Photo by Tony Buonfiglio
From: Ron Toon
The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think....... : )
Just couldn't resist that opening. Here's my rambling observations about last night's show at West Palm Beach broken down into a few catagories (hence, the "rambling" part).....
I ended up going to this show, because an old friend from Florida, who I've barely kept in touch with over the years, immediately thought of me when he heard that Roger was coming to town. One of the last times we got together was 15 years ago, when we saw the +/- tour at the Hollywood Sportatorium. Both of these shows have something in common as well, but I'll get to that in a bit....
It was great seeing some old friends, and make some new ones. I was proud to see quite a few Harvested shirts and ran into a few Echosians like Mark Strand, Bruno, Will T (who has a smile that's larger than life), and the great Vernon Fitch (who, to me, used to be like a God, but now have the great privaledge of calling him a friend), amongst a few others I'm sure that I'm forgetting at the moment (I appologize up front : (
Our seats were GREAT! 20th row DEAD center! I've seen Rog on the last tour close up a few times, and he ain't that pretty ; ) From this viewpoint, you get a great full view of the stage and visuals, you can see everyone clearly ('cause they're certainly close enough), and the sound was AWESOME...one of the BEST sounding concerts I've ever attended...and very surprising for an outdoor venue! Also, because of our location, the surround sound FX were incredible (during Dogs and Shine On especially). Another minor miracle....for the 1st time since I can honestly remember, and I've been goin to shows since 1977), there was not ONE asshole within my aural or visual radius. There was NO obligatory drunk ruining the show for those around him, No whistler, No screamer, no one standing up when everyone else was sitting (and we got to sit through MOST of the show, nobody high-fiven' ya every 30 seconds!
Before I get into the show itself, I just want to say that this band has really come together, You can tell that are are much more familiar with the material AND, more importantly, with each other. SURE, Doyall ain't no Gilmour, BUT WHO IS?!?!?!? I think that by injecting his style of Texas blues into faithful Gilmour solos is great. While Snowy is excellent as well, I have no problem with Doyall taking most of the leads. Okay, on with the show.....
Unfortunately, the outdoor venues are gonna start while there's still an quite a bit of daylight left, at least through most (if not all) of the first set. This tones down the visuals quite a bit, but they are certainly not the main focus of the shows.
The band runs through ITF, pretty much as they did last year, but segues directly into the helecopter sound FX of Happiest Days. I'm really glad he dropped Thin Ice and ABitW1, just wasted time when there is so much else that could have been played. The band mechanically peforms Brick2 and Roger has the look of "thank God I'm getting this song out of the way" look on his face during it. Mother was an exception....the 1st song that really showed any feeling and the band played it better this time around (especially Doyall). I think that there were new visuals as well (the actual inflatable Mother puppet on the starry night backdrop, floating closer and closer during the song).
A missle flies overhead and explodes, leading into the Final Cut Suite...pretty much the same as last time. Pigs on the Wing 1 follows which leads to one of the highlights of the evening....DOGS! On this leg of the tour Doyall and Snowy share the same side of the stage (left) and are right next to each other. The solos and duets were majestic as these two gunslingers are totally in touch with the music and each other. A bravura peformance! The surround sound kicked in as Jon Carin's keybboard solo at the song's bridge circled us from above, turning many heads in the crowd (from where we were sitting). Magnificent!
Welcome to the Machine and Wish You Were Here followed, faithful to last years peformances. I would gladly trade WttM for anything else from his earlier (or solo) catalogue, but I really like WYWH. Shine On closed the set and was improved as well. Okay, Carin's not the best lap steel player, but he does a decent job. Everyone's solo section during part 6 has improved and it was a great jam. Roger messed up a line or two, and the ending of the song no longer reverts back to part 1...I think it's more faithful to the very end of the original (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this).
The 2nd set opened with StCftHotS. This was great on the +/- tour and was a very welcome new additional to this one. The band really cut loose as this live version stayed faithful to the one from the earlier tour. Rog even brought out an uncredited Saxaphonist to cover Mel Colin's old solo... and this guy was just warmin' up ; )
The visuals were fun too as they showed stills from the Arnold Layne and Scarecrow videos with Syd.
