ROGER'S COMFORTABLY ONE
onezebra12
Roger Waters played Pink Floyd tunes at MSG. June 1, 2007 -- 'DO you
want a brownie?"
A question that seemed as appropriate at Roger Waters' solo
extravaganza featuring a performance of "Dark Side of the Moon" as it
would at a church picnic.
Of course, mama would tell you don't take food from a stranger, but
mama didn't come to the concert at the Garden Wednesday, and what was
the harm in gobbling a brownie?
In this case, none.
Sugar seemed to be the main ingredient, but the gracious hippie offer
- hitched to a willingness to trust a stranger - said that even
though decades have passed since "Dark Side" was released, the music,
its creator and the fans not only haven't changed, the Floydian
concert experience has stood the test of time.
Videos played on a stagewide screen, klieg lights flashed, fire pots
exploded and lasers re-created the famous white light entering a
pyramid and exiting as a rainbow. And then there were the life-size
spaceman and the giant flying pig inflatables that floated in the
rafters of the cavernous Garden.
Yet beneath the gimmicks, there was the music.
Waters, the bassist and co-founder of the iconic psychedelic British
band Pink Floyd, mixed a handful of his choice solo work - including
his new anti-war "Leaving Beirut" - with P.F. classics topping off
the three-hour gig with a track-for-track rendering of "Dark Side."
Arguably the most beloved album in rock, the record has the
distinction of holding a continuous spot on the Billboard charts for
a staggering 29 years.
Waters' anti-war and anti-authority songs ruled the set - and they
were enthusiastically embraced by the sold-out Garden crowd. Waters
was smart in getting his points across. He never preached or
lectured. Instead he let songs like "The Wall," "Mother" and the
before-mentioned "Leaving Beirut" make his points.
Waters' music made the audience think, but it also loosened the
crowd's dancing bones with the heady, surging arena rockers like
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond," played early, and "Comfortably Numb,"
saved for the encore.
Gray-haired Waters may have left Pink Floyd 26 years ago, but at this
show he proved he still has the Pink Floyd concert aesthetic and the
chops to back them up.
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