Roger Waters LIVE
Two weeks ago I headed to Toronto with Scotty P to take in An Evening With Roger Waters. I’d been looking forward to seeing some form, ANY form, of Pink Floyd live since I became a fan in high school. The only tour that was a potential for me was the last Pink Floyd tour that reached N. America, and that summer I had to sell my hard-won tickets as I had subsequently decided to head to the West Coast for a summer job. Worse still, the group of people I ended up hanging out with on the little fishing resort, April Point Lodge, turned out to all have tickets to the Vancouver show. I’ve cautiously hoped ever since then that some form of some PF live show would make its way close enough for me to attend…. Fast forward 15 years later, and I can finally scratch this off of my list.
The show was tremendous. Musicians first, spot on. Every note and detail - nailed. I’m sure it helped that (interestingly), Mr. John Cairn was involved in the band as a performer, and probably somewhat of a band/project leader, having been quite involved with Dave’s Pink Floyd tours and some recorded work as well. That said, however, it was super tight and even Roger was in fine form. His signature ’strainy’ vocals were assisted by prerecorded tracks, moreso in the second set, but it was done so well it was neither disappointing to see/hear, or even that obvious. The stage show was conservative and extremely effective. RW provided just enough of a classic Floyd ambience to satisfy those who wanted that, but stayed away from all out lighting craziness..which made it easy to watch he and his band do their thing. (Far more important to this concert-goer). The signature round screen for the Floydian video clips we’ve all seen was there, as well as a fantastic backdrop for the first set of a old radio, tumbler of whisky and slowly burning cigarette. In between songs a hand would reach over and change the dial or grab the drink….really fantastic.
I’d have to give this concert the top berth on my rankings for concerts I’ve attended. Perhaps it is due to the detailed familiarity I have with every single piece of Pink Floyd/Waters music…and combined with a rather long wait to see it put together live, there really isn’t any competition for top honours. If we could just get them to do one final, full band tour and album…all would be well.
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