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Home arrow Roger Waters 2006 arrow September 12th/13th - MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, NY
September 12th/13th - MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, NY Print E-mail

MSG
Madison Square Garden
 
MSG ticket scan
MSG ticket scan
Ticket scan - thanks Brent Daniels
MSG ticket scan
Ticket scan - thanks Eugene Lerner
Capacity: TBC
Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: 4 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, New York 10001. MAP

Website: www.thegarden.com

SET LIST - SEPT 12th/13th
 
FIRST HALF: In The Flesh, Mother, Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Southampton Dock, The Fletcher Memorial Home, Perfect Sense parts 1 and 2, Leaving Beirut, Sheep.

SECOND HALF: Dark Side of the Moon.

ENCORE: The Happiest Days Of Our Lives, Another Brick In The Wall (Pt 2), Vera, Bring the Boys back Home, Comfortably Numb.


COMMENTS

The first of two nights at the legendary Garden saw another great performance, with the band reportedly getting steadily better and tighter as each show unfolds. A slight change with the indoor nature of the venue, with the spaceman and pig inflatables now radio controlled rather than being dragged around by roadies.

There was a slight return of the boos that met earlier performances of Leaving Beirut... whilst not as vocal as at the first show of the US leg of this tour, it must still have rattled Roger and the band a little, although he is now making light of the controversy.

Nick Mason's appearance went down a storm, as expected, with him drumming alongside Graham Broad for the second half of the show, and the encores, for both shows.

Nick was quoted as saying: "[Roger] called me up and said would I like to do some shows because I think he thought it would just be a nice sort of twist to the thing to actually have me along for some of the shows. So I've actually done some of the European shows and I'm doing New York which is terrific 'cause it means really I get to play the places I really like to go without actually being on the road for the whole time."

Nick is also due to play the Hollywood Bowl shows in Los Angeles, as we reported back in July.

RW and kidsThe second night featured a performance just as good, with the addition of ten children from the Boys & Girls Club of New York, for Another Brick - resplendent in their "Fear Builds Walls" t-shirts (see thumbnail to the left, and full picture at bottom of this page), and piggie has now been given glowing red eyes!

The tour now moves to Jones Beach tomorrow night - if you are going, have a great time and make sure you tell us all about it!

PRESS REPORTS

The first of the two nights was reviewed in detail by the New York Times through this link, with a nice close-up of Roger accompanying their report. You might need to register to read it, but this is free of charge. There is also a review over at Newsday.com.

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 12th

By BD's Jon Rosenberg

Yep, it's time for another lengthy post from Jon about the RW show last night in NYC at the best venue around, Madison Square Gardens. Too bad I missed seeing the original 4 at MSG back in '77.

As always, DO NOT read on if you do not want spoilers. OK.

All right, I think I’ve had enough coffee to get this review started. First off, the show last night at MSG was 10X better than the kick-off show in Holmdel. What a relief!! All is right with the world again, but the sun is still eclipsed by the moon. IMHO, this show works so much better indoors. I can hear the quad system and see the lighting effects. We were happy kids, even tho our seats were too far back to see facial expressions. Bummer.

In typical NYC fashion, the crowd was very late in arrival, so we had to endure the long oldies radio intro again. Roger and band walked on after about 20’ to a nice ovation as people made mad scrambles to their seats in the dark. ITF-2 kicked off the show as always, started slow but ended with a nice bang and brought the crowd to its feet. You could hear the crew trying to get the sound levels adjusted, but it was still not loud enough. Sounds like the crew has gotten a better handle on the levels now. I could actually hear everyone during Mother and not just a muddled mix as the other day.

I really liked the nice jazzy-feel that Roger is using for STC, esp the cool oboe (??) that Ian Ritchie played. (Still not happy with the backup girls on the song. Oh well.) Would like to hear more of this -- mixing up the Floyd tunes. I know most people want to hear the song nailed perfectly like the original record, but not me, I love the live improv. The video footage of the sun corona & solar flares is damn cool. Not exactly sure why it feeds into stills of Syd & Roger from the AL and Scarecrow videos. Only thing missing was Rog beating the hell out of the flaming gong. Boo hoo.

