Vasilyevsky Spusk, Moscow

Ticket scan - Mark Higgins

Roadside billboard - Martijn Kluizenaar

Concert starts: 8:00pm

Address of venue: Vasilyevsky Spusk, M Ploshchad Revolyutsii, Moscow, Russia. MAP

Website: www.visitrussia.org.uk/moscow.htm

This show was due to be held in Red Square, but was moved due to an official Kremlin ceremony being held on the same day at the location. It has moved to Vasilyevsky Spusk, which is very close to Red Square.

An unusual show - with the standing members of the audience over to the side. This resulted in Roger asking "why are you standing over there?", and most unusually heading over to see the crowd up close and personal!

With the high cost of tickets (front row seats selling for around $1000 from official sources!) the make-up of the audience was not normal either. The few Waters fans that could afford tickets, tended to be positioned further back in the crowd (we heard of many that went to shows in other countries as it worked out far cheaper for them!) .

The show now moves to the Viking Stadium, in Stavanger, Norway. Should be another good show... if you are going, have a great time and let us know how it went!

To see around four minutes of footage from the concert itself, recorded by Italy's Repubblica TV, click here to visit their website. The footage is at the end of the thirty minute programme. Our thanks to Scott for the head's up on this.

Moscow eagerly got ready to welcome Roger. The stage erection began on June 20th on Vasilevsky Spusk. The work was done by the Russian company JSA which did the stage erection for Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Deep Purple and many other western rock stars.

Our thanks to Alexander and Evgeny aka "darkside" for these two pictures of work in progress on the staging:

 

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Simon Gibbons

Having seen the recent Berlin concert it was with great anticipation that we waited for the Moscow show – and what a show it was.

Thankfully the thunder storm that had threatened all day did not materialize and the skies cleared as the stage exploded (literally) into life and the band arrived.

The venue itself was very interesting – situated behind the famous landmark of St Basil's cathedral and the walls of the Kremlin.

The set list contained no surprises but standouts included an amazing “SHEEP” during the first half of the set, sound quality was CD clear and the quad effects simply stunning.

As with most of the previous shows the bright light affected the visuals to some extent but given the power of the performance no one seemed to mind – at least they have added live video feed of the concert to large screens either side of the stage which helped those who could not afford to be near the front (usd 1000 for the first few rows is a bit steep especially in Russia).

DSOTM played in full was an absolute winner with the crowd, Roger and band seemed in fine form with Roger prowling around the front of the stage – he really did seem to enjoy the whole concert and was full of energy. Leaving Beirut with its anti Bush / anti war message was a winner with the Russian crowd as you may imagine.

Then it was encore time – far too soon – ABITW was tremendous with the Russian crowd ignoring the heavy handed security and standing / cheering / singing along.

Must say that to follow with VERA / BRING THE BOYS BACK HOME is a bit odd – for my money better to have included these two in the first half of the concert along with others from THE WALL – but never mind – great songs – CN finished the proceedings with the light show in full swing and giant turrets of fire exploding from the top of the stage.

Reckon this tour is better (sound quality for sure) than In The Flesh – but feel that indoor venues are more suited to the overall sound / visual sensation – but no complaints: Roger and band played a blinder. Thanks guys (and girls) – luckily now he has added Kiev to the tour I will be able to see it all again.

   
 
   
Above pictures thanks to Paul Reynolds

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Marina Mamon

I was at Roger's concert in Moscow, cause I live here. Unfortunately I have no words to depict it, it was SO fantastic!

The square was completely full of people, there were Pink Floyd's fans from all over ex-USSR - they came to Moscow to watch the show. One of the boys who was standing next to me said: "To see Pink Floyd live - it's like seeing Lenin!!!" :)

Next to Vasilievsky Spusk is situated our famous hotel "Russia", which is being demolishing now (there will be a new hotel at that place). And some builders were working over there during the gig, can you imagine that?! They were demolishing the walls of "Russia" - proper fact!!! :)

Well, so long as I can not describe the show, I'll just use the Pink Floyd's line: Wish you were here!"

