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Home arrow Roger Waters 2007 arrow June 19th - ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA, USA
June 19th - ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA, USA Print E-mail
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Capacity: TBC

Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621MAP

Website: www.coliseum.com

Tickets for this concert went on sale on March 4th through www.ticketmaster.com and www.livenation.com. If you own an American Express card, you could have taken advantage of the pre-sale which started through this link.

Our thanks to Monastri for the ticket scan.

SET LIST - highlight the following with your mouse to read...
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.

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

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

Another storming show, with the added sight of a fan dressed in the lightbulb suit from the post-1987 Floyd's Delicate Sound of Thunder project - Roger in particular was confused by this, by the sound of it!

Now just eleven shows left on Roger's 2007 Dark Side of the Moon tour, plus the appearance at Live Earth. If you are attending any of the remaining shows, have a great time, and tell us all about it!

CONCERT REVIEW - by BD contributer, William Buckley

The San Francisco Bay Area is truly a special place to live. It has been ground zero for many things that have changed the very fabric of a nation, and the world for that matter. As one of the most liberal places on earth we embrace change and progress, and last night we were treated to a feast of change and progress in Roger Waters and his outstanding band's rendition of classic songs spanning 4 decades.

From the moment Rog took the stage the audience was transfixed on the tight musicianship, the multimedia extravaganza, and the crystalline audio. Roger Waters kicked off with a bang and never looked back while covering songs that not only made you reminisce, but also look towards the future with a passion and tenacity that is sorely lacking in popular music today. All in attendance were moved to their feet multiple times and most everyone sang along in unison to the strong catalogue of work presented. The show also had the effect of rejuvenating those of us who have put a few years under our belt, as was evidenced by the dancing and "grooving" by the grey haired set in attendance.

While the setlist has remained the same since last year many songs have been reworked and improved, most notably "Leaving Beirut" which sounds nothing like the single released a couple of years ago. "Any Colour You Like, Wish you Were Here, Sheep" and songs from "The Final Cut" had new nuances to them and were well received by the crowd.

All on stage seemed to enjoy the energy of the crowd. The fact that most of us in the area seem to share Roger's views of world events no doubt contributed to the many smiles and raised fists from both those on stage and those in attendance.

Roger has put together a great Rock and Roll band that played their asses off. There were no weak spots whatsoever. Certainly Roger could take this group with him into the studio and put out an album that would rival anything he has ever done. Yes, they were that good. The band has made the music their own and have pushed Roger musically.

One could not walk away from this concert wanting more, other than expanding the show another hour or two. As the last sparks flew from the stage at the finale of Comfortably Numb the crowd erupted in applause, acknowledging that Roger Waters is the preeminent songwriter of recent generations.

A beautiful day, a beautiful night of music, and a beautiful lady going to the concert with you is all you can ask for in life. I wish every day could be like this.

"Does Anybody Else in Here Feel The Way I Do?"

CONCERT PICTURES - courtesy of BD contributer, Elizabeth San Agustin

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CONCERT REVIEW - by BD contributer, Jeff S

First off... what a great concert in Oakland tonight... much better then when I saw him in October at the Shoreline!

I was in the 8th row which I thought was perfect, not too close where I couldn't see the stage but not too far where I couldn't see him or the band. Roger was animated tonight which I liked.

There was a guy dressed up in lightbulbs like the "DSOT" album... During "Flesh" Roger pointed at him and said "there's one in the spotlight he don't look right to me...." and the crowd got a good laugh...

So I met Roger at about 5:15pm when he got there for soundcheck, there was about 15 of us out there... he came out of the van and started signing various items. He signed my ticket which was nice, and I asked him if him and Gilmour are done working on the 40th anniversary edition of Piper and he smiled and said yes. One man asked him to shake his hand but Roger said no because he was afraid of germs and everybody started laughing...

Also, a radio guy for one of the stations asked him to sign 3 PULSE dvds, and Roger said no, it had nothing to do with him and we all started laughing again, and Roger got a big grin out of us laughing...

Really great show... I wish I could go again... The band sounded great, especially Jon Carin... His voice sounded good, but I do think he had some pre tape vocal help which is fine... that's why he needs David back :-)

CONCERT REVIEW - by BD contributer, Steve Brunell

"Wow" is quite possibly an understatement.

I saw the band in very good seats last October when this Roger Waters Circus rolled into town at the outdoor Shoreline Ampitheater and it was an incredible show last Fall with excellent sound for an outdoor gig.

That being said, this band has been playing off and on all year all around the world and they are tight and so glad they came back to play for us in the San Francisco area again, but this time indoors at a basketball arena with a lot of history including a couple of Roger's 1980's solo tours as well as The Floyd back in the 70's when I was too young to go to concerts.

