The traffic was really bad going to the show. I’m sure most missed the first few numbers because of this.
When I got there, we heard the song from the beginning of the Wall movie.
The show set list was exactly the same as the other shows. My review is in no particular order.
In the Flesh was nice and had good energy, but to me the sax was a bit out of place.
Hate to say it, but the energy of the first half was just not there compared to the 99 show. This was reflected by both myself and the crowd. Mother was well recieved while Set the Controls was more well recieved by the older crowd. It seemed to be a very slow first set. I heard a lot of people comment about how the bubbles sucked, but I didnt care one way or the other. By South Hampton Dock, most fans were sitting on their hands.
Shine On lacked without the first guitar solo in my opinion.
Perfect Sense was great, probably one of the better selections of the first half.
Leaving Beriut had a disgusting mix of cheers and boo’s. I can tell you, and this is being honest, most people around me sat still without a response. As I scanned behind me most people just sat on their hands. The sound of cheers and boo’s just created this disgusting sound (thats the best way I can describe it). I do believe compared to the other responses, most remained silent.
Sheep ended the first set with of course the pig with political writings.
The only time I heard the surround sound during the first set was during Set the Controls and Sheep. To sum it up it just lacked that intense feeling that the 99′ show had. The lip synching was present as I heard enough bootlegs to know how he sings these songs and the changes. He pulled away early once during Have a Cigar and it was very obvious. However, most of the crowd was too wasted to know what was going on.
The second set was Dark Side of the Moon. I thought the additions to On the Run were good, I did expect more in surround. Time was okay. The highlights were Great Gig and Money in my opinion. Dave K. nailed Money with the vocals and the guitar. I’m not sure which of the background singers sang Great Gig, but it was really good.
Us and Them was a struggle. I expected more surround mixes with the delays on the vocals, but there was none. Jon did a great job, but its one of those songs that you get used to hearing just one way, and it sounds out of place hearing it different.
Any Colour was great, they did a great job. And the album ended great.
For the last few numbers, a lot of people sang Vera, and Bring the Boys back home did have some nice fire in the back of the stage.
There was a great response for Another Brick in the Wall.
Comfortably Numb was good, not great.
Overall the show was average. The first set lacked the energy of many other shows I have seen. I thought it was odd to have a decent lighting rig and not use them to its potential. The band was very sharp. Rogers voice on the songs he sang were good as they should be, the songs that were not sounded like any bootleg I heard to date.
As far as production goes, I must say that was NOT quad sound compared to a Pink Floyd show or the 99 show. They had a stereo stack which were the mains, and on the pavillion, they had four speakers on the sides of the pavillion (left and right) and four in the center rear of the pavillion. I did not see a center speaker stack in order to complete the quad, and there were no visible speakers in the lawn. I did see cables running up there. However, if you were in the lawn, I bet you had no surround sound whatsoever.
Lighting was minimal. The pyro was okay. The LED screen looked much better than the shows from Europe. The sound was clear. However, Roger’s bass lacked any punch to it, and I was right in front of the subs.
If I could do it again, I would not have paid 149, however, it was a chance to see this legend one last time. I never heard Dark Side before, so that was worth it even though it was missing some key members.
Pictures & review thanks to Brian Segriff
I couldn’t believe the traffic! When we were entering the parking lot of the venue, you could still see MILES AND MILES of traffic behind us. We entered the pavilion at exactly 8:05pm. It was a close call!
Roger didn’t come on stage until about 8:20 which was great for the people getting there through all of the HORRIBLE traffic.
These are in no particular order……
In The Flesh was fantastic! It had great energy throughout the song, and everyone was standing and cheering loudly. It sounded fantastic. Not as loud as I thought it would be, however.
The entire rest of the first half wasn’t that great. The crowd didn’t seem to enjoy themselves too much, as it was boring and very slow. Mother was good, and people mostly knew the words to this song and were shouting them loudly. Set the Controls had a somewhat low energy to it, it was recieved well by the older crowd. The bubbles in my opinion were pretty neat, and there were a LOT of them. I didn’t mind them at all! South Hampton Dock was very boring and by this time, nobody was standing. It seemed as if everyone was sitting twiddling their thumbs waiting and waiting for a higher energy song to come on.
Shine On was good…everyone sang it loud and proud…but it wasn’t as good as it could have been, and the only part I really had a problem with was there was no guitar solo in the beginning! I think that’s a sin!!!
