Photo by Scott Harrison
From: Garrett Newnam
The magic was there...
Just wanted to put in a word for Roger's June 13th San Antonio show. I
won't bore anyone with a sequencial description of the setlist, but will
comment on some highlights.
First of all, a big reason for the air of magic (something special was happening around these parts) was that the show came off as being highly controversial...
For anyone not from Central Texas, you'd probably guess that San Antnoio is a rather conservative city, which always strives for safety, in light of their gang violence in the past. So not surprising, police supervision was, as usual, very tight and abundant; various troops of mounted police outside, and scores of officers inside the venue, looking for suspicious persons...
Walking in the front door, looking the way I was looking, I immediately became the focal point for cop stares. Gazing back, in acknowledgement, I of course felt the cold, suspicious, disgusted stares of non-approval. Walking past the cops, I overheard the phrase, "you know, it's really too bad..."
-Oh well, these guys were in for a treat, if they were to hang outside and hear the music, which had alrealy started, as "In the Flesh" was clearly audible in the outer hall... Yes! As the lyric "there's one smoking a joint!" became audible, the entire venue roared with cheer, illustrating the fact that the "smoke-free venue" was NOT going to be smoke-free tonight!
The tight security was inside as well, looking for trouble, and I could see various fans getting hassled; probably for smoking. Anyhow, Roger had turned the Alamodome into a cyber-era cathedral, using heavy keyboard orchestration, panned around the venue in 3-d, making full use of the quad sound. The sound effects, the dogs for example, promoted an air of controversy as well, as people gazed behind them, freaked out, wondering what the ordeal was... It made me realize the many implications of a dog bark... Hell, even some of the cops were looking back there, as if chaos abounded.
The music was mixed and miked perfectly, and sounded magnificent. The drums were nice and bassy, and so was the bass. The full utilization of the quadrophonic sound system, and the moving panning of sound effects and keyboards made me happy to know that this show was probably the closest thing I've ever experienced to the "Azimuth Coordinator!" (I'm only 24 years old).
The animations really hit the spot, and seemed to have changed format just a tad from last year. The liquid light projections looked beautiful inside that dark venue... They seemed to be poly-layered. The lyrics to "Each Small Candle", projected onto the screen and slowly fading away after the verses, worked really well at captivating the audience. I even noticed some women, reading the words, and biting their fingernails, as we felt the delicacy, danger, and stark horror that occurs in war, coupled with the minor-tinged music.
Among some highlights, Andy Fairweather-Low's guitar solo in "Money" was REALLY intense and rippin'. Dogs of course was a major highlight. Welcome to the Machine of course sounded right on, - possibly even closer to what Roger had in mind.
I was very amused to witness "Set the Controls" played before my very eyes, very intensly I might add. Before going into the song, Roger said "...And now it's time to go way back into the mists of time!!!" I was happy to hear a psychedelic arrangement in which eerie keyboard orchestration and dissonace began the peice, much like the arrangement on "Live at Pompeii". I was not disappointed at all; the drum-pounding promoted an air of archaic barbarity, while the liquid light projections assrted that nothing this psychedelic was probably occurring anywhere else in this city, state, country, or even the world this night.
And of course, a VERY memorable occasion occured when , in light of the constant hassle from the cops and their Gustapo-like flashlight searches, I looked up to the stage at one moment to notice a staged act, in which a person jerked and wiggled a flashlight at the first several rows, as if frantically searching the audience. The jerkiness of the flashlight caught many people's attention, as if some ordeal was happening up front. Come to think of it, it may have been Fairweather-Low, because the caricature of hassling was very exaggerated, and he went out with a bang, running back onto the stage, to a loud roar of cheer, getting everyone's attention! Again, highly touchy and controversial.
A captivated audience enjoyed Roger's solo material, as virtually everyone was entranced, many never before seeing anything like this before (many youngsters in attendance). And I think Roger was very happy to see that- for some reason, everyone wasn't taking a bathrrom break during his solo material... For good reason, too. Further hitting the Cathedral vibe, the choral orchestration emanating from the keyboards, panned around the venue during "Perfect Sense" and "Amuzed to Death", conjured the spirit of the evening, as one could feel the choral orchetration hanging in the air, almost visibly moving through everyone's bodies... I even noticed many in the audience raising their arms to the heavens, asserting that the magic was indeed in the air.
In the middle of "Amuzed to Death", a silent break in the music allowed for a recorded diolog of a cheesy game show to emanate from the stage, sounding eerily familiar. Due to a television's existence onstage, many in the audience was fooled for a split second, thinking that the sound was coming from the T.V.!
Finally, at the end of
the show, at the end of "Each Small Candle", Roger enacted a very stark,
real gesture: he pulled a lighter out of his pocket, and lit it, shortly
after the line, "each small candle lights a corner of the dark...",
after which thousands of people began to ignite their lighters, lighting
up the entire "smoke-free" venue! Yes, each small lighter does light a
corner of the dark. The baffled cops looked around at more smokers (of
what-not) than they had ever realized existed at this show. Thanks for
the injection of controversy in this sleepy Texas town, Roger!
From: jerrybicks
Fantastic show!!! This is all I can say.
From: Paul Olson
GREAT, EXCELLENT, OUTSTANDING, LOVED IT. I saw him in San Antonio Texas it was
one of the best concert I have ever been to. The quality of the band was
outstanding, they really sounded good. T-shirts were too expensive, so I didn't buy
one.
