For the third time I took in The Pink Floyd Sound on Friday night. I’d previously caught the David Gilmour fronted Division Bell tour in then Joe Robbie Stadium. Almost six years ago I saw Roger Waters run like hell through his In the Flesh tour in West Palm Beach. This weekend I caught Roger Waters with nearly the same band at the same venue, the Sound Advice Amphitheater. I can say with assurance that Roger Waters is better than Pink Floyd with the exception of Roger Waters with Pink Floyd.
My friend Rich and I got to the venue about 45 minutes before the gate opened and were the second ones in the outdoor site. We pounced with our lawn chairs on the first row of the general admission seating on the lawn. The show was sold out, so this was quite a coup.
Behind the stage was the largest high definition screen I’d ever seen and the graphics seemed to be 3D. Before the show and between many of the songs a huge old fashioned radio would dial in tunes while a slacker (presumably Pink) smoked cigarettes and drank shots of whiskey. During the songs, extraordinary video and graphics mind blowingly highlighted each song.
Finally, the lights went out to the ominous bass, organ and guitar riffs to ‘In the Flesh’ followed by a mostly acoustic ‘Mother’. ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ was the third tune, perhaps not well known to many in the audience, but very effective with the sun blazing in a super nova behind the stage as pyro effects blasted all around. The obligatory tribute to Syd Barrett followed with the classic ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’.
An overriding theme throughout the night was the absurdity of war, both in the songs and and the graphics on the giant screen. Roger sat with acoustic guitar in hand and sang ‘Southhampton Dock’ and ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ off the Final Cut. Roger’s politics were made crystal clear as he drove home his anti-war message with the autobiographical ‘Leaving Beirut’ including complete lyrics for all to read.
Very little of Roger’s solo albums were in evidence with the exception of Amused to Death’s ‘Perfect Sense’ and Marv Albert’s narration as a cartoon featured a $200,000 a year submarine captain taking out an oil rig. The first set ended with the Orwellian nightmare of ‘Sheep’ as an anatomically correct pig floated above the crowd.
The second set was what most of the audience came to experience. Dark Side of the Moon was played in its entirety. The visuals were spectacular and the music was everything you would expect, even though much of David Gilmour’s original lead vocals were sung by David Kilmeister or John Carin. Kilmeister and Snowy White managed to pretty much play Gilmour’s guitar solos note for note with conviction throughout the night. Dark Side of the Moon is indeed a masterpiece and no one was disappointed.
The encore was spectacular as well. A rousing ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ was followed by the most unexpected song of all, ‘Vera’ from The Wall. Roger’s politics were made crystal clear as the mournful ballad coupled with the magnificent video and exploding bombs behind the stage lamented World War II and the sorry plight of George Bush and Tony Blair in Iraq. The wailing guitars of ‘Comfortably Numb’ sent all home happy as light rain began to fall.
This concert experience is highly recommended to all who might be gazing at this blog. It took us almost 50 minutes to exit the parking lot as the local radio stations serenaded us with Pink Floyd on the way home.
