Roger Waters - Rotterdam 2006

Music
Just around 20.00h the band fires up the engine and kicks-off with 'In the Flesh', a violent and dramatic opening of the show both music and performance considered. Roger's voice sounds powerful throughout most of the songs and it's clear he's enjoying it. While Mr. Waters plays acoustic guitar or bass depending on the song the rest of the band takes care of the rest. Musicians who have been in the band in previous tours like Andy Fairweather Low (Guitar, Bass), Snowy White (Guitar), Graham Broad (Drums) and the great Jon Carin (Keys, Vocals, Lap steel). Besides these very experienced and talented musicians there were also some talented newcomers like Roger's son Harry (Hammond), Ian Ritchie (Sax) and the widely discussed Dave Kilminster (Guitar, Vocals). To start of with the last one: this guy can sure play some mean guitar, definatelly a sound very true to the original with some improvising along the way but always true to the original feel of the song. Besides this he also sung bits and pieces showing he's a great addition to the band providing them with more versitile vocals. Vocals, keys, lapsteel and whatever else is exotic, Jon Carin does it all, and just like he did at the previous tour he's good at it as well. The intonation, timing, sound and emotion captured in his voice fits the songs perfectly. When talking about vocals you can't escape the three lovely ladies, Katie Kissoon, PP Arnold and Carol Kenyon, who had their spot at the right of the stage. Singing in close harmony most of the time but also giving brilliant solo's which were all three followed by a standing ovation. The applause even started during the vocal breaks in 'Mother', 'Perfect Sense' and 'The Great Gig in the Sky' and lasted till the band set in for a new song.



Then back to Roger himself, as always full of emotion while singing he managed to get the crowd going even though two times he had to struggle to reach the vocal lines. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't really bother either, in the end the maestro's musical performance was just very good. Contrary to the outdoors concert at Arrow Rock Festival this show was held in a sports arena which has a bad reputation for the sound quality. This means Roger's sound engineers would have to work hard on getting the music across well. Unfortunately they didn't fully succeed the vocals where bad at some places and were a lot better at other parts of the arena. All things considered the sound was less than optimal but good enough to enjoy the music and the special effects coming from 3 speaker clusters hanging halfway down the venue as well as in the back. Inconsistency in the sound levels and mix might have lead to different opinions about the show but after visiting over 5 spots in the venue the overall impression was close to perfect for the music and a little less for sound.

Performance
Much has been written about the lightshow at Pink Floyd concerts and of course the lights at the Roger Waters show were equally great. At the beginning the giant beamers projected many images and videos at a rectangular screen. Images of the 'The Wall hammers', Liquid slides and old Pink Floyd pics during 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun'. During 'Have a Cigar' the booze and cigars mixed with images of fame and fortune dominated the screen. A nice touch of detail was the fading hands changing the dial of the old radio flanked by toy soldiers at 'Wish You Were Here'. 'Southampton Dock' showed an aircraft carrier at sea and faded to a lot of toy soldiers on the floor. Probably belonging to those inhabiting the 'Fletcher Memorial' where they wander around looking at portraits of dictators like Hussein, Mao, Stalin and of course Bush. A competition in a huge stadium between a submarine and an oil rig was the computer animated video during 'Perfect Sense' and the full story of 'Leaving Beirut' was presented as a black and white comic. After the break it was time for a round shaped screen which started with an image of the moon and a satellite but during the show animations of filching clocks, piles of coins and rotating brains were exchanged with psychedelic colourful animations.



The visual representation of 'The Dark Side of the Moon' was spot on and certainly gave the show that special feel. The light columns that had been at the back of the stage displaying all sorts of colours and patterns seemed to be capable of more showing parts of lyrics during 'Bring the Boys Back Home'. While most of the band is in the background most of the time they do all get their moment of spotlights; Dave Kilminster for example during 'Shine on you Crazy Diamond', Graham Broad during his drum solo in 'Time' and of course sax player Ian Ritchie during 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' and many others. In the mean time the audience hardly got a look at Harry Waters and Andy Fairweather Low which was kind of sad for them. But of course the main attraction was Roger himself, while singing he was centre stage but the rest of the time he was walking up and down the stage. Interaction with the audience was great and people in the audience most certainly felt addressed when Roger was standing at one of the sides of the stage shouting along with the music to the people in the arena or those in the seats. People who would most probably never have expected to see Mr. Waters this close. The enthusiasm of Roger Waters in contact with his audience looked genuine and gave this concert an intimate feeling considering the size of the venue. Summarising it's safe to conclude the lights were great but some more at the band at times wouldn't have hurt and performance was very good, great videos and a very enthusiastic band and frontman made the music magazine's promise for concert of the year reality, so far at least. Comparing this concert with the one at Arrow Rock Festival is almost impossible because of semi-daylight at the festival and a much larger crowd (35,000 to 10,000), it's safe to say Arrow Rock may have been more overwhelming, but this one was most certainly more intimate and intense.

Setlist
01. In The Flesh
02. Mother
03. Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun
04. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
05. Have A Cigar
06. Wish You Were Here
07. Southampton Dock
08. The Fletcher Memorial Home
09. Perfect Sense parts 1 and 2
10. Leaving Beirut
11. Sheep
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12. Speak To Me
13. Breathe
14. On The Run
15. Time
16. The Great Gig In The Sky
17. Money
18. Us And Them 
19. Any Colour You Like 
20. Brain Damage 
21. Eclipse
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22. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
23. Another Brick In The Wall (Pt 2)
24. Vera
25. Bring the Boys back Home
26. Comfortably Numb

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 10