Nice segue into SOYCD with beautiful footage of several nebulas (Horsehead?) courtesy of the Hubble Telescope (I assume). Best filmage of the night, loved the Syd footage morphs. Odd tho, that Roger doesn’t acknowledge Syd’s death. He usually remarked on Syd on previous tours at this point in the show. The soloing by Snowy and new kid Dave K were good and they did some cool overlaps at the end. Not bad attempts of Dave K to jam like Mr Gilmour does, but there’s only one Gilmour. He is getting better as the tour progresses. Quite a different role than Dave K was used to, playing alongside of Keith Emerson with his orchestral progressions. (I wonder who has the bigger ego, Keith or Roger?).

Dave K does a killer job for HAC up next. His rocking style fits the song well. I was a bit bewildered by the rapid fire video montage during HAC of images every 10 seconds. Very distracting. You know we are a TV gen and have to watch the screen when there’s flashing images. Could do without this film of luxury items. WYWH had a nice showcase of five acoustic guitar. (yes, Carin can play that part too. Wow.) Jon Carin is certainly the hidden gem that David and Roger have found to be indispenable.

Very touching of Roger to pause at the beginning of WYWH to dedicate the song to all those who lost a love one on 9-11, five years ago yesterday. Must have been a momentary thought b/c the rest of the band kept strumming the intro. Well received. Cheers Rog. I’m very enamored of the video ending piece with all the light candles, which get put out by the falling red poppies and which in turn become the poppy fields for TFC songs. Well done! Southampton Docks is beautiful with a nice solo by AF Low. Would have liked to have seen Gunner’s Dream tho. We get an all new video of a run-down house for Fletcher replete with new ‘tyrants’ pictures on the walls.

Which brings us up to the highlight of the first set, Perfect Sense. PP Arnold does a great job of belting out the vocals. Brings shivers up my spine. Nice video of the new ‘arena’ in downtown LA for the showdown. The floating spaceman did make his presence with roadies operating him via remotes down below us. In Holmdel the space dude 'came out' of the screen at the beginning, ala the motorcycle guy on the Pros and Cons tour, which was a cool effect. Now, he just floats around. Eww. As in earlier complaints… I would like to see more RW solo stuff! Bah, I miss the cool versions of Every Stranger’s Eye, The Tide is Turning, Sunset Strip, etc. And just once I’d like to see Three Wishes. Oh well, rant over.

Well, finally Roger decides to talk with the crowd. (A bit late in the show for it.) This time around, all he does is mention that he is going to play a new song about he experiences in Beirut in 1961. No rants on Bush or the war in Iraq. Much better. Nice and short. Very few folks even left for a beer run, unlike Holmdel when it seemed like half the place got up to go get more beer. Yes, there were a few smatterings of boos at the end, but these were easily drowned out by the cheers. I am warming up to the song. It's better live than the spoken version on the CD. The cartoon is dark and brooding, but IMHO is hampered by the lyrics in cartoon bubbles. I know that Rog wants us to ‘see’ the lyrical rant on Bush and the Right-wing. I’d rather just see the story of early Rog in Beirut.

RW in MSG
September 12th's piggie - Picture thanks to Morteza Golpoor

The band quickly segued into a ripping version of Sheep, so there was very little time for the boo-birds. Well played, Rog. Almost appeared that Roger is answering the boo-birds by telling them that they are all sheep. It does seems like Roger picked Sheep just for Dave K to play. He does some killer soloing work alongside of Snowy, ala the ’77 tour. Not bad at all. Great way to end the set. I did like the remote controlled Pig ‘blimp’ complete with graffiti scrawled all over it about voting in Nov. Just one question… does Roger feel that the homeless are all Sheep? What’s with the footage of homeless people thru out the song?

After a short intermission, during which we could see the second drum kit being rolled out and unveiled. We already know it was for Nicky, but still it was a damn cool site for sore eyes. As the heart beats start playing Roger paused to introduce Nick to the crowd, and off we went on the 2006 version of DSOTM complete with new films and Star Trek ‘warping’ sequences. From the get go, one could hear the improvement in the drums. Graham Broad is decent but nowhere as powerful as Mason. You could definitely hear the difference on the intro to Time. Too bad Nicky wasn’t asked to play on the first set, after all he knows 85% of the set songs by heart. Missed him on Sheep for sure.

