![]() Roger & Nick (C) Rexfeatures.com If you come across any material relating to the 2002 tour, please send it to me for publication. Naturally, you will be given full acknowledgment. I need photos from each gig, set lists, reviews, ticket stubs, MP3's and anything else you can think of! Please send all material to col@pinkfloydz.com
In The Flesh - Roger looked composed and the
show got off to his usual bombastic start. No
complaints but no surprises either. He's looking
his 58 years facially, but soon the jacket came off
and he displayed very muscled and sinewy arms -
obviously, dragging himself round the world has
dictated that a personal trainer came too! Happiest Days/Another Brick - played rather fast
and Chester Kamen found the Gilmour soloing hard
going. He agonised over it but eased up when Snowy
took over. Snowy has been accused of coasting of
late, but he's obviously done some work to put some
bite back into his playing. It's sad to say, but I
think we've all heard 'Brick' too often, so the
impact will never equal how it hit to begin with.
Still, it would have seemed strange Not to hear it!
There's no pleasing some people! Mother - Katie Kissoon's warm vocal for Hush now
baby was a real eye-opener. Beautiful counterpoint
to Roger's croak. Passionate. Get your filthy hands off/Southampton Dock -
Sung with passion. Obviously still a heartfelt
pairing for Roger to perform. The projection of
poppies at the end was moving as was the Bring the
Boys Back Home display. Pigs on the Wing/Dogs - Suddenly Chester and
Snowy really woke up for a dual in Dogs. Harry
Waters was then required to show his chops - whilst
he concentrated on his noodling, the now notorious
card-game got underway. Chester dealt (I think) and
Roger has clearly grown fond of this escapade,
smiling on the far left of the octagonal table, but
I distinctly saw Andy win a couple of hands! No
cocktails for the ladies, they just relaxed and
towelled off on what looked like folding fishing
chairs. Maybe Roger picked those up from the banks
of the Test! We weren't treated to much of the
jazzy talent that Harry is reputed to have, but
nevertheless he acquitted himself very well here.
More was to come. Set the Controls - then there was an eruption of
delight, for Roger announced 'I have a surprise for
you
..an old friend is waiting back
here
.' The white door at the back of the
stage opened and Nick Mason stepped through. We
sprung to our feet in disbelief as we watched Roger
and Nick smile and embrace. Nick sat at Graham
Broad's kit and proceeded to play his guts out.
This was the undoubted highlight of the evening.
Beautiful, psychodelic shows and the 'Arnold Layne'
and 'Scarecrow' promo stills were used again.
Brilliant and worth the price of admission and
merchandise alone. Thanks Roger and Nick. Obviously
the surprise on the Island of Mustique meant more
than just a massage and a near heart attack!!!! Shine on (1st half) - emotional and rapturous,
everyone finally singing along. We had thought up
to this point that the majority of the floor crowd
were asleep. But everyone voiced their shared
affection for Barrett as his image filled the
screen and Roger sang passionately to him. It is
clear he still loves and misses Barrett. Wonder how
Nick was feeling by this point. Harry held down the
chords and Chester played the haunted riffs damn
near perfectly. Not too agonised, thank
heavens! Welcome to the machine - the original projection
from 1975 (slug and rat race grid) was played out
here. Plenty of work from Harry. I think he
understands just how much drama needs to be brought
out for this work. He was definitely well warmed
up. Wish you were here - thank goodness Roger didn't
string this out too long and make it too much of a
sing-along. It was Shine on (2nd half) - Harry was particularly
effective here. He knew not to make too much of the
final emergence into the major key. Well played.