Perfect Sense was good, I never knew all the words to it but it was still a great song to hear.
Sheep was a highlight to me. I really enjoy the song itself, and it was great to hear it live. The pig came out, of course, and everyone cheered. Unfortunatly, you could tell he was lip synching it. It was so present during this song AND Have a Cigar because he pulled away from the microphone early during Have a Cigar, and it was VERY obvious. Even though Have a Cigar was a great song performed live, I was still very dissappointed with the lip synching. Wish You Were Here was a bathroom break for me, not because I don’t like the song, but even when I exited the pavilion, it didn’t sound that wonderful. Remember how Roger sang this song during Live 8? Perfect example…
Now onto Dark Side of the Moon. I expected a lot of surround sound and quad but didn’t hear as much as I thought. Of course Money had a lot…On The Run didn’t have much at all! I really thought I was going to hear something behind me but again, was dissappointed in that aspect. Breathe was alright, the slide guitar was amazing, but the singing just wasn’t there for me. Time was good, and got a wonderful response from the crowd, lots of cheers. Money was probably a highlight, it was perfect, everything sounded fantastic with this song!!!!!
Us and Them, however wasn’t so great. I really was not happy with this performance…there was just a great lack of energy. Even though most of the people there were singing, and everyone was really trying to stay true to the album, they were missing key things..aka Gilmour and Wright (dont punish me)
Any Colour You Like was fantastic and of course so were Brain Damage and Eclipse!!!
Great Gig….FANTASTIC!!! She sang it so perfectly…she was amazing…what a wonderful voice!!!!!!!!!!!
Vera – I was very surprised. Got a great response and a LOT of people were signing it. Bring the Boys back home had some nice pyro and fire as well.
Another Brick in the Wall was fanstastic as usual…of course you know everyone was singing and playing and carrying on. Always a great one to hear live, I suppose.
In order for us to get out of the parking lot early enough not to get caught in traffic (my friend had to work very early the next morning)…we left during Comfortably Numb. From what we were hearing as we were leaving, I honestly think it sounded great! Granted, some songs always sound different at a concert if you’re in the parking lot, but from what I could hear, the guitar was great (everyone was comparing to Gilmour) but I honestly didn’t. I thought Comfortably Numb was going to suck without Gilmour but I slap myself on the hands for saying that. They all did a pretty decent job with it. I was very surprised.
All in all, I enjoyed myself at the show. I’m sorry my review isn’t as great as any others, but from what I can remember, things went quite well. I’m very glad I got to see him. He moved about the stage so everyone could get a good look at him and take some pictures, which was nice, instead of just staying in the middle like most do.
The lighting wasn’t anything to drool over, either. I was thinking I was going to be somewhat blown away by the lighting, but I was mistaken. Some songs did have decent lighting, and the LED screen was great. It would have been nice to see Mr. Screen, but the LED was a nice alternative.
There was another thing I was quite dissappointed about as well! Rogers bass!!! I could NOT hear it from where we were. Of course when he played the major songs where bass is needed the most, (like Money for example) you could hear it, but it wasn’t crystal clear. (and yes, I was very happy when I heard Roger rush the bass part at the beginning of Money, it made me smile, as it does everytime I hear it) Other than that, Rogers bass was lacking in that department.
I hope all of you going to see Roger have a great time, and I look forward to reading everyone elses review! Not just from the Pittsburgh show, but from every other one as well.
PS. REMEMBER WHERE YOU PARK YOUR CAR! We left early to beat the traffic, and couldn’t find the car for a good 20-25 minutes. NOT COOL. Be smarter than us
Review thanks to rawkingcgrrl
Before I get into anything else, I don’t know what the other reviewer saw for the first set, I thought it was very powerful.
Show started at about 8:30, at which point the people around me were very upset. In The Flesh was a great opener, perfect way to start off the show. Snowy’s guitar solo on Set the Controls was much longer than I expected, got a huge reaction from the crowd. Saxophone was added to Wish You Were Here, that might have been something new. People started moving in droves at the start of Southampton Dock. Perfect Sense may have been the best performance of the night, very powerful. The crowd reaction to Leaving Beirut was amazing, I heard no booing at all. That and “Impeach Bush Now” got two of the biggest reactions for the first set.