The extended OTR was nice, with Carin having lots of fun with his toys interjecting trains and cars sounds to disorient you. Got his Rick impersonations down pat. Dave K had some good jams on Money and the extended ACYL. Beautiful shots of the full moon with the Tycho crater and rilles in sharp focus. I really liked the fact that they left the presentation as the round circle ala “Mr Screen” of olden times and had the old ’73 films morphing into the new footage. Nice touch. Roger did a good job of recreating the old Floyd show complete with 3-D sound and voices from the record. Oddly, no lasers? Most of been David’s favorites? Would like to see this again, so much to watch.

RW in MSG
Picture thanks to Morteza Golpoor

The encores were the typical Wall songs with added emphasis on the wars in the Middle East, esp on BTBBH. I’d rather have Rog doing GBS than Vera, oh well. Maybe next year he’ll tour with the “Wall on Broadway” so I can finally see my fave songs. The show ends of course with CN. Not all that crazy with the guitar solos here on CN but I’ve been spoilt by seeing Gilmour play this many times to comment. Rather have RLH end the show.

Overall, 9/10 grade. A good solid A. (sorry only the original 4 will get a 10/10). Had lots of fun and could actually see the show this time around. Wish I was going again tonight but the tix prices are preventing it.

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 12th

By BD contributor, Bradley Kaplan

MSG was the first indoor venue Roger has played this year. Roger said how much he likes playing MSG and that most artists like playing it and how the sound on the stage the band hears is really great. The set list remains unchanged.

The band played much better than PNC Arts Center. They just seemed much tighter and the performance was much better. The sound quality was much better than PNC Arts Center. (in regards to sound quality, that performance comparing to the '99 tour PNC Arts Center sounded much better in '99 than it did this tour. MSG sounded much better this time than in the 2000 tour. Also they used the quad sound much more in '99 and 2000 and much more effectively)

As a result of being indoors, the pyrotechnics were cut down a little. The spaceman was flown around the whole audience and was kept in the middle of the venue for Perfect Sense and that works much better than keeping it by the stage (obviously since it cannot blow away indoors). Also the pig changed from being pulled on strings to remote control. See the picture below - you can see the painted pink remote control unit.

Roger said he was touched hearing the list of the people who died in Sept 11th so dedicated Wish You Were Here to them.

Leaving Beruit ended with both boos and applause.

Nick Mason played drums for Dark Side of the Moon and the encore which was an obvious treat.

Looking forward to going tomorrow night followed by Jones Beach on Friday.

RW in MSG
"Habeus Corpus matters" - September 12th picture thanks to Bradley Kaplan

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 12th

By BD contributor, Darren DeVivo from WFUV radio in NYC

The one word I would use to describe last night's show at Madison Square Garden in New York City would be - explosive! It was an incredible performance from Roger and his band. The band had fire and was very tight. Roger was in fine voice. The show was the opposite of David Gilmour's recent solo shows. While David's had a more laid back, occasionally ethereal vibe (like pre-Animals Pink Floyd), Roger's show was much more forceful, aggressive and political, much like Animals, The Wall, parts of The Final Cut and much of his solo work.

The set list and the band remained unchanged.

Nick Mason joined the band for the second half of the show (The Dark Side Of The Moon) and the encore (selections from The Wall). Essentially, we then had one-half of the classic Pink Floyd lineup on stage. Now, if we could only get the Gilmour / Wright half to join....!!

The setting for the show was an old style radio playing songs broadcast from various radio stations. The image of the radio with a bottle of booze and cigarettes (with a toy airplane on top of the radio) next to it was projected on the back screen behind the stage. The music being played before the show as the audience was filing in was coming from the radio. Occasionally, a hand would appear, reaching up to change the station. This is how "Wish You Were Here" began! Very clever! At the end, we find that the person listening to this radio, occasionally changing the station, was the guy ("Pink") who is "Comfortably Numb!"

