Roger Waters Tweeter Center Concert Review

© 2006 ClickitTicket

As my buddy and I were leaving the Roger Waters concert this past Saturday night at the Tweeter Center (Boston) he turned to me and said, “I came thinking I was gonna see Waters, but I’m leaving knowing that I saw Floyd.” We realized once again, or were reminded really, that Waters was the beating heart of Pink Floyd.

We also agreed that Saturday night’s performance was the best live concert either of us has ever been to. And that’s a bold statement coming from two guys who have spent a small fortune on concert tickets.

While reading this review, bear in mind that Roger Waters is one of my all-time favorite artists. But even if I attempt to take a more objective viewpoint of the show, however difficult that is, I can see that it was truly extraordinary, a delight to both my eyes and ears.

Sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll and politics were the name of the game Saturday night. First off, the stage had a gigantic movie screen behind it that played various movies, montages, images of joint smoking, still cartoons with word bubbles, war scenes, naked breasts, and a film shot specially for the show, featuring an old-school radio, an ever growing pile of butts in an ashtray, and a dude with straggly hair looking at the least pensive, and at the most, well …, wasted.

What made the screen so cool besides its hugeness was the constant addition of actual things in front of what was showing on the screen, adding a neat 3D effect. For example, when a guy would be smoking a cigarette in the movie, real smoke machines were pumping smoke up at the top of the stage and screen so you didn't know where the real smoke ended and the smoke on the screen began. Or when there were scenes of deep space, with nefarious nebula and glowing stars adrift, actual shimmering bits of paper descended slowly from the ceiling of the venue, adding to the surreal scene.

In another cosmic moment, floating space-suited men working on a space-station on screen were accompanied by an MTV-like real man in a space suit floating out over the stage. Well, not real like a live person, but still pretty cool.

If the visuals were a grenade, then the music was a nuclear bomb. The choice of songs was fantastic, the sound quality rocked, and the performances were awesome. Roger and his entire backup band sounded incredible.

The three black backup singers sang their hearts out and sounded like angels. When one of the them sang 'The Great Gig In The Sky', her performance was outstanding, and her moaning vocals sounded like a better female orgasm than Meg Ryan's 'When Harry Met Sally' performance any day of the week. Waters stayed true to the quality of the recorded versions of the songs with the live performances, which was a treat. Here the first half's set list:

Another really cool thing about the music was that all the sound bites and effects that you hear on the albums were recreated perfectly live.

There were some really interesting anti-Bush things going on in the show as well. Roger sure doesn't like old GW, that's for sure. For instance, when they performed Pigs, two guys ran out into the audience holding on to ropes flying a gigantic pink pig the size of a bus. The front guy was in a butcher's bloody outfit, holding a huge knife and screaming bloody murder. There was graffiti written all over the pig like "vote Democrat on Nov. 2". And smack dab in the middle of the floating pig's butt was written "Bush". Hmmm, I wonder what they were trying to say with that one?

When they made it to the lawn, they released the pig into the night sky. I can't help but wonder what will happen in that pig's wake. Maybe there'll be a couple bickering about the mid-term elections. The man will be screaming, "I'll vote Democrat when pigs fly!" as the pig floats by their bedroom window.

Waters performed one new original song called 'Leaving Beirut' which was about a trip a friend and he took when he was much younger. They got stranded in Lebanon and Roger was taken in by a poor family for a night. The song is more than just about those events, however. Waters' genius lies in his ability to combine music and poetry, and deliver a message that hits home in a way that no other thing can.

This song asks if these are the people we want to be bombing, referring to the kind Lebanese family that brought him in. It asks if the wars in the Middle East are our pleasure, punishment or crime? And it takes a no-holds-barred, blunt, unabashed and unshakable stance on Bush and the Christian Right. Here are some of the lyrics:

Oh, George... oh, George...
That Texas education must have fucked you up
When you were very small..."

"America.... America...
You've got freedom of Speech, and great beaches
Wildernesses and malls...
Don't let the might of the Christian Right,
Fuck it all up for you
And the rest of the World..."

These lines brought a huge cheer from the crowd. One of the cool things about this song was what was going on in the big screen behind the band. The story was being recreated in a cartoon storyboard complete with text bubbles over the heads of the characters. And all the lyrics to the song were written out in the bubbles. See the images below for a better idea of what I'm writing about.

The second set was even better than the first. Roger and company played 'The Dark Side of the Moon' in its entirety. As the music began, the corresponding image on the big screen was a large circle with extremely psychedelic imagery pulsating, throbbing, shape-shifting, and blending colors spanning the entire rainbow. Staring down and into that massive mesmerizing circle as Dark Side began almost triggered a 60's flashback.

Both 'Time' and 'Money' were played well, but they were originally sung by David Gilmore, so the guys in Waters' backup band who sang them just didn't sound the same. I am also a big Pink Floyd fan, and although the show was wonderful on many levels, the one complaint I had was that a few of the tunes could have been only improved by Gilmore's voice, and especially his six-string. In fact, there were two lead guitarists, and I couldn't think of a better tribute to David.

'Us and Them' gave me chills it was so good. The imagery on the background big screen was of all kinds of war-torn lands and peoples. There was a recurring image of a middle-eastern child getting his head bandaged in the midst of rubble. And not for the first time that night, watching this made me sad.

Except for his new tune, many of the songs Roger wrote and performed for us Saturday night were written about people and events long in our past, such as World War I and II, the Cold War and Ronald Reagan. These songs were about how horrible war is, how it doesn't solve anything, and how ridiculous violence is for a solution. Yet history just continuously repeats itself.

What made me sad was that these songs applied to the events of today as much as they did to the events Waters originally wrote about. Just change the time and place, but actions seem to remain the same.

When 'Brain Damage' and 'Eclipse' were performed, I again got chills but I realized we were nearing the end of the concert, which really bummed me out. And they did indeed take a bow after Dark Side was completed and left the stage.

The crowd cheered for more and I couldn't believe how many people hauled out their lighters to shine them like it was Woodstock. As I was contemplating whether that many people still smoked or not, Roger and his band got back on stage and played 'Another Brick in the Wall', 'Vera' and ended with 'Comfortably Numb', my favorite Flyod tune.

When it was all over my buddy and I walked out of there shell-shocked. Both of us were speechless for a few minutes as we trudged back to our car. I'm not sure, but somewhere along the way we both looked at each other and agreed that we'd catch another one of Roger Waters' shows before this tour wraps up. It was just too good to experience only once.

Digg This Article | Save in del.icio.us

© 2006 ClickitTicket
By Jason OConnor

TERMS OF REPRINT
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free
of charge, as long as the bylines are included and you follow these rules:
*Email distribution of this article MUST be opt-in email only.
*If you post this article on a website, you must set any URL's
in the body of the article and most especially in the Author's
Resource Box as hyperlinks.