Same set list as the other previous recent shows and am fairly sure it is identical to last October's show here in Nor. Cal.

The sound system was phenomenal and is only my perspective from having the privilege of sitting near the mixing board on the floor since sound in this basketball arena has gone to shit after they remodeled the place 10 or 15 years ago since they added luxury boxes with plexiglass windows so if you sit anywhere near them they vibrate due to bass reverberation but was not my problem for this show on the floor and would be interested to see if other reviewers have any comments on this that weren't on the floor?

The only negative thing I have to say about the show which has nothing to do with the performance is that I saw a couple people taken off the floor of the show by Oakland Sheriff's in handcuffs for probably committing a terrible crime like smoking a joint or something.

These weren't stumbling tumbling drunks or anything like that and I was shocked after seeing hundreds of shows and never witnessed anything as agregious as what I witnessed. The late great promoter Bill Graham whose name is still used in the SF Bay Area as Bill Graham Presents which is owned now by Clear Channel I think would have rolled in his grave if he saw what I witnessed on the floor last night with what I saw were two separate nice looking folks being hauled away to the motorhome paddiwagon jail cell outside of the arena just for probably firing up a jay during Dark Side Of The Moon set.

It made me think that if Garcia was still alive and the G.D. were still playing this venue like they used to about 10 times a year plus sometimes what would the scene be like with all of this fucking johnny law on the floor of the show....disgusting waste of resources in my opinion and I don't even smoke.

I would bet that Roger would be pissed as well about this if he even knew that uniformed cops were wandering around his space and hauling off his fans since it used to be that they were kept outside......

Roger is still very political / hates war / hates thugs / hates tyranny / hates Bush (redundant since is inclusive of thug/tyrant) and is still doing his little small part of playing loud fucking genius musical art compositions to let 20000 people at a time have fun, think of our lost loved ones, reflect on the possibilities of our species, and also to inspire us all to try and save the planet, and is the only reason he still plays I think since obviously he doesn't have to, but he does give a shit about humanity and has emotional scars to bear in his writing where he lets it all out for us to see - which can't be easy especially if you listen to some of his what I call more "difficult" material to listen to.

Anyway, awesome show and thanks to Roger and band for coming back to see us here in Northern California again and hope it isn't the last time.

CONCERT REVIEW - by BD contributer, Jeff Cross

Let me start off by saying that my first live experience with Floyd was seeing Roger Waters in this same venue back in 1987 on the Radio KAOS tour. Then Pink Floyd came around a couple months later and returned to the outdoor stadium the following Spring. I also saw Floyd on two nights in '94. Finally, I saw Roger last in '99 and Gilmour last year. Last night's show was one of the most incredible of them all.

I was transfixed on the stage for the entire show. The last time that happened in my 300+ concerts attended was with Floyd indoors in 1987. Last night, the entire audience was enveloped in Roger's show from beginning to end. Roger was happier than I have ever seen him before and smiled the entire show. The visuals were the strongest element. Each sucked you in to the song and forced you to understand the meaning behind it. It was that powerful. I am still awestruck over the whole thing.

Highlights were "Set The Controls..." which had an awesome sax solo in surround sound; "Perfect Sense"- excellent movie of a sports stadium with a submarine battle, plus Mr. Spaceman; and of course "Sheep" (no explanation as it's been said before). Also, I must admit, DSOTM was never one of my favorite albums, especially the song GGITS, but it was done very well last night. I have seen it performed w/ Floyd, but this eclipsed any version I have ever experienced before. In fact, The entire Dark Side set gave new meaning to the album.

I was sitting dead center in the back of the arena, front row above the entry hallway where they launched the spaceman. The sound was crystal clear. The view was excellent. As others have stated, the musicianship was flawless. Also, security did seem to have a major issue with the audience overall. We got to the arena very early and I saw them being briefed out by the paddy wagon. Just below us, in the hallway, I witnessed the officers staring at the crowd, just looking for something, whether it be drugs or whatever. Watching them haul off members of the audience was, indeed, disturbing.

Finally, I do hope they offer a DVD from this tour, but it really would not do the show justice. I also really hope that Roger finds his way back here someday, with or without the other members of Floyd.

CONCERT REVIEW - by BD contributer, Julie4goss

Last night Roger and his band put on an amazing show. I had the opportunity to see him last year at Shoreline as well, but this year it was indoor, a whole new experience. I was 2nd in line, ran in got my t-shirt and program, then went ot find my seats...which were much closer than I expected!