Roger did perform the controversial "Leaving Beirut". He clearly explained the song, setting it up before it started. It was accompanied by a black and white illustrations explaining the lyrics/story. The audience heard the song out, then afterwards, the response was clearly mixed. Where I was, it was 60-40 booing. No problem, Roger expressed his opinion, the audience expressed it's. We agree to disagree. We move on...

During the early portion of the show, glowing light sticks were raining down on the audience in the back of the arena, sometimes by the handful. I could not tell who was throwing them from above. A small, inflatable astronaut floated above the crowd during "Perfect Sense, Part I" and "Perfect Sense, part II". The pig, covered with graffiti, flew over the audience during "Sheep". Something to the effect of "impeach President Bush" was scrawled on the pig's butt! Visually, there was nothing totally mind blowing or unique, but that didn't stop them from being stunning. The films were almost all new, occasionally incorporating pieces of older ones. They were terrific. Older images of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd were wonderfully distorted and colorized. The staging was a fairly colorful. During "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun", replica liquid lights squirmed on the screen. The rising and setting of the sun was pretty cool, too! The visuals during "On The Run" were mesmorizing.

Some other observations:

* I have to admit that leading up to the show, I was a little sceptical about the set list. First off all, I had reservations of Roger doing all of The Dark Side Of The Moon. I realize that Roger wrote all the words and a healthy chunk of the music, but he wasn't a major part of the performance (playing bass and contributing sound effects). He wasn't a prominent vocalist either, singing lead on only the two closing songs. Could The Dark Side Of The Moon really work without David Gilmour and Richard Wright? I also felt that the first half's set list was a bit disjointed - kind of a "cut and paste" set. I was skeptical about "Southampton Dock" and "The Fletcher Memorial Home' being the two songs from The Final Cut. I wondere d if they could stand alone without the rest of the album. (I felt that "The Gunners Dream", "Your Possible Pasts", "The Final Cut" or "Two Suns In The Sunset" would have been better choices. They can come out of The Final Cut and stand alone as songs.) I felt the same way about "Perfect Sense, Part I" and "Perfect Sense, Part II". Were they going to work without the rest of the Amused To Death concept to support them. The same could be said for snippets from The Wall like "Vera" and "Bring The Boys Back Home" (although with our troops overseas, I could see the logic in "Bring The Boys Back Home").

RW in MSG
Picture thanks to Morteza Golpoor

* Roger's son Harry Waters was playing keyboards. Between the very long, thick dreadlocks and the ZZ Top-like beard - he has more hair than all of Brain Damage's readers!

* The crowd (probably a sell out) was loud and excited. Also, a lot of "herbal jazz cigarettes" were being enjoyed! There was a constant smell of "the pot" and a smoky haze in the arena.

* As great as the show was and as great as Roger's band was, you couldn't help but wish David and Rick were there. Wish you were here indeed.

* Hearing "Perfect Sense, Part I" and "Perfect Sense, Part II" (plus the Amused To Death songs performed during Roger's last tour, "In The Flesh") performed live makes me wish Roger would have toured to promote Amused To Death, his best solo album and the best thing he has done since The Wall. I would have loved to hear Amused To Death live in it's entirety.

That's all my brain will remember. I'll be back for Madison Square Garden show number two tonight.

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 12th

By BD contributor, Chris Creed

Was at the show yesterday. Have to agree with Bradley, the acoustics were great for an arena venue.

The first set was well received but didn't seem to get into the soul of the audience. Maybe everyone was waiting for DSOTM - easy to see why. From the intro of Nick Mason to the final strains of Eclipse the audience was reliving 1973. Absolutely flawless performance of what many would regard as the greatest album of all time.

The encores were perfectly chosen to build on the energy from the end of the second set. Another Brick in the Wall 2 had a few extra singers in the band (the entire Gardens audience) and to cap the night the soaring lead of Comfortably Numb (definitely one of the greatest solos in music history). Kudos to the arrangement - sent home the audience feeling the magic of bygone years. The songs are still ringing in my ears this morning!

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 12th

By BD contributor, Stephen Lukas

Just got back from the garden, and back to earth!! Roger was quoted as saying it was one of his favorite places to play. Judging from the sound quality of the concert, I totally agree with him.

It was great to see Nick Mason join the band during the second set. Roger quipped that he would be the oldest on stage if it wasn’t for him.

