Roger Waters @ Oracle Arena 06/19/07

[El Dingo]

Roger Waters @ Oracle Arena 06/19/07

I'm still reeling from this one.

Our seats were high above the stage, a hanging speaker tower partially obstructing our view, but oh well. The backdrop was an immense photograph of a coffee table with a whisky bottle, a glass, an ashtray, some pills and an old phonograph/tuner. Minutes before the show was to start smoke began to rise from the cigarette butts in the ashtray. I turned to Dee Dee and said "neat effect". Then a hand reached in and changed the station on the radio.

"That's no backdrop!', I cried, "That's a space station!"

Actually it was a freakin' huge movie screen and not once was it ever blank.

Roger and the Bleeding Heart Band took the stage and launched into "In The Flesh" while marching hammers stomped across the screen and flashpots went off from above and below. A showcase of Pink Floyd 'hits' followed. A giant astronaut balloon hovered over the crowd during the intro to 'Perfect Sense' and the iconic pig made an appearance during the instrumental break of 'Sheep'.

The pig was covered with anti-Bush graffiti and anti-war slogans, 'Fear Builds Walls', 'All Religions Divide' and my favorite 'What an asshole! George W. Bush' written around the pigs anus.

Roger's obvious love of King George was declared in a lyric from the only new song they played 'Leaving Beirut'. It was even highlighted in the tour program:

"Oh George, Oh George,
That Texas education must have fucked you up,
When you were very small"

As the musicians left the stage for intermission a tiny dot was projected on the screen. Over the next 20 minutes the dot grew until it became recognizable as the Moon. Soon after a satellite appeared and the opening montage of sounds from 'Dark Side of the Moon' began to play. The smoke rolled in and the band played the album from start to finish.

The songs were played expertly and the vocalist for 'Great Gig in the Sky' was phenomenal. Throughout 'Eclipse' a satellite within a pyramid was lowered from the scaffolding. The satellite emitted a wall of lasers, revolving slowly and covering the crowd in waves of light. At one point a narrow white beam was focused on the pyramid, emerging from the other side as a rainbow, perfectly reproducing the DSotM album cover in glorious 3D.

As the last notes of 'Eclipse' faded away the crowd went nuts. A truly monumental event had just occurred. One that will cause future generations to wail and gnash their teeth when they understand what they missed.

The encore was the expected 'Another Brick in the Wall pt.2' and 'Comfortably Numb'. After DSotM it was kind of anti-climactic and I took the opportunity to go buy a program. I had decided not to buy any merchandise because it was all too damn expensive, but after seeing the show I needed something to look at for when the memory banks fail.

What a great month. The Arcade Fire, The Police and Roger Waters.

Now I can rest.

[Drunk Monk]

...or were you the guy who told some RM volunteers that I talked him down years ago? If so, thanks. Those other volunteers were really impressed.

So for those of you unfamiliar with our nefarious past (or you just wanted to block it out of your memory) many years ago, DM was subjected to intense psychological programming at the hands of ED. It involved mind-alteration, horrifying lip synch contests, a kitten named Charmin and a significant dose of Roger Waters. DM remains grateful. DM accompanied ED to Waters Radio Kaos, and it remains one of the top concerts DM has ever experienced. That's saying a lot considering that DM has been to hundreds if not thousands of concerts. The Pink Floyd & Roger Waters concerts two decades ago were absolutely over the top. That being said, this show was but a pale echo of what they/he once were/was. It was still awesome, but Floyd in the day, there's just nothing like that.

Pink Floyd music is meant to be played loud and clear. Waters had his signature sound system hanging extra speaker banks at the end of the auditorium so the sound was perfect almost everywhere in the house. I was disappointed with PIG 007. I liked the graffitied political messages, but it looked too cartoonish. The old PIG had balls. I mean it. The old PIG was hung like a horse, with intense, menacing red eyes. Here are two PIG tales:

PIG tale 1: For a previous PF show, LB, DM and ED were ticketholders. I can't remember if ED came in with us exactly, but LB and DM rode home together with a few other long forgotten partners-in-crime. During that ride home, we were talking about the show and of course, the PIG. LB completely missed the PIG. He had got up to go to the bathroom and thought we were all making up the PIG story. DM has never let him forget that, even though he was Water's acupuncturist when this show came to SLA last year.

PIG tale 2: DM missed the SLA show because mrs. Dm's doula client popped that night. Major bummer. But they apparently had another PIG, which was released and allowed to float away. Rumor has it that it showed up on OAK's radar, and they immediately dispatched a fighter jet to investigate. The jet could not identify the object and shot it down. How could you not identify a giant PIG with balls? Dm thinks that fighter pilot just wanted to fire his rockets. After all, if I was a fighter pilot, that's all I'd want to do.

OK, back to the 007 show, DM again agrees with ED on most points and would add that Bring the Boys Back Home was particularly moving. Waters sucked up the applause in an almost hammy way, but that could easily be forgiven because after all, he's Roger Waters and deserves all the credit. We know who the real PINK is.

People were pretty blissed out after the show. Dm was wildly nostalgic. It was as close to a flashback as anything. On the Run was particularly psychedelic with its visuals and extras.

Get some rest, ED. DM here is off to Sierra Nevada World Music Festival tomorrow, doing volunteer psych for JAH med (an alternate Rock Med group). I doubt you'll be there, so no need to check in. Going to Van's next Sunday maybe? I'll be there too.

[El Dingo]

I tried to check in but none of the Oracle Arena workers I talked to knew where or what Rock Med was.

They were pretty surly so maybe they were lying.

For future reference, how does one get to the Rock Med digs in the Arena?

[Drunk Monk]

After Oracle was redesigned to add the private boxes, our location was turned all sideways. We have a table service and response team stationed right outside of Oracle's regular medical office near section 106 on the main concourse. But the main Rock Med area is set up on the floor level. If you go to the back of the building on the floor to where the bathrooms and concessions are, make a sharp left and follow it to the end where there is medical sign and a door that leads to our place. It's underneath 106. Sometimes there's a more direct access when the open up the south gate.

Next time, just ask for regular medical because they can contact us. I was on radio for Waters, so it would have been very simple to reach me.