All of Dark Side was great, really amazing to hear live. Carol Kenyon’s performance on Great Gig was spectacular and got a standing ovation. Roger doing Rick’s vocals on Us and Them worked well. I was dissapointed with the video used for Brain Damage, Roger should have used the old video or made a version with today’s politicians. During ABITW the tape of the kids dropped at the beginning, went straight to “hey!”, and dropped out again, but the women covered it nicely. Crowd really sang along to Vera. Comfortably Numb was as expected, but great.
The only think I didn’t really like was that the quadraphonic sound wasn’t noticeable for most of the songs. Overall, an excellent show.
Review thanks to Shane Bliss
Well, I liked it. What else am I to say?
This was the first time I had been to any live concert to this scale and it was rather thrilling for my 17 year old age. The day is as follows.
We, my parents and I, had to drive from Western NY to get the Pittsburgh. We made a few stops including the hotel and CMU (Carnagie Mellon University) to see my girlfriend and the like. Later, we got to the Pavilion early – around 6:00, so we had no wait whatsoever with the exception of waiting for the gates to open.
We got in, chatted with a few obvlivous VIP’s (stoned off their asses of course). Bought the obligitory T-shirt; made the rounds killing time for about and hour and a half. I thought it was amusing that Neil Young was playing over the PA, which wasn’t all I expected, but still large enough to move the ground – at least I thought the ground shook a little or that could be some of the pot circulating. Regardless, the system was massive, but not noticeably in stereo, and we were under the roof even close enough to make out who was on stage, faces.
The show started with Chuck Berry music. On screen there was a radio and eventually an arm (quite shockingly) switched the channel a few times. As an intro to the whole show. It was well done to say the least because the radio and arm and later man (comfortably numb you saw him the best) were staples throughout the show; a low key concept.
In The Flesh was first. It was decent. I don’t know what more I can say. He tended to point in one direction during the racist lyrics. The back up singers were quite on the ball. I liked the guitars with the added harmonies. It gave a little bit more life to the song I feel.
Following was Mother. It didn’t seem to flow easy into Mother. It felt like there should have been another song connecting the first two. They made use of the big screens more during this song and the lights a little more. The woman singing Dave’s part was ok, but it could have been better. Roger obviously took playing the guitar for the next few songs.
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun was good, I really enjoyed that. Roger’s voice had warmed up at that point he sounded very much like the original recording. His voice throughout was better than say the Live 8, simply because I think he has had a tour to get his voice back in shape. The sax was well placed and White’s solo could have been louder and more in tune. I locked on one note that sounded a little too flat and I think he knew it too because he kept hitting it to try to bend it further and make it seem like he meant to.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond was shortened too much, way too much. One thing I like about all the members of Pink Floyd is that they can recapture their old sound for each song instead of the new technology making everything sound more modern, one feels they are actually in 1975 for this song. It was severely lacking without the opening guitar solo, at least one. It just ground against itself. I don’t know. That was definitely the top of Waters’ range however. But he still managed to kick through it. The sax solos were very similar to the recording – I wish Richie would have played around more with the voicings. There was no third verse, the song ended after the two sax solos.
Have A Cigar was a surprise, truthfully. I knew he had played it live before, but all the recordings released never featured it. It was nice. It rocked along very smoothly. Fairweather Low sang the same part as Waters, which worked most of the time. The lyric “Gravey Train” was a little off. I think it would have been better if there was some added harmonies in fourths at the end of each lyrical line, but that’s me. Kilminster really got into the solo, it was well played, but again too close to the 1975 studio recording. He had some fun with it, but seemed like he was on auto pilot.
Wish You Were Here will always mean something a bit more to me for my own reasons, and I’m glad they played it. Even extened it round the end. Before the 12 string part came, the radio came back on the screen and changed the radio station which I thought fit really well and made sense. He did his version of Wish You Were Here with the added chorus after the third verse, very appropriate.
South Hampton Dock and The Fletcher Memorial Home sounded very much like the recording on the Final Cut. Good, Bad, not sure. That gets a little too political for me. I like the soungs that don’t shout in your face what to think or what you need to think. I liked these songs, but I could see my dad was a little lost with them. They are what they are.
Perfect Sense, made perfect sense. They drove hard. The first appearance of an inflatable what this song too – an astronaught. PP Arnold sounded phenominal with her solo. Between the three female vocal solos of the night, this was a close second to Great Gig In The Sky. But she really blew out that song. Part 2 was the peak of the sound system’s capasity, her mic couldn’t handle what she was inputting and as a consequence she got a little distorted during the main chorus. I wish the lights would have been utilized more during this song for instance turning up the house lights during the big crowd chorus, the climax of the song.