DSOTM was like an out of body experience. The swirling quadraphonic sound of the garden was dizzying at times, especially during On the Run.

The New York audience seemed to be split on “Leaving Beirut”. Boos and cheers. I have a new appreciation for the song based on Roger’s experience and motivation for writing the song. “WYWH” was dedicated to 9/11 victims and their families, which was touching.

I was skeptical of Roger’s vocals before the show. There were some rumors out there that he could no longer cut the mustard. After listening to him tear through Have A Cigar and Fletcher Memorial Home, I have no doubts about him singing into his 70’s.

For those going tonight, be ready to be blown out of arena. For those going to Jones Beach on Friday, see you there. Pray for no rain!!

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 12th

By BD contributor, Steven Levine

This was a truly great night at the Garden. Certainly as good as I have ever heard the songs performed by Waters or Floyd. The sound in the Garden was perfect, and it was loud! This was important because it appears that modern audiences think concerts are sing alongs (which bothers me) and think that calling people on their cell phones during the concert is cool and appropriate (which pisses me off, I had to tell the person next to me several times to stop calling people on his cell phone and screaming into the phone to be heard, finally losing my temper and just swearing him down till he hung up).

The show started promptly at 8:20. In the Flesh was performed perfectly. The giant screen behind Waters had to be seen to be believed, with loads of new video to accompany the show. There's really no reason to trip anymore at concerts, because the artists have gone to the trouble of filming the hallucinations for you. Fletcher Memorial Home, with its panning shot from a photo of Bin Laden, to Bush, to Reagan, to Stalin, etc, was really even more incendiary than the brilliant new Leaving Beirut. Not to mention the Pig, with Impeach Bush scrawled across his ass.

But all the pomp and spectacle would not have meant anything if the band hadn't played well, but the did, better than well, they played a stunning two and a half hours of some of the best music of the modern age. Floyd music has always been the music of insanity, and a one hundred and sixty minute barrage of mind bending music and video just reached into my soul, tore it apart, and spit it back into my body. I will not be able to shake the concert for a while.

The performance of Dark Side was perfect, with Wish You Were Here dedicated to the victims and survivors of 9/11, if lacking some of the energy of the first set, with Waters turning much of the singing over to his bandmates, and spending a lot of the set in the dark with his back turned to the audience. It takes a great deal of confidence and humility to not have to be the center of attention all the time, which is appreciated.

The encore of Wall material was well played, with Comfortably Numb finishing the show with a building intensity that peaked in fury of pure madness. Of particular note were Southampton Dock, Fletcher Memorial Home, and in a truly astonishing moment, Vera and Bring the Boys Back Home, which was so loud by the end that any audience noise was completely drowned out.

I've probably seen a hundred concerts at the Garden alone, including Waters, and this is one that will go down in my book, for its brilliant playing and general vibe. There is no venue quite like the Garden, both because of the building itself, and because New York audiences tend to be loud, vocal, and boisterous. September 12, 2006 at the Garden was no exception. This concert passed the test for all great shows, which is, last night, between 8:20 and 11:00 pm, was there any better place spot on the planet earth to be located? For my money the answer is no.

One of my regrets when I pass from this earth and stand tall before the man will not be that I spent a night in September of 2006 in New York City watching one of the great songwriters of the age play some of his best work with determined passion and emotion. No, this will not be a regret.

RW in MSG
Picture thanks to Morteza Golpoor

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 12th

By BD contributor, Dan Salamon

Let me preface this with saying that I am a huge Floyd fan and was always anti-Roger because of their breakup. I was more on the Gilmour side of things and blamed him for the breakup. Well, once Live-8 happened, and I read Nick Mason’s book, I began to change my views a bit and felt more empathy toward Waters. Anyway, once this tour was announced, I decided that I would go. I went on September 12th and I have to say, it was phenomenal.

The setlist was the same as the other nights but there were many standout moments. Here’s my review of the set. In the Flesh (always a solid start. Makes me really wish I was able to see Floyd tour with the Wall in 1980. Unfortunately, I was 7 and my parents were not too keen on the idea). Mother (Sounded awesome but I have to admit, I miss Gilmour on the chorus part). STCFTHOTS (the visuals with this song were awesome and it sounded great). SOYCD (this was an abbreviated version of course b/c without Gilmour’s guitar it doesn’t sound right.

