I was at the Waters show in Israel, Neve Shalom (Peace Village).
The place itself was amazing, very Woodstock-like. There were 50,000 people, so it was hard to see the stage (I was somewhere in the middle. But I saw the concert very well). The sound was amazing (though the volume weren’t so high). There were a LOT of traffic jams (It took me 3 hours to get from Tel-aviv to Neve-shalom. Normally it takes half an hour). The show started late because many people couldn’t make it on time because of the traffic jams.
The whole crowd cheered when Roger and the band went on stage. “Shalom” he said (Hello in hebrew). “Are you ready?!?!” and then “In The Flesh” started. Everyone went mad. It was quite hilarious when he sang “And that one looks Jewish!” and everyone cheered. The crowd was very active.
Then he sang “Mother”, which was good. “Set The Controls” was a highlight, it made me shiver… Snowy White was wonderful. Kilminster was good too, though one may say he concentrated too much on dramaticlly raising his guitar then actually playing. Anyway, he was wonderful on “Have a Cigar”, which was sung very well.
Another highlight was “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. It was amazing when everyone sang together “SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND!”. Everyone sung in “Wish You Were Here” too. Then he moved to “The Final Cut” songs (which most people didn’t know). Actually, more people sang on “Perfect Sense” than on “Southampton Dock”.
The Israeli crowd was amazing. I was in a show in London (In the Royal Albert Hall), and everyone was sitting down and watching the show. In Israel everyone went mad, screaming the lyrics, dancing, it was so fun…
Roger seemed to be enjoying himself too. He finished the first set with “Sheep”.
The Dark Side set was even better then the first one. Everyone said that. Kilminster was great on “Breathe” (He even sounded a bit like Gilmour. But only a bit). The highlights of this set was “Us and Them” in a beautiful version. The “Forward he cried…” part was very well done. “Any Colour You Like” was an highlight too. But the best was, no doubt, “Eclipse” – Roger sounded in his best, such a wonderful performance!
The encores were good too. Everyone sang together “We don’t need no education!”. The guitar solos was great. Roger introduced the band, too. Harry Waters was somewhere in the dark side of the stage (There was no close-up of him on the screen but the one when Roger introduced him). Vera was good too.
They did an extended version of “Bring The Boys Back Home”, which suprised me; It was quite strange when they reapeted the lyrics. I sang “Comfortably Numb” like mad. The guitar-dual was as good as ever. And with that… the show was over.
I had a fantastic time. Roger was wonderful. The band was wonderful.
No doubt, this is one of the best nights of my life.
Review thanks to mirony
Above pictures thanks to Andrei SEE MORE
“I believe we need this generation of Israelis to tear down the walls and make peace with their neighbors,”- Roger Waters towards the end of the concert.
Set List
FIRST HALF: In The Flesh, Mother, Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Southampton Dock, The Fletcher Memorial Home, Perfect Sense parts 1 and 2, Leaving Beirut, Sheep.
SECOND HALF: Dark Side of the Moon.
ENCORE: The Happiest Days Of Our Lives, Another Brick In The Wall (Pt 2), Vera, Bring the Boys back Home, Comfortably Numb.
Another Perspective
Sometimes we forget that some folks just can’t get in to see Roger’s shows. They congregate outside the grounds to listen to the concert for free. Ronley Konwiser did just that at the Israel show, and here’s his story, complete with pictures.
It was held out in the middle of a field out in the middle of nowhere – somewhere between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. This field is in a peace village called Neve Shalom.
55000 tickets were sold and everyone was warned that there would be incredible traffic jams on all the main routes leading to this field. And they were not kidding.
I left Tel Aviv at 18:15 and arrived there at 20:45. The traffic all along the Main Tel Aviv Jerusalem highway was bumper to bumper and cars moved along at the cruising speed of 25Km/H. This distance should only take about 40 min.
By the time I got there cars were parked up against the side of the highway, filling both directions for at least 7Km from the entrance into the field. I parked like everyone else on the side of the highway and took a brisk but long walk off to this famous field where on any normal night chickpeas usually grow.
I got to the concert enclosure at 20:50. We were a long stream of people all in a hurry, and all very worried that we would be late. I was extremely thankful to be on time.
Roger Waters was scheduled to sing at 21:00 but only started to sing at 21:30. They made an announcement that the police would notify Roger when the traffic jams had thinned out. This would indicate that the concert goers had gotten to the concert. Actually because of the incredible long line of cars in the traffic jams, I would have thought that the concert would start a lot later then just half an hour.
I did not enter the enclosure and join the crowds of 55000. Because I did not actually purchase a ticket. Instead I was with at least 1000 other people who had also not bought tickets. I brought wine, fruit and crisps and chilled out with the fantastic sounds of Roger Waters and his guitar. Even from where I was, everything was extremely loud and clear and so perfect. It had everyone up on our feet moving to the music.
I loved the music and his singing. He played quite a few songs The Wall, Wish you were here, and in the second half of the program he played The Dark Side of the Moon. The concert was incredible.
It was very interesting looking around and seeing everyone. Large groups of people of all ages, who brought chairs and sheets and even nargillas, and beers and wine and food. There were even a few tents. A lot of people made them selves very comfortable up on the roofs of there cars, and even sat up on the roof pf an Egged bus.
One needed to be a little tall and you could see into the enclosure quite well.
There were hotdog sellers, drinks sellers. Police and security guards were all over. A constant patrol on foot or driving past in different police vehicles. They were even security guards up on horses trotting around.
