Bowl of Pigs
I saw Roger Waters at the Hollywood Bowl last week. Having only seen the David Gilmour version of Pink Floyd before, I expected Waters to be similarly uncharismatic, but he was great.
He performed a greatest hits package from (post-Syd Barrett/pre-Waters departure) Pink Floyd, covering every album from "A Saucerful of Secrets" to "The Final Cut", and played one new song, "Leaving Beirut", that was on a par with his more catchy solo material.
There is pretty much nowhere, except for satellite radio and live events, where new material from "classic" rock acts can be heard, and that is sad. But I admit that I probably would have started to squirm if Waters was much more liberal with the solo-era stuff. As it happened, he just played hits, hits, and more hits, including the whole of "Dark Side of the Moon".
Waters looked a little like James Woods, and he was in fine voice. The Who (or The Two) play the Bowl later this month, and I don't think the same can be said of Roger Daltrey. He definitely doesn't look like James Woods.
Waters was joined by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason for "Dark Side", which was surprising to me. Mason co-founded the group with Waters and Barrett (and keyboardist Rick Wright) in the mid-'60s but joined the Gilmour version following Waters' quitting in 1986. Waters sued the remaining members to dissolve the group (or at least not use the name Pink Floyd) but lost. I thought everyone hated each other.
Instead, Waters was chipper. He gestured, he smiled, he played his own bass parts. While the show was not nearly as elaborate as the Royal Albert Hall "Pulse" shows, Waters was a much more animated performer than Gilmour is and there were plenty of lasers.
Then the Flying Pig came out.
Western culture has two main associations with the flying pig motif. One is The Amityville Horror and the other is Pink Floyd. This pig must have been radio controlled, because he flew straight out of the Bowl; if he had just gotten loose, the diners at Yamashiro would have had a Jodie moment.
It was a great concert, and no one got busted for anything that was smuggled in (including cameras).
posted
by Marty Barrett at Tuesday, October 10, 2006
2 Comments:
That show looks great. I can't tell you how bummed I was when I caught Pink Floyd on the Division Bell tour -- so boring.
Did he play stuff from The Final Cut and Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking?
He just did "Fletcher Memorial Home..." from "Final Cut" but did only one song from his solo career - it was weird how Classic Rock-y he kept it, as if it was a foregone conclusion that people wouldn't be into hearing non-Floyd stuff.
The one new song, "Leaving Beirut", was very good, though a little preachy and oversimplified, I think. But he gave it the same full-stage/video treatment he gave every other song, which was refreshing. It seems like sometimes when performers play the new songs they're just trying to get through them quickly, as if there is an agreement between artist and audience that no one is there for the new material.
Waters made "Leaving Beirut" seem like an integral part of the concert, and then he didn't do anything post-"Final Cut" again.
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