This is Miggy's report on the
Roger Waters concert - June 6, 2000

At exactly 8:00 p.m. I was seated in my seat (Section 8, Row Q, Seat 34) anxiously awaiting the start of the concert. An announcement is made that the concert will start in 5 minutes if we will be kind enough to find our seats. Soon another announcement is made to please welcome Roger to Charlotte, which resulted in a big applause/cheers/hollering, etc. from the already drunk and/or high concert goers. During this time I took note of the stage. At first glance it is laid out like a normal set - 5 electric guitars, 2 accoustic guitars, bass guitar, drums and 2 keyboards. But, what is that in the center? A table with four chairs, a lamp, and an old black and white television set. It appears to be a small part of someon's living room back from the 50's. Needless to say, my curiosity was piqued and later in the concert I found out what that part of the set was for - well, sort of.... Another item of note was the mostly-expected brick wall setup behind the instruments. It was about 20 feet high and had a white piece of material draped over it, but the white bricks were clearly visible behind the material.

At last the wait is over and the performers come up on stage. Waters comes in last and after waving hello and taking a bow, begins to climb the steps up to the top of the wall. Once positioned in the center of the wall, he gives the signal that leads the rest of the band into starting "In the Flesh" - the song that answers the questions asked at the beginning of the album ("In the Flesh?") with a very resolute, "Yes!" If you are not familiar, this is the song that says, "Are there any queers in the theatre tonight? Get 'em up against the wall! ... and that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon ... there's one smoking a joint ... " (actually there was more than one!) "... if I had my way, I'd have all of you shot!" I sincerely hoped at that point that most of the people at the concert realized this song was intended as satire. No one rioted, so that was good. Thus began the 27 song, 3 1/2 hour concert that is definitely my second favorite. My favorite still has to go to the rest of Pink Floyd, just because of the sheer size of the stage and the laser/spectacle factor. But on the other hand, I think I enjoyed this show a bit more music-wise, because one advantage of being in a smaller place is being able to hear all the music and sound effects really well, as opposed to being in a stadium with 90,000 people. Also, Roger did a better job, I thought, of the older Floyd songs than Dave does. I've come to the conclusion that it's because Dave purposely makes the older stuff sound slightly different than the album versions. Maybe he thinks we're tired of the way it always sounds or maybe it's to distance them a little more from Roger. Whatever the case, I was glad to hear "Money" without the stupid backup singers (which were put to very good use in Roger's band) singing "Whooohooo!" every time the title is sang. It was also good hearing some of the other Floyd songs, such as Dogs and Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun that normally isn't played at Floyd concerts, or at least the more recent ones.

Speaking of Dogs, that's where the living room set comes in at. I'm still not sure what to make of this, but here's what happened. If you're not familiar with the song, it is a 17-minute song that is comprised of 2 verses, 2 guitar solos and then a 7 minute or so section where the drum cymbals are played along with a synthesize effects and the sound of dogs barking (becoming more and more synthesized themselves over time, which is part of the point of the song, BTW). And then the main accoustic guitar section starts back up, another verse and then a concluding section is played. So, when the band got to the middle 7-minute section, they put down their instruments and walked over to the table. The actual album started to play over the speakers out in the audience for this section while the four main members of the band sat at the table, drank what was presumably beer and played poker. When the section was over and was time for the main guitar part to lead into the last verse, the band stood up, walked back to their instruments and finished out the song. If anyone knows the exact significance of this, feel free to e-mail me. My only guess is that this represents the kind of lifestyle that the song is written about, although there was no indication I could see that there was any pretense of friendship or backstabbling while at the card table.

One more nice touch to this tour are the pictures that are displayed on the sheet covering the wall. Most of the time it is of different pictures or drawings that would go along with the songs. But, during the older songs, he displayed old pictures of the band while they were together. Of special note were the pics of Syd Barett that were displayed during the songs Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Wish You Were Here, which in case you don't know, were written about Syd and his short and self-destructing career.

Okay, I can hear you thinking, "I wonder what all songs were played?" I know that I was most anxious to see what songs Roger would play. Would he do mostly Floyd or his solo material? Well, the tally ended up being roughly 75% Floyd/25% Waters songs. Here is the rundown of the songs, in order of their album release. Unfortunately, I do not remember what order they were played other than it started off with In the Flesh and ended with Each Small Candle.

Saucerful of Secrets
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

Dark Side of the Moon
Speak To Me
Breathe
Time
Money
Brain Damage
Eclipse

Wish You Were Here
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Welcome to the Machine
Wish You Were Here

Animals
Pigs on the Wings Pt. 1
Dogs

The Wall
The Happiest Days of Our Lives
Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. 2)
Mother
Comfortably Numb
In the Flesh

The Final Cut
Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert
Southampton Dock

The Pros and Cons of Hitchiking
Every Stranger's Eyes

Amused To Death
Perfect Sense, Pt. 1
Perfect Sense, Pt. 2
Bravery of Being out of Range
It's a Miracle
Amused To Death

Future Release???
Each Small Candle

After the last encore, you can try to find your way back if you can remember where you parked