Roger Waters concert review

From The Movie Snob

Roger Waters. A couple of college buddies and I went out and saw the former Pink Floydian at his Dallas show. In fact, one of those two guys and I saw Waters on his Radio KAOS tour way back in 1989 or therabouts, so it was sort of a reunion for us. But now Roger is doing an all-Floyd show, which may explain why this concert was virtually sold out and the KAOS show was not. He didn't disappoint, musically or theatrically. The first half of the show was a melange of songs that included "In the Flesh," "Sheep," "Mother," parts of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," "Have a Cigar," "Wish You Were Here," and several others that were not as familiar to me. The music was marred, however, by Waters's juvenile political rants. There was a giant screen behind the stage, and during one number from The Final Cut they flashed lots of photos of various dictators such as Stalin, Saddam Hussein, that crazy guy from North Korea, and -- you guessed it -- Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. He told a short story about hitchhiking through Lebanon many years ago and the amazing hospitality an Arab family showed him, from which he generalizes that there would be no war if we would just be nice. And the coup de grace was the giant inflatable pig that drifted over the crowd with "All Religions Divide" emblazoned across one side, "Obama" and a checked box across the other side, and "Impeach Bush" plastered on the porker's posterior. Hmm. Seems like Obama himself belongs to a fairly divisive religion, but maybe I am misremembering. Actually, the political stuff was so juvenile it was fairly easy to laugh off, so it didn't really mar the music too much.

After a short break, Waters and the band ripped through The Dark Side of the Moon from beginning to end, and they did a fine job of it. Great sound and nice trippy visuals on the big screen. A metal-framed pyramid dropped down from the ceiling and projection equipment inside the thing did a credible job of reproducing the famous Dark Side prism in lights. Sure, Great Gig in the Sky" was tedious as ever, but it allowed for a timely bathroom break. And for the encore (which I predicted to my compadres) consisted of "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" and "Comfortably Numb," plus their respective intros. Naturally he took advantage of "Bring the Boys Back Home" to deploy some more political video footage, although this part was more of an attack on Israel and its notorious (and notoriously effective) anti-terrorist wall. A great show for Floyd fans, and a good lesson in how seriously addled an aging rock star can be.