During this part we were treated to Roger's own
strobe feature, the silvery flower rising up
through a hole in the back podium he had entered
for 'Flesh'. The flower didn't look too impressive
or stable as it appeared to be attached to a slab
of chipboard. No matter - for when it began to
rotate, huge strobes smothered us all in glimmering
light. Looking away from the stage at the hall
itself, you could imagine that we were all captured
in some weird galaxy. The flower lowered and we all
were left with the super-troupers and a vivid image
in our minds! Barrett would definitely have been
surprised by that trick! INTERVAL 2nd half Breathe/Time - Were as expected. Waters
demonstrated his bass trickery, creating the 'tick
tock' percussion by damping the fingerboard with
his palm and knocking the two lower strings. He
kept this up quite a while! Snowy and Chester
shared the treasured solos and Katie, PP and Carol
sang beautifully. No, no Great Gig teaser. Money - this was Andy's cue to show off, after
Chester and Snowy had played the game. Andy's punky
jagged riffery finally provided a reason for his
attempt to grow a bum-fluff moustache and goatee -
it had to figure somewhere! Still, he brought
plenty of oomph. Norbert Statchel provided extra
interest with his sax and, at other points in the
evening, he demonstrated prowess on an electronic
sax-keyboard (hard to describe it, imagine a
miniature concord with a mouthpiece looking almost
like the nose! - very weird, but he brought some
real music out of that thing) Every Stranger's Eyes - Roger did not Lip-Sync.
He sang the lot, the high notes were there.
Obviously he's been practicing. Good to see he was
not going to bottle out. Perfect Sense - PP Arnold deserves a medal,
she's beautiful and passionate. This was her moment
and there's no disappointment. As she took off, we
were treated to some more fabulous strobe displays.
Roger also did his 'Up Periscope' playacting and
the exploding oil-rig added some poignant power.
The Global Anthem was sung with considerable gusto
by the audience. Another surprising highlight. But
it was PP Arnold's triumph. Bravery of being out of range - in comparison
with what we had just had, this was pedestrian. But
no complaint about everyone mucking in. It's just
that after the drama and beauty of hearing and
seeing PP take off, whatever came next would pall!
Still, she gave us more in the last verse and we
were once more on our feet! Amused to Death - now it was a chance for Katie
Kissoon to be shown off. Her sweet tones matched
Rita Coolidge, but I wish she could have been mic'd
louder. She has a gorgeous mellow mezzo sound, and
so blends well with PP's impassioned Soprano.
Roger's taste couldn't be better for vocalists.
Pity the track went on rather long. I noticed
rather a lot of seat shifting in our area. Brain Damage/Eclipse - no surprises for the
delight this drew from all the faithful. These are
the classics again. Katie, PP and Carol took off
for the harmonies and the projection effectively
accompanied them. Introduction to the band - Huge applause for
everyone, particularly PP and Andy. Comfortably Numb - predictably this was enormous
in every respect. Snowy first on the wall and then
Chester joined him for a dual and they swapped
riffs as well as attention under the spotlight. The
whole hall sang along of course. Flickering Flame - this was introduced as 'a
song about love and freedom'. Roger expressed his
thanks to us 'we've done 60 gigs and it's good to
be back home
' Some people started leaving
during this song - somehow not surprising as 1) it
did go on rather long and 2) there was continuing
concern about disrupted train travel. Still, plenty
of lighters were held aloft and one couple near us
had their arms round each-other, standing up and
swaying. As they left the stage a tiny inflatable
pig was thrown onto the stage. Roger picked it up
and waved it with a grin. He left as promptly as
he'd arrived. Unfortunately, the muddy sound of Wembley Arena
spoilt the impact of the guitar duals so that a lot
of Chester's efforts became cacophonous. PP Arnold
has never sounded so impassioned and vibrant. She's
the finest singer we have around and it's a
pleasure to know Roger thinks so highly of her. If
he can't get PP, he gets no one. It was a massive
surprise to see that Nick Mason could still drum.
