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Home arrow 2012 WALL TOUR arrow May 15th - US AIRWAYS CENTER, PHOENIX, AZ, USA
May 15th - US AIRWAYS CENTER, PHOENIX, AZ, USA Print E-mail
US Airways Center
Roger Waters - The Wall Live 2012 ticket
Roger Waters - The Wall Live concert ad

Capacity: 20,000
Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: 201 East Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004-2414. MAP

Website: www.usairwayscenter.com

 

COMMENTS

Roger's tour of The Wall returns to the venue which concluded the US 2010 leg, a venue which is also known as The Purple Palace and The Snake Pit!

The RogerWaters.com presales have taken place, with advance tickets available to those who had registered their interest in particular cities. General sale tickets went on sale on November 14th at 10am through this link to Ticketmaster.com. Exact dates and outlets can be found via Roger's website. The public sale will also see a limited number of VIP packages made available for each show on the tour. Our thanks to Elliot Tayman for the concert advert shown to the right - click on it to see the advert in greater detail. Further thanks go to Jonathan Smith for the ticket scan to the right.

When sending in his ticket, Jonathan noted that "My seats were in the center section of the floor--amazing location. The show was incredible, as expected."

SET LIST - highlight the following with your mouse to read...
FIRST HALF: In the Flesh, The Thin Ice, Another Brick in the Wall Part 1, The Happiest Days of our Lives, Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Empty Spaces, What Shall We Do Now, Young Lust, One of My Turns, Don't Leave Me Now, Another Brick in the Wall Part 3, The Last Few Bricks, Goodbye Cruel World
SECOND HALF:
Hey You, Is There Anybody Out There?, Nobody Home, Vera, Bring the Boys Back Home, Comfortably Numb, The Show Must Go On, In The Flesh, Run Like Hell, Waiting for the Worms, Stop, The Trial, Outside the Wall.

 

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Do not read on if you don't want surprises to be spoilt, regarding what the band played, and what happened as the night unfolded!

Night thirty-nine of the tour, and roughly a quarter of the way through the North American concerts already...after this show, a few days break before LA's Memorial Coliseum sees The Wall arrive.

The Examiner were there and reviewed the concert, noting that "Roger Waters comfortably numbs Phoenix audience". In their review, they said that "Tuesday night, May 15, 2012 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Roger Waters’ performance of The Wall proved that sometimes pigs do fly, although this evening it was an angry looking, black, horned boar that floated above the audience. The impossible was trying to catch all the audio and visual effects being thrown at the crowd as Waters and his ten member band performed Pink Floyd’s legendary 1979 album The Wall, primarily written by Waters, from start to finish. This was not a concert. It was a show. Make that, it was a spectacle.

"Easily lost in all the theatrics could be the performances. Waters sounded as good as he did on the original recordings. Because it takes at least three guitarists to capture live what was done in the studio, Kilminster, Smith and long time Pink Floyd concert guitarist Snowy White admirably brought to life those sounds with their own personal flair. Waters’ son, Harry, along with Jon Carin did a great job on keyboards. Drummer Graham Broad kept up with the intricate rhythm. The vocals of Wyckoff and backup singers Kipp Lennon, Mark Lennon and Pat Lennon were always spot on.

"Equally as impressive to the show was the quadrophonic sound system in use. This is the first time I can remember a show in US Airways Center where the sound was actually great.

"Roger Waters’ The Wall is a musical pageant not to be missed. With all that is going on visually and audibly, to describe the performance in whole is impossible. But then again, for one night, I did see a pig fly."

If you went to this show in Phoenix, please let us know what you thought of the event, and if anything interesting or different happened if you've been to previous shows and can compare.

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Simon Wimpenny

It was a normal size arena tonight, first time I'd been here was in 2000 for the In The Flesh show, I'd then been a second time in 2010 for the first leg of the wall tour and tonight I was back again.

 

Everyone was spread out around the Arena again tonight, I got in there around 7:15 and took in the atmosphere a bit. I was sitting in my 2nd favourite place tonight, right next to the wall on the right side as you look at the stage. Whilst the view from here doesn't let you see the projections real well or the band behind the wall, it does give you a great view of the crowd, the plane coming down and you're right in the heart of it when Roger comes over to the side and the crowd go wild.

Roger now does a small talk after the end of the new Another Brick ending (the Jean Charles track) he tells the crowd a bit about Jean Charles and explains how he was shot in the back of the head. The last couple of shows he's also said “If we give the police and the government too much power we are on a very slippery slope” - this generates a HUGE response of cheers and applause from the crowd.

Roger Waters - Phoenix 2012 Roger Waters - Phoenix 2012 Roger Waters - Phoenix 2012

The band sounded great but I could tell there was something different from Dave's classical guitar parts, it just sounded different and I couldn't put my finger on what it was. He later sent me a message saying he had problems with his regular guitar and had to use a replacement that he didn't like and he thought it sounded terrible. I wouldn't have said terrible, just different somehow.

I noticed sitting in front of me a couple of rows down were a couple of young guys wearing turbans, they were Sikhs. I only mention this as it show how much Roger's music appeals to not only different cultures but races, religions and genders!

Roger has taken to “freezing” again at the end of Bring The Boys Back Home, this is something he's done in previous tours at certain parts of the show and I've only seen him do it during Comfy Numb up until the Phoenix show. He stands there onstage “frozen” for 30 seconds or so, sometimes glancing at the crowd and smiling but never moving anything but his eyes.

For the last few tracks I went down onto the floor to my favourite position, right on the front rail in front of Dave and Snowy. Hearing the monitor speakers instead of the FOH PA is great, seeing the veins on Roger's neck standing out while he’s singing (or not!) is also great to see.

It was nice to feel some “wall wind” tonight, it's been a while, too long in fact since I felt it. The shows in Buenos Aires and the outdoor shows in the US have the stage set a little higher and further back than the normal arena shows so it's kind of hard to feel the wind as the wall falls down.

It was nice to see the guys at the end and have a little laugh and an inside joke with Dave K while he was onstage, the guys really do enjoy this part of the show, Being able to actually see the audience and the crowd due to the lighting etc I know makes them so happy, you can see this by watching Robbie and Jon and Marky especially, they love it.

Tonight was not only another great show but another great pre-show meet up. As the shows have been going on it's been great to meet new and old friends, there's usually a “core” group of us that attend a few shows together and when one of those people have to fly home it's always a shame.

- Make sure you check out Simon's excellent blog at SimonWimpenny.blogspot.com where you'll find full details of all his travels, along with more pictures and videos.

CONCERT REVIEWS and PICTURES by other BD CONTRIBUTORS

Hopefully coming soon - we welcome all contributions!

YOUR HELP NEEDED! We want to cover Roger's concerts the best we can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. We'd love to see ANY pictures, tickets scans, reviews, newspaper reports, and anything else you come across for this show - we look forward to hearing from you!

Last Updated ( Saturday, 19 May 2012 )
 
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