The DSotM stuff followed, Breath and Time were pretty good, just about the same, with Roger still claiming vocals on the latter (good move). Then came Money...and I gotta tell ya, THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST VERSIONS I'VE EVER HEARD! Definately the best w/o Gilmour. The band did not seem "tired" playing this again, but rather seemed to face the challenge of playing it with gusto as everyone kicked ass on this one. Then there's that mysterious sax player....this guy waltzes out after warming up with StCftHotS and blasts out the BEST solo that EVER accompanied this song, live or in the studio. Hands down, this son-of-a-bitch just plain blew the roof of this joint and drove the crowd into a frenzy of applause that didn't stop until way into Doyall's returning vocals. Who is this possesed man???? When he was done, he just snapped his fingers and rocked back and forth to the rest of this song, wearing a smile the size of his wide stature....the unexpected surprise of the evening : )
Next came the solo stuff. It's SO fucking obvious that Roger is lip syncing that verse from Every Stranger's Eyes, there was even a screw up at the start of it. Why doesn't he just sing that verse and let the girls finish the last line that he can't hit anymore? A great song with a sad distraction...
He dropped Powers That Be (my least fave from KAOS....GOOD choice), but he also did not represent KAOS in the se at all. The Tide is Turning is the best song (IMHO), but it's more of a set closer and he already knew what they would be. Roger also dropped WGW (the lyrics must have been too tough to remember each night) and I didn't miss it a bit as the band segued right into the sound FX for Perfect Sense 1 and 2. I didn't notice this last year, but now Roger mimes pulling down a periscope, aiming and panning with the oil rig, holding up 2 fingers (right before Marv Albert sez, "There goes 2," and just plain having fun with this bit. The taped crowd FX naturally brought everyone to their feet again as this was certainly a highlight as well.
The Bravery Of Being Out of Range makes it's debut on this tour and it was a bit disappoiting. I always thought that the original recording's bridge section was weak (it screams for a sax solo playing the main theme), and it's just muddled live....even more of a let down than the original, IMO.
Roger really gets into his choreography for It's A Miracle and it's nice to see him get into this mode...no hand shake at this show. Amused To Death follwed and really kicked ass, I even got a chill as the song climaxed and our planet exploded, leaving a remaining flickering light (our last hurrah)....
I'm sure that most people who were unfamiliar with his solo work really woke up with the familiar BD/Eclipse as the crowd rose to their feet. A great version that brought all who had faded back to life. Look for the KAOS radio tour on top of one of the buildings during the end of Eclipse, that's all that's there to represent that album.
The 2nd set closed with Comfortably Numb. I'm not crazy about Doyall's disembodied vocals (he SOUNDS numb when he sings it) and the rest of the song stays faithful to last year's rendition....except the end. Doyall and Snowy trade licks and play off each other on the upper part of the stage, but it's not one-upsmanship anymore. These 2 guys have it DOWN! They now play off each other and compliment each other so well! And, in the end, when they are both playing at the same time, they've worked something out where they are now playing together, not against each other....it is a well rehearsed and planned duet AND THESE GUYS FRIGGIN NAILED IT...THEY JUST PLAIN NAILED IT. The best none Gilmour ending, and in some cases, was even better when Dave was having an off night.
Roger's encore was Each Small Candle. When he started the song I held up my lighter (man...I haven't done that in years, but I thought that this might actually be an appropriate time). Almost nobody knew about this song and I found myself the only one within view to be holding one up (kind of prophetic, huh?). The song has really fleshed out since last year and has turned into quite an opus. Roger did a really smart things with the visuals too....he projected the song's lyrics so everyone would be instantly familiar with unfamiliar material. I'm looking forward to the studio version of this one....a song that haunted me all the way home.
