September 1st - KOMBANK ARENA, BELGRADE, SERBIA |
Capacity: 25,000 Address of venue: 58 Bulevar Zorana Đinđića, Belgrade, Serbia. MAP Website: kombankarena.rs
COMMENTS Roger's tour of The Wall arrives at another unusual venue - a park in Belgrade. With 65,000 enthusiastic fans expected, should be a good show. The RogerWaters.com presales have begun, with advance tickets available to those who had registered their interest in particular cities. General sale tickets, priced from: parter 4500, fan forums pit 5500 and 7500 dinars, are now on sale through Eventim.rs, Kombankarena.com, and other agents, becoming available from November 16th (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 Branko Markovic for sending in the photo to the right (click the thumbnail to see it bigger) of a large Roger Waters billboard that he saw in Belgrade. IMPORTANT UPDATE: On June 5th, 2013, it was announced that due to various technical and logistical issues, this concert had been moved to the Kombank Arena in Belgrade. As this is a smaller venue, 25,000 in comparison to 60,000, there are limited tickets but those that are available, can be bought through Eventim.rs. Tickets already bought for the original venue will remain valid for this concert. 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!
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 nineteen of the tour, and just eight shows left to run. If you went to this show in Belgrade, 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 by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Bogdan Ionescu We arrived in Belgrade pretty late, there were some protests on the streets which caused some traffic congestions and we had to wait nearly one hour until they cleared the road. Anyway, we found the arena pretty fast, even without using a gps, near Usce Park. As we bought the tickets a while ago, before they changed the venue of the show (from Usce Park to Kombank Arena), we had to exchange our 7500rsd tickets to another tickets which contained the sector, row and seat for the new location. I managed somehow to enter the arena with my dslr well hidden in my bag, I still wonder how they didn't notice the camera because my luggage had to go through a x-ray scanner. And if they did saw my camera, then I have to thank to that security officer for letting me pass. The show started around 8pm, Mr. Waters clearly enjoyed speaking Serbian before Mother. He invited us to applaud the children choir and he dedicated the concert to Jean Charles de Menezes and to all terrorism victims around the world. In the second half of the show, during Nobody Home a brick fell down, I guess it was an accident, but the whole attention of the crowd was concentrated on the other side of the wall, where Roger performed Nobody Home. The technical staff quickly rearranged the fallen brick back on the wall. The whole show was identical to the other two I attended, Budapest and Bucharest, but inside the arena the wall was much shorter and because of this, maybe the projections (even if still the same) weren't as spectacular as they were in outdoor venues. The Wall in Belgrade was probably the last time I saw Roger Waters and his enormous and extravagant live productions but there is still hope for a reunion with the other two former members. CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Simon Denton I've mentioned previously that we have been following the 2013 Wall tour around a few places in Europe. Having seen it in various locations around the world in previous years it has been interesting to compare the new production with previous concerts. Last weekend we headed to Belgrade. Quite an unusual city for Roger to take this amazing show to. And on arrival it felt as though there was a real sense of expectation, and dare I say pride, that this spectacular production was on its way to the Serbian capital. There were posters, billboards and publicity all over the city. We had an additional thrill or two. Firstly we arrived at our hotel, a 5 star hotel that turned out to be near the Kombank stadium. We arrived early evening and there was a fleet of Mercedes limos outside the door. We walked in to reception and Harry Waters was walking towards the waiting cars with the backing singers. A few moments later Roger Waters himself came out of the lift and into Reception. He was met fairly quickly by a couple of guys (presumably the promoter or event organiser) who ushered him towards the waiting cars and band members. Next morning Snowy White, Dave Kilminster et al were having breakfast. I would have loved to have gone and said "hello" but it felt too intrusive. The second thrill for me was that on arrival a couple from Romania asked if we had travelled to Belgrade just to see the show. It turned out they had travelled from their home for the evening to see it. As they explained: the Wall had additional meaning for them as they had experienced communist times. It was lovely when I asked at the interval if they thought the show was good: "No. Not good. Really really good !" came the reply. The concert itself was as excellent as usual and the dangerously over crowded Kombank Arena crowd showed their appreciation big style. Only unusual thing tonight was a panel from the wall fell out during the second half. It was replaced some minutes later by the crew. Roger spoke in Serbian for a long time which the crowd appreciated, although he did ask "how do you guys speak this language every day ?" so I guess it was a struggle. As in Rome (which was the most amazing atmosphere ever) the applause from the Belgrade crowd went on long and loud, the lights staying off for a long time after Outside The Wall. I know it has been said in this forum many times now - but if there is anyone out there who has the slightest interest in Floyd, Roger's solo material or just phenomenally good musicianship: you need to go and see this show. I honestly do not believe anyone is coming close to being this great. CONCERT REVIEWS and PICTURES by other BD CONTRIBUTORS Hopefully coming soon - we welcome all contributions! |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 06 September 2013 ) |