingly raw guitar work, one would play for 45 secs, and the spotlight would shift to the other and so forth, this crazy display continued with the whole audience at their feet until the very end of the song.

Overall, this was by far the greatest concert I ever attended, there were absolutely no criticisms other than the fact that the 3 hour show seemed too short. Roger truly is the heart, soul, brain, and body of Pink Floyd.

by Del Phillips
August 17th Hershey Star Pavilion. Sold Out. At 8:05 an announcer said that the show would start in 20 minutes. Show started at 8:35 ended 11:25. Well worth the price of admission. $37.50 (plus ticketmaster surcharge) for center stage 23rd row.

A great performance consistent with your previously submitted positive reviews. Rog genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself which is a far cry from him previous 2 tours when he seemed absolutely annoyed to be there. Instead of rehashing the show, I submit some observations.

Did anyone notice the card game that broke out in the living room behind the drums during Dogs??

There is a rather large console TV to the right (as the audience views it) of the stage entrance. Movies were played throughout. I do know that toward the end of the show during the solo songs, I did see 2001 A Space Oddessy and I think maybe the WWII movie Battle of Britain early in the first set.

The soundman fell asleep at the wheel and did not let Bramhalls guitar through enough the first two songs. Overall, the sound was great, well mixed and not too loud.

Katy Kisson seems like she has been around forever and just keeps getting better as was her partner (cannot remeber her name)

Whatever happened to Doreen Chanter?

Snowy White deserves a lot of credit for a good performance also.

Finally, I feel sorry for those of you who went to Montage (Scranton). It is a dump even when dry. No complaints about Hershey except $5 to park. Raise the price of candy so I can park for free already.

by Sandra "Gertie" Jones
I went to see Roger at Hershey Park, Hershey August 17. I have never walked out of concert feeling as satisfied as I did leaving that night. The tribute to Syd was amazing!!! I am only 21 and I never thought that I would see Roger of Pink Floyd in concert. I am so happy that i was able to be standing 10 rows away from a very sexy and sensual man of our times. Roger has so much to say and he says them in his lyrics. I wish that all Floyd fans get to see Roger this summer!!!

Wish You Were There:)