Are There any Conservatives in the Theater Tonight? Put Them Up Against the Wall!

That's what many right wingers must have felt last night by their reaction to some of Waters' songs. Waters received a plethora of boo's after performing his solo song "Leaving Beirut" which contains lyrics attacking the war in Iraq and right wing politics for instance: " Don't let the might, the Christian right, fuck it all up / For you and the rest of the world" and " Oh George! Oh George! / That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small." Waters did not make any outright offensive statements throughout the show but the crowd was still very bothered by the song. I was rather upset by this because it is not like Waters went out of his way to preach his views by speech, what he was doing was playing his songs and if you don't like his songs then don't go. Luckily for Roger there were no hard feelings between him and the crowd and the fans continued to support him and Waters looked like he was having a blast. Now with that out of the way I will go on to review the rest of the show.

Before Waters took the stage there was a giant screen which projected a video of a radio which was constantly being switched to find some good stations. After about fifteen minutes of getting the crowd itching with suspense he came out and performed "In the Flesh" flawlessly, even utilizing the spotlight to point out individuals in the crowd when asking the questions of if certain ethnicities and such are present. It was probably the best song of the whole show. He followed it up with a great rendition of "Mother" and then "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" which featured images of Syd in the background and even a bubble machine placed above the stage. He went on to perform three songs from the classic "Wish You Were Here" which were a shortened version of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I-V", "Have a Cigar" and "Wish You Were Here." He also did two songs from "The Final Cut" and then two solo songs which led to the booing which I noted earlier. He ended the first set on "Sheep" and the famous flying pig came out to do a round of the theater. The picture that you see on the top right is one I took with my phone when the pig flew over my head. The pig eventually made its way to the outdoor area of the theater and I'm not quite sure what happened but the pig flew away into the sky. I'm not quite sure where it ended it up but if you happen to live anywhere in Jersey or around Jersey take a look into the sky to see if you can see a giant flying pig.

After a fifteen minute intermission Waters came out to perform the much anticipated "Dark Side of the Moon" set. With the giant moon in the background he came back out and played the beginning of Dark Side. When the vocals began on "Breathe" my stomach dropped, all my fears had come true. This just wasn't meant to be played without Gilmour! The band sounded great but the vocals just weren't even close. Guitarist Dave Kilminster performed the vocals in replace of Gilmour and his voice wasn't terrible but no where near as great as Gilmour's. It sounded more or less like a sub par cover band. When "On the Run" came on my expectations were lifted a bit due to the quadrophonic sound, the pulsating and fury just circled around the listeners for one of the best listening experiences in the world. One recommendation I have is that if you have a SACD player go and purchase the SACD version of "Dark Side of the Moon" immediately! The vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky" sounded phenomenal, not quite as good as Clare Torry's but then again who's voice is that great? During the whole set I felt a bit robbed but it didn't come as much of a surprise, it was indeed what I was expecting. My final wish was that "Eclipse" would sound great but unfortunately the band failed to do that. When performing "Eclipse" the amps should have been turned to eleven (Curtsy of "Spinal Tap") but instead what it sounded like was a quiet rendition of the song with no emotion.

The encore consisted of songs from "The Wall" which certainly made me happy because I went to see Roger perform his songs and not to see some random guitarist trying to copy Gilmour's vocals. "Another Brick In the Wall, Part II" was great because the crowd was really into it and Waters was as well slashing his arms around to emphasize the song. "Comfortably Numb" was the closer and my only grudge against this was the solo didn't sound like the recording, maybe it's just me but nobody is able to re-create that Gilmour sound.

In the end my review may sound like a lot of bickering but the first set was phenomenal. My only advice to Waters is if you are going to tour a full Floyd album, make it "The Wall" or "Animals", one where you actually sing. The stage performance was fantastic, just may be one of the best stage shows I've ever seen with thundering pyro-technics and flying pigs. If this were a battle between Gilmour's tour and Waters' I would have to give the edge to Gilmour because only he can re-create that classic Floyd sound. I guess that was why Floyd was so great, you had one of the best song writers in the history of Rock and one of the best guitarists to put them in action.

A Review of Roger Waters Live at the PNC Banks Arts Center, NJ 9/6/06