The set list remained the same as last year but there were a lot of changes in the show. But once again the show started about 10 minutes late.

Since it was indoor the astronaut during Perfect Sense flew all around the arena instead of just up by the stage. During Sheep the pig was motorized instead of people pulling him by strings, and the pig stayed out much much longer. They also had confetti flying everywhere during Sheep as well as a lot of fire up on stage, much more than last year.

But definitely one of the coolest additions this year was the Prism. First a satellite looking thing was shining lights out during Any Colour You Like, then once Brain Damage started the satellite turned into a Prism, which was amazing to see live. Finally during Eclipse the light showed through the prism reconstructing the Dark Side Of The Moon cover. The lights shining out of the prism were amazing, and breathtaking to see live. The band would then come out for the anticipated encore including Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2 and Comfortably numb. The sound during the whole show blew me away, it seemed even better than last year!!

The show was great overall, a couple of flaws. During In The Flesh or Mother, I forget, workers had to come out and fix the drums, I'm not sure what was the matter, but fortunately it didn't affect the show, I'm sure most people couldn't even tell. Then, at another point, a worker came up behind Roger Waters fixing something, but i couldn't tell what it was. I know Waters said he's going to take a break from touring, but once he announces his next tour, I'll be there.

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES - by BD contributer, Nelson

Just want to start off with, "Ralph, enjoyed your Philadelphia shows review." Also, describing the whole experience is difficult, as Lori had mentioned on her May 24th review, "You really can not tell people how great he was because he was better then you could describe." I attached some pictures, but they do not do justice in depicting the sensory stimuli generated during the show, and the emotion, the awe that I was feeling in response to the stimuli.

Flew in from Seattle, I am one of the parents who want to share this experience with their children. I saw Roger last year in Los Angeles alone, and again in Seattle with my younger daughter. This time, both my daughters were with me. My cousin who recently immigrated from the Philippines and her boyfriend were also with us. I feel immense gratification watching one of the greatest artists ever, and I am very fortunate to be able to share this experience, especially with my daughters. The whole experience is enhanced when you are sharing it with your loved ones. To quote someone, "What is this worth without you?"

Thank you! Roger. It will be selfish to ask for future tours. And if you do not go on tour again, thank you for the fascinating memories. Your work will live on!

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CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES - by BD contributer, Manish Gupta

I attended the show at Oakland last Tuesday and am yet to recover from it. I had been waiting for this moment for close to 10 years now. I missed the Shoreline show last year, then again Mumbai show this February (and earlier "In the Flesh" show in Bangalore in 2002) by a whisker, so I was really desperate to attend this one.

I was on the floor seats, right in the middle and very close to the stage - it all went like a dream for me, very trippy. It was an awesome performance. Set the controls, Sheep were the high points apart from DSOTM and Shine on, of course. The setlist has been pretty much standard on this tour and it is quite good (one sore point for me is that Careful with that Axe Eugene wasn't there). I had seen the In the Flesh tour DVD long back and IIRC unlike that one, solos on this tour seem improvised to some extent which was especially interesting.

Before the show, I wasn't sure how the audience will react during Leaving Beirut and Roger's Anti-war/Anti-Bush/Anti-US remarks but people were excellent, didn't boo and in fact many actually cheered. The background visuals were absolutely stunning including pictures of Syd and the band in the early days and of course DG was absent from any of those ;-). The spaceman floated, the pig flew and the prism shone. The running, Wall-sort of, theme was cool and nicely tied the performance together.

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Incidentally, one chap up front was dressed in black coat with styrofoam bulbs hanging all over (akin to Delicate Sound of Thunder cover). DSOT has got nothing to do with Roger so I wonder if it was intentional or a faux pas. But whatever it was, Roger did notice the guy and pointed at during 'in the flesh" - "This one in the spotlight, he don't look right".

Andy Fairweather-Low, Snowy White, Dave Kilminster - all three were excellent. I have seen Andy Fairweather earlier on the Eric Clapton Unplugged DVD so was nice to see him in person. Jon Carin is a formidable DG imitator and was totally awesome. Ian Ritchie was brilliant during 'Set the Controls' and 'Shine on you Crazy Diamond'. I wasn't expecting Harry Waters to be a bearded, old-ish looking chap but realised later that Roger himself is in his 60s. Overall a great show and tight performance.

Now am actually feeling little weird - the void that was there for years has been suddenly fulfilled. Seems nothing can top this now and I don't have any more desires. Uh! Wait, maybe witnessing another RW show or better still RW+DG+RWr+NM (and I can die peacefully then).

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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 27 June 2007 )
 
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