The Journey There

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NOTE -> Why this gig is advertised as Seattle I'll never know. The gorge is located in central Washington about 3 hours east of Seattle. The only plausible reason I could see to do this is because there is absolutely nothing resembling a large city anywhere closer to the Gorge then Seattle. Spokane is about 2 hours further east, this place is in the boonies folks!

I hit the road with my traveling party at about 930am and we made good time to the Canada/USA border and then towards Seattle. I had never been anywhere in Washington state then on the coast, so let me tell you I had no idea what to expect. First of all the climate changes!!

Vancouver to Seattle -> Coastal, Wet, Green Cascade Mountains -> Rocky, Cold, Wet Rest of the Way -> Barren, Dry,Hot!

When all is said and done by 1130 we were heading up into the Cascade mountain range. After a few stops for food and supplies we were in the Columbia River valley and experiencing the sunshine and heat that we had been missing all day. I couldn't believe this was the same state. Mind you in BC (where I'm from) once you leave the Greater Vancouver area and enter the northern Okanagon region there are very similar climate changes. Finally at around 400pm we hit the nearest thing to town near the Gorge, Ellensburg. By 500pm we were pulling into the Gorge campsites where we were spending the night. All in all about 6 hours of road time from Vancouver BC -> The Gorge.

The Venue

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Wow! The Gorge is a naturally formed amphitheater overlooking a Gorge which is carved out by the Columbia River. The stage faces away from the river and if you were on the stage you would easily be able to see the beautiful view and the river and gorge. From the crowd you can not see the view but from the grass seating I'm sure you would be able to. The campsite is perched about a mile away from the venue on top of a cliff. There are no trees just stars and grass, we all knew that we'd be awakened by the sun very early due to the lack of shelter. The assigned campsites were little more then plots of grass where you can park your car and pitch a tent or two. No fire pit, just grass.

When we finally got out of our car and began to set up camp and have a beer or 6 ;-) there was multiple campers blasting Roger or PF music from their sites in preparation for the show. The guy next to my party was playing Fearless as I got out of my car, followed by Not Now John. My guess is that there was close to a few thousand campers in the site...very packed, I was reminded of Woodstock or some other outdoor festivals. We quickly set up camp and grabbed a few 'road pops' and headed down to the venue. After the long walk we were through the gates and I was off to the beer garden to find some other Echoesians with my trusty Harvested T-Shirt in tow.

Hunt For Echoesians

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I was planning to find a few familiar names and faces when I got the beer garden and found no one! Jason Lane?? Dave Ward?? Rick Karhu?? Martha Copeland?? Ralph Foster?? Stef Roberts?? So I perched on the grass with my friend Mark and had dinner and a couple more beers and just as I was getting ready to leave I spot a Radio Kaos T-Shirt. Martha! Good thing I had met Martha a few years back or I wouldn't have noticed her. We chatted for a bit and wondered where everyone else was before I headed off to finally check out my seats.

My friend Mark and I got down to our 6th Row view and admired my handy work on the Ticketmaster.com WWW site. Very close to the right side of the stage. Wonderful. I scanned the crowd again for familiar faces. I knew Rick and Dave were in about Row 15 on the other side....hmmm... ah there were those 2 ugly mugs. I headed over to say hi and see how things were going. Just as we were chatting Martha walks up. Chatting some more I remembered that a friend of mine who works for a Seattle based magazine was covering the show. So I said my goodbyes and headed off to look for him. I found him in the media tent and was told that the professional photogs were allowed to shoot the show for the 1st 4 songs (ITF, THDOOL, ABITW2, MOTHER). Since we were sitting so close the stage he said he'd come talk to me at some time during the show or intermission.

The Show

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I saw 2 shows last year in Quebec City and Montreal. So here is my assessment of the set list this year in comparison to last year in a song by song format:

IN THE FLESH - Same performance wise. Roger did a good Gary Yudman impersonation as he was waiting for something. Whoa! A jet buzzes the crowd at low altitude before the show. Really cool!!! The grass seated folk must have been feeling that plane.