At this part of the show, the focus was really on Syd. Pictures of them back in the 60’s were shown on a screen behind the band). Have a Cigar (the rapid fire visual images on the back were awesome and painted a perfect picture of what the song is about. As for the band, they sounded tight).

Wish You Were Here (Roger’s mic was out for the beginning of his dedication, but he did dedicate the song to the victims of 9/11. As for the sound, it was great, but of course, Gilmour’s high pitched echoing of his guitar was missed). Southampton Dock (This was when the few drinks I had before kicked in and I had to make a bathroom break. MSG is so solid for acoustics that I heard the entire tune in the bathroom and it sounded great. I’ve rediscovered The Final Cut since I threw away my ignorance about the whole Floyd breakup thing).

After that was The Fletcher Memorial Home (Roger’s voice can still hit the high notes with ease and grandoise. Be played acoustic for both of The Final Cut songs and sounded great). Perfect Sense 1+2 (I only just heard these songs after renting his In the Flesh DVD and they have grown on me. His emotion and lyrics really ring true and the performance of both parts was great. The end of Part 2 was brought together with an awesome chorus and really hit home. This coupled with the spaceman floating around via radio control was cool).

Leaving Beirut (OK, so we all know Roger is a tad political. Just a tad. I didn’t really like this song particularly the music. At the end, I turned to my friend and said, “Are people booing?” This surprised me but they were. Listen I’m not sure if it’s his political message with this song or the song itself, but to boo a great like Waters is like booing A-Rod when he goes 3-4. Wait I’m in New York. People boo A-Rod when he goes 5-5 with 4 RBIs. Anyway, the booing kind of bothered me).

The 1st set closed with probably one of the best live performances I’ve ever heard. This was Sheep. (Absolutely perfect. Music. Visuals. I was tapping my left foot so hard to the beat that this, what must have been, 14 year old turned around and gave me a look of annoyance). The first set closed and Roger politely said that they were taking a break and coming back to perform DSOTM.

Sure enough, 15 minutes later….Roger appeared center stage. He then pulled a little surprise and introduced Nick Mason to help out with the next set. The crowd went wild. Of course myself, being ever so nostalgic, I was hoping he would then say, “and lastly, you all know David Gilmour….Come on out Dave!” Sadly, no! But having Mason there was awesome.

Then the well-known jackhammer started and DSOTM began. Ok, soundwise the whole album sounded great. I will point out a few things that I had trouble with. Now I think Gilmour has one of the best voices ever put on record. So without him in Breathe or Time, I’m a little wary. Anyway, the visuals for the 2nd set were pretty plain with the colors on stage changing for each song. Breathe (musically sounded great sans Gilmour’s voice or pedal steel guitar). On the Run (cool effect song). Time (Mason on the rotos sounded great and Waters held his own on the vocals). Great Gig in the Sky (the females were awesome with this one). Money (Again, I’m used to hearing Gilmour so hearing someone else sing this song other than a Floyd member made me feel like I was cheating on my wife. But it did sound good). Us & Them (Again, am I cheating? Sounded good though). Any Colour You Like (Bathroom break). Brain Damage/Eclipse (Awesome. Just a great ending to actually what was a tightly performed set).

The encore began with the roar of a helicoptor and the searchlights scanning the audience. Then Roger, Nick and the boys broke into The Happiest Days of Our Lives and ABITW Part 2 (I liked the sound but again, on ABITW, I missed Gilmour’s guitar, although they replicated the notes extremely well).

Finally, we had Vera and Comfortably Numb (I promise, this is the last time. Comfortably Numb was really great and Waters pronounciation of the word “sick” always makes me snarl with an attitude. He’s so solid. Anyway, I missed Gilmour’s vocals and guitar. Now you’re all probably saying, ok, dude, they are not together and will probably never be again….Get over it. I know, I know. As a whole, Comfortably Numb sounded great and ended what was a tremendous show with a bang. I was extremely psyched I went and saw Waters live and I would do it again a heartbeat.