Leaving Beirut was a very politically charged song. Roger actually gave a detailed intro saying this was a new song and how he came about writting it. I got a little pissed at the people around me because either they were talking, not paying any attention to him or stand up and shouting trying to be heard. I just thought was incredibly disrespectful esspecially when Roger doesn’t address the audience a lot. There was a running comic strip behind him the whole song. It was well done, but a little hoaky. His multiple nasty shots against Bush were taken a three ways: with cheers, with boos, with indifference. I choose not to say anything, I wasn’t going to cheer the man, because I don’t agree with him, but I can respect his ideas which is why I didn’t boo him. I can see how he feels, but believe there was another better way of getting his point across over singing how Texas eduaction must have fucked you up. I don’t need that, but it didn’t spoil the show.
Sheep came about very much like the album with the sheep sounds in stereo (one of the few uses of the system). The keys sounded very etherial and well placed. I enjoyed the big Pig floating over the audience. Don’t care much for the grafiti on it, but whatever again. It was well played and executed.
Thus came half time.
Dark Side of The Moon sounded very good considereing key vocals were missing. Dave was sorely missed due to the fact that he was the main singer for this album and it felt so. But still good, I”m an optomist.
Breathe came in very well. I liked the use of color for the song. The lighting was done to create a mood and the song flowed very icely. Vocal harmonies were very tight between Carin and Kilminster. You could see as Waters wandered about the stage he was singing along, but he knows, as does everybody else that he wouldn’t do justice if he sang the song.
On The Run was sweet. It was done in stereo, more so than the previous half. Very charged and energetic. I liked the use of the train, race cars, and bullets. It made me jump because I wasn’t expecting the sound of a train blasting through the song. The majority of the band walked off the stage or to another part of it while the keyboardists and drummer Broad handled the piece. Very powerful.
Time was good. Broad’s solo livened the crowd. I think he got a little too fancy too quick, but managed to pull a good solo out. The guitar solo was very to the recording, not much was changed. Sounded very good. Carin on Wright’s vocal part wasn’t the best call. His voice just didn’t plant the same as Wright’s would have. It was amusing watching the musicians going to different instruments before the songs were over to get ready for the next.
Great Gig In The Sky was the best I’d heard it aside from the original. She didn’t have the same bottom range as Clair, but Kenyon (I believe) really did a good job at this song. Her voice was a little bit more weighty and she seemed to run into a little trouble when it got softer. But she did the whole thing alone, a solo. It was nice. The screen had some stuff going on mixed in with a shot of her to whole time. The slide guitar could barely be heard. Harry did an exellent job on the piano sound.
Money was just that. Kilminster’s vocals were better than Doyle’s from the previous tour. He just seemed to at ease with the lyrics and their range. His voice was better suited for it too. The band went cut and dry through the song. It was interesting when the guitar solos came in because both Kilminster and White were playing the same solo except for the middle guitar solo, only Kilminster played that. Just like the studio recording. I wish only one of the guitarist would have reached for the high bends on the third solo because sometimes they were a little out of tune and synch. All in all.
Us & Them was another Carin sung song. He just doesn’t have the same sound. I really liked the choruses during this song. All the white lights came on and pointed right out over the crowd. It was like daylight again. Very powerful statment. Sax was right were it needed to be in the right places at the right times.
Any Colour You Like was the best jam of the whole concert. What happens with Waters is he likes to put a lot of lyrics into songs. This and On the Run were the only instrumental songs the whole concert. It was nice to just take in the solos and the instruments themselves. The synth was very upfront and just sounded awesome. Like a sound you’d want for your gigs is what it’s like. The guitar sound could have had more treble, but still, that’s me. Kilminster had fun with this solo, he actually gave it some of his own life by deviating from the solo gradually from the original. I was happy he finally played his own guitar.
Brain Damage described most of the audience by this point who were all shot: stoned or drunk. More could have been down with the lights here again. The crowd really responded to this song though especially during the chorus. As always, Eclipse followed ending the show on a solid build and DM chord. ha ha.
They all bowed and he said thank you and how good an audience we were.