His appearance brought the house down. Set the
controls has never sounded so apocalyptic and
wondrous. In a couple of the extended Guitar duals,
Andy and Roger formed almost a Status Quo/Flanagan
and Allen line-dancing pairing, Andy bopping
splay-legged behind Roger. A very funny sight, it
has to be said. And if Roger isn't wearing a
corset, he's got a lovely ass. Well toned
limbs
.. All in all, I'm glad I was at this historic
evening. Thanks Roger, you've earned your
retirement now!!!! With thanks to Felicia Having waited some four months since purchasing
my tickets, I was fairly busting at the seems to
get inside and hear the hallowed sound that is Pink
Floyd... Journeying to the arena was simple, very little
traffic and good parking made for a pleasant if
somewhat short (no time to chew over a possibly
London Special) time to destination. Wembley Arena
has never really been my favourite of concert
venue's, It lacks panache and is almost as sorry
looking as it's bigger brother only a few doors
away... Beer is warm, stalls uninspiring, but eh,
I'm not there for the ambience I'm here to listen
and marvel at one of my musical hero's - Roger
Waters... The show... Having listened to the 'In the
Flesh' CD oooh some thousands of times, indeed
studied intently the the DVD and furthermore
followed closely the tour thanks to your Fleeting
Glimpse website, I was fairly confident Roger and
the band would play the usual set, although I did
expect something a little different and/or special
for the home fans, Roger didn't let us down as
after the show openers and a very brief almost shy
introduction Roger welcomed his old friend Nick
Mason on stage for 'Set the Controls'... The crowd
went banana's and throughout the show I along with
a number of others wondered just maybe by the end
of the show we'd of had the full Floyd crew on
display, Barrett n all..... Would anyone of
imagined that!?! Sound at the the arena was not great, maybe too
loud, I was sat directly opposite of the stage in
the very last and most lofted of seats, a great
vantage point for the visual displays, although I
must say these never extended beyond the cinema and
a very limited lights show... The bands perfomance was patchy in places, I
thought Chester Kamen was average on the night, too
many tricks going haywire and too much distortion
through his sound... Snowy white, who I'd prefer to
have seen and heard more of definitely has the
Gilmour sound going on... The backing singers were
one of the highpoints for me, just like on the DVD
they were note and pitch perfect - Superb!!! Harry
Waters impressed, his sound was almost ghostly at
times... The remaining members of the band were
tight as one might expect after 60 shows down the
road.. Overall a good/great show... Definetly could of
been better, but maybe we had some first night
nerves... I'll look forward to reading about
tonight's show (27th) and especially what Roger
does for the Glastonbury masses. High Points - Mother, Time, Perfect sense and
Comfortbaly Numb.. ohh and Nick mason's arrival Low
Points - Cutting off the second solo during 'Brick
in the Wall', whats that all about? Andy
Fairweather-Low's guitar solo during the second set
(nearly blew my ears off for all the wrong
reasons), not trying a few things out for the home
crowd (not very imaginative) and lastly for
finishing on 'A Flickering Flame' agreed this is a
great song but surely not a show ender... I hope this doesn't sound too negative... My
expectations were maybe more lofted than they
should of been. Bravo Roger!!! With thanks to Sam
Vaughan Spirit of Floyd Reborn Walking into the vast hangar of Wembley just as
the first notes of this concert reverberated around
the place was like taking a large step back in
time. On stage were three guitarists, three chick
singers of impeccable pedigree, a drummer giving it
the old bish-bosh, and a pair of keyboard players
making noises. Posing triumphantly above them was
the figure of Roger Waters, the man who was once in
Pink Floyd and is still an avid guardian of their
legacy. I'll say this for old Rog, he's looking lean and
mean in his black ensemble. The years of therapy
and fighting with his erstwhile band-mates have
kept him trim. But my overwhelming feeling was of
deja-vu. This was a progressive rock band. We don't
do progressive rock bands any more. And this feeling persisted for a good 40
minutes. Rog was determined to take us through what
he regards as the best bits of The Wall. This has
always seemed, by turns, a sour and preachy record.
I was preparing to give this epoch-making In The
Flesh world tour the bum's rush when, suddenly, Rog
was at the microphone advertising a small surprise
and on to the stage bounded Nick Mason, the Pink
Floyd drummer. He took the place of the bish-bosh
man, and Rog launched into a version of the old
Floyd classic Set the Controls for the Heart of the
Sun. it was rather good, and the huge video screen
behind the group flickered with images of the good
old days. Following that came Shine On You Crazy Diamond,
still the best song the Floyd ever wrote without
Syd Barrett. But Syd was what these two highlights
had in common. The liquid show blossomed on the
screen, a huge diamond rose from the stage, and the
spirit of the man was in the house. Nostalgia is
still what it used to be. Review by Pete Clark - Evening Standard INTERVAL Breathe |

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