Music R. Waters

[bcubed]

Okay, it's the beginning of the summer concert season. Once I found out Waters was playing Philadelphia, I decided to check him out. I'd seen a Waters-less Floyd like 20 yrs ago, and I wanted to compare notes. As usual, I let my ne'er-do-well buddy, SWIM, tag along. Here's his report:

Well, we wound up getting there late, due to the fact that my moron buddy FORGOT how to get to the Spectrum. You'd think after 6months in Philly, he'd know his way around...

Anyway, we arrived about 1/3 of the way through the first set. Some general impressions of the concert: first and foremost, I was impressed at Waters' singing abilities this late in his career. I was prepared to make allowances for age, but Waters (especially on "The Fletcher's Memorial Home") really nailed it! Also, by and large, he was content not to try to sing Gilmour's lines. Since Waters got most of the bad press during the breakup, it was refreshingly non-primadonna-ish of him.

Second, he got a pair of quite talented guitarists to fill in for Gilmour--especially the young guy on the Telecaster (?) Also, the acoustics were quite a bit better than I was expecting for an indoor concert: no muddying of the sound by echoes.

The second half after the break was Dark Side in its entireity. I left my clueless buddy and smoked a bit of 10X Salvia, aiming for just shy of hallucination. When I returned to my seat, my buddy didn't say a thing, though I think he might have been suspicious.

I must report that the show was amazing! The Salvia allowed me to really get into a rather sinister version of "On the Run," which led to the intro to "Time," with the percussionist absolutely beating the snot out of the toms!

Redosed my Sally just as "Any Colour You Like" was ending. "Brain Damage" was intense, as I was just beginning to wonder if I hadn't taken a trifle too much to be out in public...turns out it was O.K., and began to get the slightest traces of synesthesia (specifically sounds as colors). The "feeling the bass notes through my clothes and skin" is something that highly-amplified music does, sober or otherwise, but I was able to appreciate it more.

The encore was songs from "The Wall," finishing with "Comfortably Numb."

It wouldn't really be fair to compare Waters to Floyd (sans Waters), as the latter was 20 years ago, and I was on different substances. I can say that R.W. didn't dissapoint, and that I got my (fairly large amount of) money's worth.

[nuckinfutz]

I was at that concert. My friend and I drove from Buffalo to Philly for the Saturday night show. There was enough LSD and MDMA in the parking lot for every one to enjoy!