[thirsty]

Euge, if you're feeling Floyd deprived, try:

http://4everfloyd.com/

[gordonstrong]

Ah, probably was the angle from my less-than-stellar seats (I think I saw Bob Uecker in front of me).  I stand corrected.

I missed the shows in '80 as well.  Probably the biggest regret of my life.  In high school, it would have been a 3 hr drive to Long Island so I bailed.

Interesting Floyd tidbit.  My high school class ('81) voted Comfortably Numb our junior prom song, but the school wouldn't let us use it.  So we got some Dan Fogelberg POS instead.

[homebrewgamecock]

I was in 7th grade for that tour and was about the same distance away Gordon (grew up in Jersey).  Too bad you couldn't use that song for the prom! 

Thankfully, I had really good seats for the Waters show in Denver.

[nicneufeld]

I loved Dark Side and Wish You Were Here, but The Wall just never captivated me.  Yes, Gilmour's solo on Comfortably Numb is tasteful, but so is Knopfler's solo on Sultans of Swing, which is understandably much lower on the totem pole of Serious Music.   I like big, pretentious music and theme albums as much as the next guy, being a fervent devotee of Yes, but it seemed like the Wall was heavy on theme and light on music to an extent.  Mileage of course will vary!

Dark Side, though, absolute classic! 

[Slowbrew]

Ah, probably was the angle from my less-than-stellar seats (I think I saw Bob Uecker in front of me).  I stand corrected.

I missed the shows in '80 as well.  Probably the biggest regret of my life.  In high school, it would have been a 3 hr drive to Long Island so I bailed.

Interesting Floyd tidbit.  My high school class ('81) voted Comfortably Numb our junior prom song, but the school wouldn't let us use it.  So we got some Dan Fogelberg POS instead.

I can relate.  I nominated "Eve of Destruction" but the administration wouldn't it be voted on.  It kinda runs in the family, my son wanted to name the school Mass choir Masstallica.  That didn't fly either.     Kids need to be taught to have attitude.

Rock on!!

Paul

[davidw]

My wife and I saw The Wall in Columbus back in October. Our seats were not the greatest, upper level and one of the props (the "scorpion wife" doll) was blocking part of the round screen behind the band. As our luck would have it, my wife ran to the bathroom right after Mother, she bumps into a ticket person who asked if she wanted her tickets upgraded. She said, umm, YES! Ran up, got me, and we ended up down on the floor, center stage, right by the mixing booth! The following week a friend and I saw it again in the Twin Cities. Our seats were right across/kind of behind where the hotel room drops out of the wall and Roger sings, I got a little black book with my poems in . . . I've seen Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, and Roger so many times and it never gets old. No matter what incarnation of the band. David's "On An Island" tour was awesome back in 2006. He is The Man.

With that said, nicneufeld, I'm surprised to see you mention Mark Knopfler. A lot of people look baffled when I mention him as one of my favorite guitarist, though, they know Dire Straits. We've seen every one of his concerts since he's went solo and he only gets better with age. A couple years ago, 2008 I think, we saw him at Red Rocks in Morrison. That was totally amazing. And a couple nights later, or maybe before, we saw Alison Krauss and Robert Plant at Red Rocks as well. Talk about an old guy who can still belt out the vocals!

[myh3adhur7s]

I may be young but i know a damm talented band and good music.

time to dig out my 33.3 of the wall.

[gordonstrong]

Sometime in the early '90s, I found some kind of bootleg import CD of a Floyd concert from the post-WYWH era. It was called Dogs and Sheep, and was a live concert recording that included their work-in-progress on the Animals album.  Two of the songs were You've Gotta Be Crazy and Raving and Drooling, which went on to be Dogs and Sheep with some different lyrics, additional sections, more effects, etc.  Really pretty interesting.  The Raving and Drooling bit was even replaced in the song itself, showing up as Bleating and Babbling in the final piece ("...fell on his neck with a scream").

Since it's live material, you can hear Roger announce songs and basically b**** at the audience for not paying sufficient attention (he flames at them for walking around in front of the stage).

I guess it's a fine line between genius and madness.  Roger definitely has issues, from his father dying in WWII to him hating fans who won't act *exactly* as he thinks they should.  You can see how the band changed after the success of Dark Side.  They used to be basically a progressive rock band, but then the anger and cynicism started taking over.  It's interesting to see how the spectre of Syd Barrett inhabits some of the albums (Wish You Were Here is basically about him, and the character Pink in The Wall is a hybrid of Syd and Roger).  I guess that's why I like David Gilmour better; he doesn't whine, and he just shows up and rocks.