Everyone was enjoying the music.
Even from outside we could see the large screens that were erected on the stage as well as parts of the stage, and the fire flames that helped to enlighten the concert. These flame were shooting upwards from the floor of the stage, and from above. I was told by someone who did go into the enclosure that he could feel the heat of the fire. “It heightens the feel of the concert and the music. The heat of these flames could be felt and this gave even more sensory enjoyment, in addition to the sound. It was amazing.”
At 23:45, the last song of the concert, I decided that if I did not get out of there quickly I would be caught up in the traffic jams and ballagan of 55000 concert goers all going home.
All around in all the adjacent fields were parked cars. I really have no idea how people found their cars and once their car was actually found, how they would drive it out. So I was most thankful that I was parked out on the street. Imagine 55000 people all leaving at once. So I briskly headed back to my car. I was not alone leaving. Quite a few people had the same fears.
By 24:00 I was driving back to Tel Aviv on an empty road, and got home at about 1.am. very pleased and exhilarated that I went to the Roger Waters concert.
Well, let my begin by saying that the concert was amazing.
You really need to hear 50,000 people sing SYOCD or WYWH to understand the magnitude of these songs.
I got to Neve-Shalom at about 8PM (45 minutes before the show was supposed to begin), first thing I did was to buy a concert T-shirt, of the 3 available types, I bought the one with Waters’ figure on it. The other 2 types were prism figures with a ray of light, a new version of the cover of Dark Side.
The show began at 9:15PM so that the everyone who was stuck in traffic were able to make it.
Waters opened the show with In The Flesh, I found that the line “That one looks Jewish” was very appropriate. So did the rest of the audience.
The following songs were Mother and Set The Controls, after that came Shine On You Crazy Diamond. The crowd went wild, 50,000 people over-sang Waters and the band.
After that came Have A Cigar, with the bass effect and the quadrophonic sound system, the guy standing next to me described the situation something like “F**k me ,the sound comes from the ground…” the performance was great as well.
Wish You Were Here – same as Shine On.
The part of The Final Cut and Waters’ solo career was nothing unusual.
Sheep was great. A fantastic light-show with one of my favorite songs.
Part 2:
Part two was a live set of the Dark Side of the Moon. The band really came through, especially in The Great in the Sky and Any Color You Like.
The crowd sang along with Waters all through The Dark Side, some of them were even playing imaginary guitar or singing along with the female singers (who were unbelievable).
The Encore:
The encore included few song from The Wall.
Another Brick in The Wall part 2 was and is a huge hit in Israel, therefore the crowd cheered and sang like crazy. The final song Comfortably Numb was accompanied by 30 ft. high flames and a lot of fireworks.
Absolutely great concert. Money very well spent.
Rreview & pictures thanks to Glcok
Brief Russian review of concert
AP News Story
Thanks to Sarit Philip
Haim Machlev managed a back stage pass for this concert. Above Haim meets Harry Waters, and shares a joke with Roger.
On 21 June Roger visited Bethlehem and spray-painted the words ‘No Thought Control’ on a section of the security fence. “Maybe it will be harder to bring this one down,” he said, comparing the West Bank security fence to the Berlin wall in Germany, whose fall Waters vociferously campaigned for. If the fence wasn’t removed, “it will be hard for us to be human beings,” he added.
In a sequel to this, two Far-right activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel filed a complaint with the Jerusalem Police against singer Roger Waters. The two were demanding that police question Waters on suspicion of vandalizing IDF property. The two activists also demanded that police prevent Waters from leaving the country until the investigation was completed.
Thanks to Jonathan
Thanks to Jonathan Amiran
PRE CONCERT
There will be a radio broadcast of the Israeli show (June 22nd) on Reshet Bet (Thanks Yoni)
Roger will plant an olive tree for peace just before the concert in the peace village in Israel. (Thanks to zaq1 zaq)
Roger Waters Israel Show Moved The show, scheduled for Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv on June 22, has been moved to a ‘chickpea field’ next to Neve Shalom because of Palestinian protests. Roger has previously lent his support to a pro-Palestinian movement urging removal of the security fence being constructed along the West Bank. About 35,000 tickets for the show have already been sold. Trains and buses will be arranged to bring concertgoers to Neveh Shalom. It’s understood that the move will not come cheap, as the chickpea farmers will have to be compensated for the use of their fields, and the uprooting of their crop.
Palestinians Deplore Roger Waters Israel Show. Palestinian artists have appealed to Roger Waters, to cancel his concert in Israel out of solidarity with their fight against Israel’s West Bank barrier. Roger, a vocal critic of the 600-km (370-mile) network of fences and concrete barricades going up in and around the occupied territory, surprised many in the Middle East by agreeing to perform in Tel Aviv this summer. (Pictured right, in 2004 Roger joined the protest about the wall, by signing an 8 ft tall mock up of the wall “we don’t need no thought control.”)
Roger has hit back by saying “I have many fans in Israel, many of whom refuse to serve in the military. I won’t cancel my trip to Israel because I don’t agree with the government’s policies, just as I won’t stop performing in Britain simply because I disagree with the policies of Tony Blair. “I am happy to play to anyone who believes in peace. I don’t discriminate between any of my fans, wherever they live. Being an Israeli does not disbar from being a human being…” (Thanks to Alberto Zepeda for help with this story)
Online Newspaper Article (In English)
Panoramic view from the village to the field below. Thanks to Jonathan Amiran
Thanks to Fabio Hofnik
Thanks to Roy Gilgun