When they came back, it was to the sound of helicopters and spotlights swirling around in the pit. Happiest Days and Brick part two were good songs. Roger still had his voice which I was surprised he could still get that low and be audible. THey didn’t do enough with the echo. We, the audience, were all standing for that song, the whole thing. Guitars were good, but the bass wasn’t loud enough. The bass is a crucial factor to that song in particular. White seemed to be having trouble with his solo, but I think his guitar wasn’t up loud enough. A few times, the vocals cut and only the crowd was to sing for the teachers to leave the kids alone. I wish they would have given us another chance to sing that alone, but he only gave us one. That was the most inclusion of the audience all night.
I was surprised to hear both Vera Lynn and Bring the Boys Back Home. Vera seemed like an awfully odd choice, but it did fit in with the radio concept from way in the beginning. Bring the Boys Back Home was heavily supported by the crowd singing along to it, I don’t have that range, so I didn’t try, ha ha. It was the extended version about twise as long as the original. I understand why he picked that song to play.
Comfortably Numb was alright, it could have been longer and louder. The string sounds were good and even the culmination of the different sounds before the song was in stereo and moved around very well. The guitar solos could have been much better, they were cut short. It seemed rushed like they band just wanted to leave, it was 11:00 by then anyway – 3 hours. It still sounded ok.
The trafic on the way out moved fluently. We were in a standard going over hills, but we managed to get out of there in 20 minutes. Very pleasing. I enjoyed the show and unlike the majority of people there, I’ll remember it! ha ha. I’ll remember this.
This review and pictures in above three sections thanks to Vince Tampio
Thanks to Vince Meszar
Overall a Stunning show,On the way to the show we passed through the Township of Moon which had everyone in the car looking at each other ,A funny moment.We got there early and could hear the band run through part of Money and WYWH before we got into the grounds.
The 1st half of the set was stunning the light show was just awesome ,Standout songs were Set the controls for the Heart of The Sun, Perfect Sense and Leaving Beirut.No boos before or After Leaving Beirut just huge applause and the same goes for Perfect Sense Pt1 & Pt2 where the screen shows a Submarine in a Stadium which fires 2 torpedoes which lets off an ICBM on screen with live pyro fire on stage.
The Crowd went mental.During the Middle of Sheep the Inflatable Pig comes out and is let loose at the end of the song, The Spotlight follows the pig for at least a mile,Awesome.Snowy White does nearly all Lead guitar work on the 1st set and it’s perfect.
Between the 2 sets there’s a picture of the Earth on screen which gets larger and the break draws nearer to an end and the Band takes the stage as the Earth fills the screen .All around me during the Break people are saying the shows is awesome and can’t beleive how good the sound is.We are dead centre near 3/4 of the way to back and get the full Surround sound effect that other near the front don’t.There’s Running water like a stream playing on the surround sound during the break ,Just incase you couldn’t go .Nice touch
Second Half of the Show Dark Side Of the Moon flies by ,You forget how short the Album is .The performance is flawless apart from the Time Roto Tom intro which has too many fills,He needs to make it more simple like the album intro.
Encores.Roger introduces the band Everyone gets a huge response from the crowd the largest for Dave Kilminster and Snowy white but Katie Kissoon gets a standing ovation ,She moves back to her spot on stage and Roger grabs her hand and motions her back to the front of the stage and he says “Again ?”and the crowd goes nuts and she gets another standing ovation.Her performance is brilliant.
The Encores are Happiest Days ,ABITW Pt2,Vera,Bring The Boys Back Home (extended version)Is there anybody out the ? (transition) and Comfortably numb.Dave Kilminsters solo’s are perfect .Snowy White’s performance is brilliant apart from a minor hicup during his second solo spot in Comfortably Numb.
This is a great gig and Roger knows it.His final words are “Thank you ,You’ve been a wonderful audience ,Fantastic thank you very much you were great thank you ” ,I would advise anyone who has no tickets to go and get some .Don’t go thinking this is a Floyd show where the crowd and music is laid back .This is a full in your face rock concert of epic proportions .The sound was perfect,The Band Tight and the Lightshow brilliant.
Concert length 8:15 to 10:45 with a 10 minute break.There’s no lip Synching at all,There’s a short delay in sound and vision (milliseconds) between what happens on stage live and whats displayed on screen .light travels faster than sound.It cost me $34.00 and I would say I had the best view of the show and the sound was perfect.I can see why some people would be pissed if they bought front row tickets for $149.00 but even then some people did pay $360 and $400 for front row tickets in auction so some feel good factor there.
Review & accompanying pictures thanks to Darren
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.
Thanks to Vince Meszar
Thanks to Darren