It was a great show, the best of any of Roger's solo shows I've seen and even better than some of the Lapse and Division Bell shows as well. The one thing that made this tour special, is the SAME thing that occurred with the 1985 tour. Each tour was divided up into 2 years, with a healthy breather between the 2. Many recordings surfaced from the early legs, and I was able to become very familiar with the live sets, getting to know then by heart. I was then able to experience the tour again which is a great and unique thing to happen....to hear these live RoIOs performed live again,and in perfect concert sound (not to mention the visuals) is truely a gift....think about it.
Sorry...I told ya I was gonna ramble, but now my fingers are as tired as
my body and I'm already back in Chicago by 10:30 AM the morning after...
didn't get to meet Rog....the merchandise still sux (new cover and a few
pics from the last tour added to the program), new shirts (green wire frame
of Rog's head) along with the same ones; a new litho that would embarrass
a Harvested release (who does these???); a new $50 T (Pink Pig on Blue
Sky....wow whatta.. surprise!); and an even more expensive dark polo (of
which I couldn't see WHAT was on it).....
Regrads,
Ron(Toon) Fleischer
From: Ira Philpot
Saturday night's show had a definitely better sound quality than Tampa
due to the sound set up on the lawn. As usual, they stuck to the same
first set as last year, but the wonderful addition of "Set the Controls
For the Heart of the Sun" with some old promo shots including Syd and
Roger in the cornfield with the scarecrow was refreshing. Was
dissapointed they left out "What God Wants, Pt. I" in this show and have
now left out anything from Radio K.A.O.S., but the performance was a
success as Roger reiterated that he had felt that "magic" once again
with the audience. I just wish that people on the lawn would sit the
hell down so that we all might be able to see and hear the quadrophonic
effects.
Roger has a SUPER show for the psychedelically-enhanced
viewer--everything from the backdrop visuals to the TV on the stage to
stage acting (i.e., card-playing and flashlight number before ATD). And
I'm sure it wasn't just my perception, but I'd like to know if anyone
else is able to pick up on the larger picture images on some of the
slide shots--esp. the ones of Syd during "Shine On." If you focus just
right you can see a different picture within each of those. It is
similar to a large pixel picture that you see blurred up close but at a
further range the real picture appears. They are using the same
technique in those slides also. Take a look!
From: Stephen Jeffries
The Roger Waters show June 3rd at the Mars Music Amphitheater was a
stunning personification of artistic genius. The 25,000 seat venue seemed
nearly full, and the sound, weather, and modest yet highly effective special
effects where all great. Roger opened with his customary 'In the Flesh? '
which brought the crowd to it's feet, and set the tone for an outstanding
night in which Roger was quiet surprisingly active on the stage and
interacting with the immense level crowd appreciation of his music.
He followed up by rolling right into 'Another Brick in the Wall Part Two', which had the entire crowd singing with him by the end of the song, then picked up the acoustic guitar as the band played 'Mother': the addition of female vocalists in this song seems to be the perfect touch. After wrapping up his first mini album set of music from the wall, he remained acoustic as the customary back ground missile explosion carried the set into a fusion of 'Keep Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert' and 'South Hampton Dock', remaining acoustic again for 'Pigs on the Wing'. He pugged back in for a stunning, flawless rendition of 'Dogs' which may quiet well have been the high light of the show: interestingly enough he shared the spotlight and lead role in this song with his guitarist Doyal Brahmal, as he did throughout the show.
Waters followed up dogs with a seemingly reworked version of 'Welcome to the Machine' and a heartfelt performance of 'Wish You Where Here'. Certain loyal Floyd fans have told me that this song did not bode well with out Gilmore on vocals: they are dreadfully wrong. Next, he played what seemed to be the complete version of Shine on You Crazy Diamond I-IX, but things where a little fuzzy at this point and the drunks in front of me started a fight, so I could not be sure if he skipped part of it or not. However, he continued the trend of playing cards during the electronic solo's, and I believe he did it on another song also during a long guitar solo. This closed the first set, and the band took a 20 minute break.
Roger stunned the crowed by opening the second half of the show with the hypnotic haunting classic master piece 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' that was so moving it rivaled the performance of Dogs, then rolled into a stunning set from The Dark Side of the Moon, playing Breath, Time, Breath reprise, Money, and Us and Them: during money Brahmal played a wicked funk guitar solo. Finally, Waters got into his solo stuff, starting with a moving version of 'Every Strangers Eyes'. Yes, Roger hit all of the high notes, and no he did not appear to be lip sinking as some offered on the first half of the tour.