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Iliya Lipaev

First I must say that I was eagerly awaiting for the concert since I saw an article in The Rolling Stone saying that Moscow is included into Roger's 2006 Tour. These kind of shows are so emotional and unforgettable that you'll never forgive yourself to miss it. So I bought the ticket on the first day of sale and for more than a month was shivering in anticipation!!! The stage was built on a low hill behind St.Basil Cathedral which is right in the center of the city, near the Red square, so we had no problem at all to get there. We met 45 min before announced starting time of the show at 8 p.m. and in 15 minutes safely reached our seats. Around us were people carrying hammer-shaped and pig-shaped balloons, dressed in PF t-shirts looking as excited as we were.

Against my expectations the seats were quite close and we could easily see everything that was happening on the stage as well as what was shown on the screen. As the crowds were gathering slowly the start was delayed for 30 minutes, but that was ok, as we decided to move closer to the stage and found two free places 50 meters off the stage!!! That was incredible! This was sort of guest zone and some of these official guests never appeared! So we comfortably sat there and watched! These seats 5 of 6 times more expensive than mine and we were very very pleased!

The sun just started to went down, so it was too light to see anything on the screen as Roger himself admitted during the show while presenting the cartoon in Leaving Beirut. Roger came out amidst weak applause from VIPs and huge cheer from dance area that was well back on the left. People out there couldn't see anything at all but made huge noise and cheer!!! Roger said Welcome! Are you ready? and opened the gig with In the flesh. The sound was great, not as loud as I used to, fireworks were superb and the song itself made me shiver when Roger pointed into the crowds and sung There's one in the spotlight he don't like right to me...

As the song ended Roger went up to the microphone, looked towards dance area and asked What are you doing out there? Indeed, that a sad practice of all Russian promoters who sell 1000 USD first row tickets to the people who don't care about the music at all, while real fans have to stand somewhere at the back. Several times during the first half Roger went to the left corner of the stage, came up to the very edge and played there to make people see at least anything! He tried to come down the stage and get closer to them, but there was no ladder out there and he was afraid to jump I guess.

Then came heart-crying Mother and superb STCFTHOTS. Sadly, the later was the only pre-DSOTM song, but great anyway - flamed backdrop was perfect! SOYCD had just blown everybody away! As well as Have a Cigar and WYWH!!! These radio-feed effects and live guitar entrance were astonishing! We were sitting and catching each note! It was so great to hear live what you've heard on record for a thousand times! I just couldn't believe it! The band played so close to the original that you had to keep your eyes wide open to believe that it's live performance!!

Songs from Final cut are not something I'm familiar with, but were great as well. Leaving Beirut was warmly welcomed, especially it's part about George and texas education. The crowd cheered and whistled just like saying Yeah, that's right! Sheep was incredibly aggressive and the rhythm was great. 10-year boy in front was punching the air imitating playing drums! I guess only few people saw the text of the prayer moving fast on the back of the stage, but it was an awsome effect.

That was the first part. Roger went for a break and I've turned right and notice that the guy sitting next to me is sleeping!!!! What an asshole!! During the second part he just sat there chatting to his super-model-like girlfriend, talking on his cell-phone, paying no attention neither to the music, not to the stage. His girlfriend was taking pictures of the people she knew from the crowd! Stupid Barby-girl! Happily, they left after the first part! Can you imagine that!

During the break we thought that somebody could bring the ladder to let Roger come down and indeed, somebody thought the same and right at the beginning Roger went off the stage and ran to the dance area - that's something around 100 meters off the stage! He stood right near the fence that separates the crowd from numbered seats, sung and played!!!! The crowd went wild!

Then came DSOTM. I was really great! I didn't even noticed when it's ended! It was just one huge bit of perfect music! It was nice to see round PF-style screen and old DSOTM films. All sound effects came from the back and it gave fantastic feeling of 3D sound. Crowd cheered fiercely at encore and everybody stood till the very end. People sung ABITW and were waiving lighters at Vera. It was real hot from the flames!!!! It's plus 29 in Moscow, but you could feel the real heat!!!! That was it. I'm so impressed by the concert that the music still plays in my head! Indeed, it was a life time experience!