NOTE!!! - During the first intermission I talked to a media friend of mine who was covering the show. He told me that after he had completed his 4 song photo pass he was taken with the other photographers to the media tent to sign some release forms. During this time Mark Fenwick addressed the photographers quickly. One of them asked about the plane and Fenwick confirmed that this was the touring plane of the band and that it was done in compensation for the fans since the screen was thought not to be used due to the wind. So I hope this ends all the speculation. This is straight from Rog's manager's mouth.

HAPPIEST DAYS / ABITW2 - Crowd went nuts, but all in all the same performance as last year. Great opening 3 songs though I must admit. The crowd was electric after these.

MOTHER - Fabulous I hope Roger never drops this from his live shows. Doyle's guitar solo was much better then last years show.

DESSERT / SD - Dessert is way better now. Roger sings it identical to the album and the song now has the orchestral accompaniment just like the album as well. Much much better. SD is similar in performance to last year.

POTW / Dogs - Wow...really good.. again a high point for me. However spectacular Jon's keyboard work was this time around in the middle section it was nothing compared to last year. Another electric response from the crowd. :-)

WTTM - Great! My friend said this was his favorite song of the night. Very similar in performance to last year.

WYWH - I love the song... Roger can't sing it though.. I'm sorry.. This is a Dave song and it always will be... its just not the same. If Rog tours in 2001 he should drop this IMHO.

SOYCD - Much much better then last year. The band is much tighter and the transition into SOYCD6-9 is more smooth. Snowy and Doyle rip up the show with their jamming. Wow! Amazing set closer... unfortunately the backing screen still hasn't been raised due to wind, so no image of Syd looking over the crowd.

STC - Great to say I've seen this song live. Graham does some good mallet drumming to impersonate Nick. Ho hum sax solo. Still fun none the less.

STM / BREATHE - Great, the guy next me elbows me and says "just like the album huh!!" I nod... very good work here.

TIME - In spring 1999 if you told me Roger was going to do this song in his 99 and 2000 tours I would have laughed.. I would never see this as a Roger song but man it rocks with Roger singing it too...amazing.. the crowd goes bananas.

MONEY - Way way way better then last year. The band is tight, I'll say it again. Andy F-Low's solo was scorching. Previous reviewers were right as well.. the sax solo was dead on note for note like Dick Parry's on the album. Roger was smiling the whole time as he played. Again the crowd goes bonkers.

EVERY STRANGERS EYES - Yes he lip synchs.. I saw it... doesn't matter.. a great live song... just as powerful as last year.

PS1 / PS2 - Similar to last year. The crowd loved this one. Another one Roger should never drop from his set list.

BRAVERY - Great! Yeah I'm glad they added this! I just wish WGW1 was still on the set list. Oh well. This was a good call on Roger's part none the less. However, the bridge still needs work, though I don't know if I agree with Ron Toon's assessment of adding a sax solo <shudder>.

ITS A MIRACLE - Wow! Man I love this song way more live then I do on the album.. its my favorite Rog solo song and this performance was fabulous. The screen is finally pulled up for this song.

AMUSED TO DEATH - Ditto.. amazing.. these 2 songs should never leave his live set. Amazing.. I'm almost in tears as Alf Razell's voice ends the song and Bill Hubbard's headstone is projected on the screen.

BD / ECLIPSE - A great closer, similar performance to last year.

CN - Good but still..its not Dave... nuff said

ESC - Boy has this song evolved.. Much much better then KC last year... its great. Jon Carin offers a lot more to this song now as does Snowy and Doyle. This is great. I can't wait to hear the album. Great closer.

All in all the band is much tighter then last year. They seem more confident. Susannah Melvoin is good addition to the band.. she soloed with Roger on Bravery backing vocals and sounded great.

Post Show Report

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I needed to get back to the campsite as I had been on my feet for the whole show and was sore. Let me tell you there isn't much regulation at the Gorge campsites... music was blaring til all hours of the evening. Fights broke out. Riots with the security occured. I awoke at 7am with only 3 hours of sleep to find a port o potty burned to the ground next to my site!!!! The guys next door were still up partying at 7am!

My buddy and I took a long 7 hour drive home to Canada and I crashed out on my bed for a few hours before I was fully recovered.

As I said earlier this show was much better performance wise then the 2 1999 shows I attended. However, nothing will compare to my experience at my first Roger Waters show in Quebec City.

Hope you enjoyed my review,- - Mike

With thanks to Mike McCartney