Roger Waters 2006 Tour

[InternationalPlayboy]

Probably late notice for most areas, but Roger Waters performs the complete Dark Side of the Moon during his

2006 tour! If everything works out, I'll be seeing him in Phoenix on October 3rd. :cool:

Had emailed a

friend that lives there with the concert info and never heard back. Tickets went on sale today. I couldn't order

them from work and I figured that they'd be sold out by the time I got home. Found out this morning my friend

bought a ticket!

Looking forward to this. Saw Pink Floyd do The Wall at the L.A. Sports Arena decades

ago. This concert is mainly Floyd songs for the first set, then the complete dark side for the second set. Man, I

just got chills thinking of it.

Tour Dates (http://www.outsidethewall.net/rogerwaters2006.html)

[DrSmellThis]

I'm glad you're able to get

chills, and don't want to kill your buzz. I love the Floyd dearly, they've always been one of my most favorites;

but always thought it strange that they'll do PF songs separately 'till the cows come home, but won't get

together to play them. If you want to strike out on your own, why do the entire Dark Side?? If you want to play

all Floyd, why not get Floyd??

Pink Floyd was something else in concert, but IMHO a lot will be missing with

just Waters and no Gilmour, Mason. etc.

[InternationalPlayboy]

I saw The

Wall in Los Angeles and it was a great show. I see no problem with Roger waters doing songs from his own group

anymore than Paul simon singing Simon and Garfunkle songs. I have a laserdisc of his performance of The Wall at the

Berlin Wall, with many guest artists singing different songs. It was at least as good and in some ways surpassed the

show I saw in LA.

What's sad to me is when a group licenses a name and none of the performers were ever in

the original band. Steppenwolf in the 1970s is the example that comes to mind. From what I understand, there were

two Steppenwolfs touring at the same time and neither had any original members in it.

At least Waters is

billing the concert under his own name and not claiming it's a Floyd concert.

I think my favorite Pink

Floyd album right now is not really a Floyd album, but a remake by a Canadian country band,

Rebuild the Wall (http://www.lutherwrightandthewrongs.com/thewall.php), by Luther Wright and the Wrongs.

Sanctioned by Waters, it's almost note by note the original album, only heavy with banjos and other country

instruments. There is some tweaking of the lyrics to fit the country theme.

Though I've read comments by

purists that say the group ruined the album, I think they did a great job. It's fun and interestingly due to the

quicker tempo, comes in at about half the time the original album did. It's much better than The Squirrels'

Not So Bright Side of the Moon (http://www.thesquirrels.com/newcd.htm), which depending on my frame of mind

can be fun, or just a bunch of noise.

[InternationalPlayboy]

I got to thinking

some more on this this morning. As I said previously, I see nothing wrong with Waters doing the complete Dark Side

album and at least he's not billing it as a Pink Floyd concert. Think of it more in the lines of classical or

operatic performances. People still perform complete operas and Beethoven symphonies. Except for "Money," I think

few of the songs on the album would work as well out of context by themselves.

[InternationalPlayboy]

Hi, haven't been

around here for a couple of months. I was doing most of my posting at work and they are starting to tighten

restrictions on internet use, so I'm trying not to abuse things there. That, and I've been in kind of a "blah"

frame of mind, between the same old song of finances, job stupidities, and the general state of the nation. Haven't

even been playing with mones much lately either.

Anyway, thought I'd follow up on the Waters concert in

Phoenix last month.

The venue was "Cricket Pavillion," formerly known as "Desert Sky Pavillion," until they

sold the naming rights in this blight of corporate sponsorship. Cricket is apparently some kind of cellular phone

service but I relate the name to the first disposable butane cigarette lighter.

The venue is outdoors, with

seats in the front and then a grassy field in the rear. Every time before, I had tickets for the lawn, but this time

we had $59 seats. Ha! Far back and to the right. Could only see a corner of the stage and some great big speakers

from that position, so we didn't even bother sitting them but sat in the lawn anyway.

Before the show, the

big screen on stage showed an old time radio. As it got closer to showtime, a hand came on screen and turned on the

radio. He turned the dial several times and I laughed when he seemed to keep coming up with Abba songs. They must

still be very popular in Europe. Finally, the band came out, starting with "In the Flesh part 2."

The first

part of the show was good, and the music through out the show in general. Until they started with a song froim the

"Final Cut." I think that and "Division Bells" were my least favorite Floyd albums. Of course, since Division Bells

was made after Waters left, there was nothing of that performed. With the Final Cut stuff, things got political. The

images on the screen seemed to group George Bush with Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini. Then during one of the songs, a

helium filled pig balloon was marched through the audience and released to the sky near where I was sitting. That

was cool except for the harsh anti Bush graffitti all over the pig.

The second half of the show was the

complete "Dark Side of the Moon." I actually tranced out a couple of times from the music and images on the screen.

Funniest thing of the night was hearing the audience sing along with the woman's orgasmic "woah-woahs" during (I

think) "Great Gig in the Sky."

During the encore, Waters sang a new song, again anti-war and accompanied with

harsh images.

My main impression was with the mixed messages. Waters sings, "we don't need no education, we

don't need no thiought control." But many of the images on screen were so hypnotic, I wondered what thoughts Waters

was trying to impress on us subliminally. Like I said, I zoned out a couple of times and would automatically blurt

out lines from songs without realizing what I was doing until after it happened.

The music was great, but I

took offense at paying $59 for a thinly veiled anti-war rally. I go to these things to be entertained, not preached

at. Now I thought attacking Iraq was going to be trouble for us at the get-go, and I did not vote for Bush nor do I

agree with much of what he does, but I still take offense at some millionaire foriegner trying to tell me what to

think. Especially when some of his songs have the message to think for yourself. Most disturbing thing of the night

was when the audience cheered a film of a miniature submarine in a swimming pool torpedoing an oil derreck. No

matter what side of the war you're on, that's nothing to cheer about.

Interestingly, I was listening th

Free FM in Phoenix the next morning and heard that Bush was to be in town that day. Then I just felt strange. Was

this a coincidence or was the message of the night before planned to coincide with his visit? And with the

"sacrifice" of the balloon pig, I felt that I had unwittingly participated in some sort of voodoo like

ceremony.

Again, the music was good, and most of the special effects too. And though I still need to get

several Floyd albums on CD, I will not be buying any of Water's solo material he releases and unless he does a

performance of "The Wall," I won't be going out of my way to attend any more of his shows.

[InternationalPlayboy]

I just remembered

one more thing I took exception to. I don't remember if it was printed on the ticket itself, or just posted on a

list of coming attractions by the promoter, but it said that Waters was the "creative genius behind Pink Floyd." I

bet the other Floyd members like that, being touted as merely paid session musicians behind the "genius." No wonder

he and Gilmore don't get along.

[koolking1]

thanks IP, that was

interesting. I like Pink Floyd but can't say that I'm a fanatic about them. I did appreciate the hearing how

politicized the whole thing was.