Now I know I said what I missed about the show and what I wished was there. This was the same feeling I had in 1988 and 1994 when Floyd toured without Waters. I missed Rogers energy and voice as well. Seeing Waters live was a blast and I have to say, he puts on an awesome show. If you can catch it, do! You won’t regret it.

RW in MSG
Picture thanks to Steven Neff

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 13th

By BD contributor, Bradley Kaplan

The second show was great, but the band did seem tighter on the first night. But the show was just as enjoyable.

Of interest the pig now has red light eyes. It flew around with the remote control setup that it did last night. The Pig and the spaceman both flew around the entire venue.

During Leaving Beirut Roger introduced it as the "controversial" part of the concert, and elsewhere he majorly screwed up on the lyrics on Brain Damage.

During Another Brick Pt II roger brought on a choir of kids from Harlem to sing the childrens part. But none had mics directly on them and the backing kids tape still played.

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 13th

By BD contributor, Vincent Kelly

Roger Waters began exactly at 8 p.m. with "In the flesh" and launched into the first set of varied material old and new that was covered skillfully by all the musicians attending. Most notably were "Shine on you crazy diamond" and "Wish you were here" in tribute to Syd Barrett. This was done very nicely with a background of old film from the band's early days.

The second set was the "Dark side of the moon" and this was performed in perfection. It was very nice to see Nick Mason collaborate with Roger on this evening. I do believe with the appearance of Nick Mason, everyone's emotion was hoping for Rick Wright and David Gilmour to come out! Ah! but the show must go on.

Casting aside the stage effects and props, Roger Waters gave us 3 hours of wonderful music and lyrics and do not forget that Roger is a skilled guitar player as well. An encore gave us "The wall" and "Comfortably numb" and in those two songs, it was obvious to me that a certain sound, a certain "pulse" that was the creativity of 4 geniuses and in the lead guitar and keyboards/ vocals, two of them were missing.

All in all, Roger was excellent and I would definitely return to any of his performances. He is a perfect gentleman, considerate of his fans and energetic about sharing his talent with us on this evening: September 13, 2006.

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 13th

By BD contributor, James Lenthe

There is no place in the States like MSG and boy did Roger have the crowd pumped up last night (9/13). The band was so tight and played at a very high level. Nick Mason joined the band from Darkside till Comfortly Numb and it was just great to see how happy Roger was with Nick on stage. The Boys Choir of NY came out for "Another Brick In The Wall" and again Roger seemed light up again on stage - he really enjoyed them.

It's a MUST see for any musical fan out there - "the band is just fantastic" ........

SHOW REVIEW - SEPT 13th

By BD contributor, Leah

AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!

Best concert experience that I have had, hands down. You know the set-list - so there is no need to detail that… Some thoughts:

I was surprised that the concert started on time, I was walking to my seats around 8:13 and the show started (I was expecting the 8:20 time!) Oops- :)

I was in floor seats in section 6 and the sound was amazing, as were the visual effects. I was a little nervous at first because the crowd didn't seem as excited as I was…..but that did change.

People sat down, as they often do, during Leaving Beirut and other songs they didn't know towards the end of the 1st set in my section. But, they were still interested.

I did not hear one boo from anyone around me during the "controversial" parts of the show. I heard many cheers. (including myself!)

I find it laughable that people are "bitching" about the political nature of some of the songs. Distrust of authority, specifically government, is a prevalent theme of both Roger's solo work, and Pink Floyd's. Hello?!?!

And the talk about being offended that Roger would diss US politics so close to the 9/11 anniversary is also laughable-- go ahead, be offended, but please try and sit down to read the history books (or the news)……..I am not even going to waste my time in addressing that one...

Please people, stay home (or go see Justin Timberlake or something…) so there are more seats for the rest of us!!!! Ok, now stepping down from the soap box….

Roger Waters is a creative genius……and the band sounded great. DSOTH was absolutely stunning. I was in awe……. Although it would have obviously been great with Gilmour--- it fulfilled all my wishes and so much more. The crowd was going insane-- way more lively then the first set.

The encores were also amazing……everyone singing and enjoying the experience. They also did an amazing job with the sound- I have been to many concerts at MSG and this was tops as far as sound quality.


 
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