[bluesman]

I guess that's why I like David Gilmour better; he doesn't whine, and he just shows up and rocks.

I didn't know this about Roger. As a musician, I can say that a negetive vibe that Roger displays can only detract from the efforts of the other musicians on stage and also reflect negatively on the overall experience of the show.  This also impacts the fans as some fans will witness this behavior and be turned off.  I see this as a snowball effect in that it can eventually turn the entire crowd against the performance, at least those fans within view of this negative vibe.

I am turned off by any musician or performer who doesn't show at least some positive energy on the stage.  It doesn't mean I would expect them to be dancing like Michael Jackson, but some display of positve energy would be nice. Performing on stage is a communication of sorts, there is a give and take...and if someone is basically scowling at you, how can you return a positive response.

JMTCW.   

[gordonstrong]

The whole concept of The Wall was that they were going to build a wall on stage to separate the band from the audience. The full wall is built by the end of the first half of the show, and they don't tear it down until the very end. Yes, it fit their story, but there is more to it than that.  The original concert started with phony Floyd players showing up wearing masks playing for the adoring but clueless crowd while the real band was waiting to start the show.  That bit shows up in the movie after Comfortably Numb.

Check the liner notes from the Is There Anybody Out There? live album to see what everybody else in the band thought of the whole idea.

A lot of good work can come from tension, but what happened on this album basically tore apart the band.  While the music is totally different, I keep thinking of the parallels with Fleetwood Mac and Rumours.

(Since you referenced Michael Jackson, I had an amusing mental image as Michael Jackson as a TSA agent.  "No, Michael, you're supposed to grab *their* junk, not yours.")

[capozzoli]

I saw Roger Waters tour with Eric Clapton on guitar. It was a solo album he put out after The Wall. I cant remember what it was called. A Requiem for the Post War Dream? The Final Cut? The concert was just awful IMO. I left half way through.

Oh, I twas called The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking. Just terrible. The album cover is nice though.

[gordonstrong]

Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.  Too bad you left after the first half.  The second half was old Floyd songs, including one of my favorites, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.

As I understand it, Roger wrote The Wall and the Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking at the same time, and presented them to the band.  They liked The Wall better, so that's what they made.  David Gilmour had some material he wrote during Animals that wasn't ready in time to make the album, so he worked it into The Wall.  That's where Comfortably Numb came from.

The Final Cut was the last Floyd album.  A Requiem for a Post War Dream was the subtitle.  Rick Wright had been kicked out of the band, so it was just called "An album by Roger Waters, Performed by Pink Floyd."  Douche.

I was amused during the '94 Floyd tour when the band credited everyone.  The only mention of Roger was "Original pig concept by R. Waters".  But they used a angry tusked pig rather than a big pink one.

[foobrew]

Ah, The Pros and Cons...I have fond memories of that concert since it was my first. I was about 16 and was just obsessed with Floyd...and heartbroken when they broke up before I was old enough to see them live. Waters came around on the Pros tour soon after and while I'll never forget that show, it still wasn't Floyd. I did catch the Momentary Lapse of Reason concert a couple years later and it was incredible too...but still not the same. Such a shame for the fans that things ended how they did.

[narcout]

I am turned off by any musician or performer who doesn't show at least some positive energy on the stage.

However Roger Waters has or hasn't acted in the past, I can say that at the show I saw he seemed pretty enthusiastic and acted friendly and appreciative towards the crowd.

Before the show started, there was a guy wearing a cowboy hat pushing a shopping cart around the floor that had a "Homeless and Hungry" sign in it (or something similar).  People kept coming up to him and taking pictures and shaking his hand.  I was too far away to see him clearly, but I think it might have been Waters.  Can anyone verify?  He was pushing that cart around and shaking people's hands for a good 20 minutes.

Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.  Too bad you left after the first half.  The second half was old Floyd songs, including one of my favorites, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.

Yeah, I saw Waters on a solo tour when I was in college (either in the late 90's or early 00's), and he played that song.  It was pretty cool.

[bluesman]

I am turned off by any musician or performer who doesn't show at least some positive energy on the stage.

However Roger Waters has or hasn't acted in the past, I can say that at the show I saw he seemed pretty enthusiastic and acted friendly and appreciative towards the crowd.

I don't doubt what you saw, in fact when I saw Roger back in the 80's I thought it was a tremendous show.

I just responded to Gordon's experience and know of other performers (I won't mention any names) whom fit into the category as lackluster or negative vibe types that just take away from the overall experience of the show or performance.