At this point, he spared us all any part of Radio Chaos and rolled into a long set of Amused to death, during which he had a wide array of visual screen effects including parts of the prehistoric bits of the movie "2001, a space Odyssey" and other bits, but the set consisted of 'Perfect Sense' Parts I and II during which on part two he drove the crowed to his feat as he ranted across the stages like a Southern Baptist Preacher throwing his arms in the air driving the crowed into a frenzy: this must have been exciting for him to see the crowd being so appreciative of his solo work, and I was glad to be a part of it.
He continued with 'The Bravery of Being Out of Range' and I am not sure the crowd understood what he was getting at because this may have been the only awkward part of the show, but they worked there way into his cynicism and eventually got down into the sermon he was laying on us. He closed out the Amused to Death subset with It's a Miracle' and 'Amused to Death' then rolled straight into 'Brain Damage' and 'Eclipse'. At this point he apparently closed the show thanking the crowed, but came back for an encore and destroyed us all with a wicked version of 'Comfortably Numb', then very appreciatively thanked the crowed for reestablishing the Magical Connection he had felt in his early years before 'The Dark Side of The Moon' and walked of stage.
The Crowd would not budge, after five minutes or sow of begging, he returned once more and after some dissertation and reflection about the story of his new song, the plagues of war, the situation in Bosnia and how all sides are wrong in violent conflict, played his completed version of 'Each Small Candle' with the burning red lyrics flashed on the screen. The song and the entire show where simply breath taking.
I am a vet of over a hundred concerts, including all of the best of today from Pearl Jam, the Chili Peppers, The Beastie Boys, Radio Head, REM, Rage Against The Machine, Phish, Sound Garden, Dave Mathews, The Smashing Pumpkins, to the best of yesterday, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Page and Plant, The Eagles, you name it, I have probably seen them some time or another. I have never seen a performer so true to the level of studio expertise, clarity of performance, and Power. Musically I have never seen a better show, so this is a must see tour folks! If I could add anything it would be between 'Run Like Hell' , 'Two Suns in The Sun Set', 'Pigs(Three different Ones)', any of the 'What God Wants Trilogy', or 'Three Wishes'. 'Yellow Rose' with one of the female singers replacing Don Henley would have been nice.
On a couple of interesting side notes, before the show there was a classic rock station outside promoting the concert, and they started announcing over the air that they where broadcasting live from outside the Roger Waters Show, calling Roger the founding member of Floyd, before a number of us who had gathered to wait in line at the gates started yelling that he was the co founding member. After the show I was disappointed to run into a Floyd fan who was talking trash about each small candle, that it was depressing, that he should have closed with Run Like Hell or Pigs, and that he hoped since Roger was touring maybe Floyd would come out so he could see the real thing.
Some people are so ungrateful. To have the honor to see this man who made Floyd what it was, and helped mold modern music into something higher in such an intimate venue should be looked upon as both an honor and a blessing. David Gilmore can eat his heart out on this one, because he was not by any means needed there.
1st set
2nd set
Encore
From: Nick Schirripa
Roger Thank you for rocking the house! The sound was wonderful the first
set was all pink floyd a little over an hour the second set had alot of
solo stuff . The band was very very tight what else would you expect
from Roger!
The highlight of my night was every strangers eyes from the
pros and cons of hitchhiking! The sound was wonderful quad sound
speakers all around If you love pink floyd and Roger Waters this show
must not be missed over 2 hours of material wow! Thank you again
Roger >:)
From: Jeanette Jeffcott
Saw "In The Flesh" concert last night at Mars Ampitheater in West Palm Beach
Florida.Ê The best concert I've ever seen and probably the best concert I will
EVER see again.Ê The mix was very good and Roger Waters and all the musicians
gave 100%. By far, he is in my opinion, the most talented man in music.Ê
Ê
