MUSIC: Roger Waters Has Returned

Let me just say right off the bat if you are in any way a fan of Pink Floyd and you especially enjoy albums like Darkside of the Moon and The Wall then you are going to love this show. It was absolutely phenomenal it was by far the best show I've ever seen and I've seen Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Wu Tang Clan and Rage Against the Machine and The Allman Brothers at the Beacon Theatre. I've seen some of the greats but this show was something special.

My Brother, his friend and I started out from Brooklyn early in the afternoon because we had to catch the bus to New Jersey. When we told people the concert was in Camden, NJ, we got some nervous faces. "Camden, New Jersey? Do you own a firearm or weapon of any kind?" Apparently I was to learn that Camden, New Jersey has the highest violent crime rate in the United States. According to some who have gone to concerts in Camden they say the Waterfront has a great acoustic sound the harbor is charming and one should avoid downtown like the plague. We decided to follow this advice as we sped through downtown as quickly as possible. Of course we got stuck in concert traffic. Once we made it inside we got ourselves a Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt, a beer and a pretzel and then headed out to the playing fields. Really it should have been called the playing dirt cause it wasn't much of a field per-say there were patches of grass here and there. That's when we realized we had forgotten the lawn chairs or blankets. Shit! This was turning into a fiasco.

The stage was elaborate and had a giant old timey radio and a giant bottle of whiskey. After a couple glances back at the stage I noticed a giant hand turning the knob on occasion, smoking a cigarette and pouring a glass of whiskey. What I thought was a set was a very elaborate and flawless looking projection. The concert was supposed to start at 8 sharp but instead we see the hand channel surfing on the radio. Then as if we thought this was going to go on for another twenty minutes the lights dimmed and they started. It was In the Flesh? from The Wall. He played a few more from The Wall and then played a few from albums like Animals and my favorite Wish You Were Here. Next he performed some of his solo stuff like Perfect Sense 1 and 2 from his album Amused to Death and Leaving Beirut which is from his CD single To Kill the Child/Leaving Beirut. It was very cool they had a comic strip on the screen that told the story as he sang. All of a sudden we look up over the stage and they've got this um, floating pig. The band starts a slow drum beat -- Sheep. The Floating Pig hovers over the crowd I start to smell the chiba. I think it says Impeach Bush on the pig's ass. They've got pyrotechnics and psychedelic colors flashing on the screen. Roger throws in the Bush barbs throughout the show. They took a little break and then got down to business playing the entire Darkside of the Moon from start to finish. It was incredible, the sound, everything. If you listened close enough during The Great Gig In The Sky you can hear the whisper. (All you Pink Floyd Fans know what I'm talking about.) The pipes on the background singers--awesome. Katie Kisoon, P.P. Arnold and Carol Kenyon were dead on I felt like I was listening at home, it was better than the studio sound. Some guy next to me was crying that he wished he had some shrooms.

So Roger finishes Eclipse, the last song on Darkside and he thanks everyone and walks off-stage. They have to play an encore-- everyone is shouting. They took a little longer than I thought they should but you could hear the drums building again--I hear the helicopter rotors in the background. They started out with The Happiest Days of Our Lives and go right into Another Brick In the Wall, part II. They also played Vera, Bring the Boys Back Home and ended the show with Comfortably Numb. Fucking Awesome!

Roger played a great show; he had a great group and an incredible guitarist that made me forget all about David Gilmour and the Pulse tour. Dave Kilminster was great on guitar, vocals and bass. He performed the entire Darkside of the Moon perfectly. If you do anything else between now and the end of the year you have to see Roger Waters: Darkside of the Moon tour. Here are the rest of the dates, and if you are lucky enough to see it in Europe you will have the privilege of seeing Roger reunite with his former Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason.

North American Tour Dates:

• 18 Sept - The Palace, Detroit, MI, USA
• 20 Sept - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada
• 21 Sept - Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada
• 23 Sept - Nissan Center, Bristow, VA, USA
• 24 Sept - Post Gazette Pavilion, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
• 27 Sept - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH, USA
• 29 Sept - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, IL, USA
• 30 Sept - Verizon Wireless, Indianapolis, IN, USA
• 03 Oct - Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, AZ, USA
• 05 Oct - Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA, USA (with Nick Mason)
• 06 Oct - Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA, USA (with Nick Mason)
• 08 Oct - Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA, USA (with Nick Mason)
• 10 Oct - Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, USA
• 12 Oct - Key Arena, Seattle, WA, USA