So Ya, Thought Ya, Might Like To, Go To The Show….
This would be considered a “SPOILER” if you plan on seeing the presentation of THE WALL featuring Roger Waters. This Tour will be remembered for sure. The few photos and videos I took from the 2nd row and what I am about to summarize will for sure remove the surprise element from the experience for anyone who hasn’t see Pink Floyd or any of previous Roger Waters’ Tours.
……I saw the Radio Kaos Tour when Roger Waters stopped into Hamilton, Ontario around 1987 and both Pink Floyd tours after around the same time Delicate Sound, Momentary Lapse, Division Bell era. Music aside the creativity that went into those tours set a new bar for me as a teenager early in my concert career. Now almost 23 years later the anticipation of seeing THE WALL in it’s original format was building by the minute.
When we first walked onto the floor and saw the Wall going up each side of the hockey rink the size of this show started to sink in…. heck if I hadn’t seen KISS just 6 nights ago it might have seemed even Bigger!.. But this still had a stadium feel at first glance.
“In The Flesh” – This was probably one of the best opening songs I have seen at a live concert. It was full steam ahead from the men on the bridge with flags, the fireworks, seeing Roger in his hoodie, lights swirling and that buzz under the hood of we’re seeing THE WALL !!!
… and of course the famous… “so ya thought ya might like to so to the show…” was truly electric and almost overwhelming. The lighting stretched back to the far end of the arena with additional speaker arrangements…above, not sure if it was quadraphonic or just for effects… as we were too close to the stage to hear….but as the helicopter sound kicked in this lighting unit above the main stage appeared to have a small speaker stack on it as well and it moved forward with the spot light shooting into the crowd as if to be the light on the front of the helicopter, the sound moved with it…really wicked…
Some 25 lucky kids from The Regent Park School of Music ended up on stage to help sing over the track for Another Brick plus got to point at the floating 40 foot teacher. The overall sound was really good for a 1st show and most of the other musicians including Roger’s son on Keyboards were hard to see or get into with this large production unfolding…. except a little at the end of Run Like Hell as the band were in front of the wall closer to us.
I actually heard “Mother”start with Roger on acoustic and have the video it but I will spare you listening to the faint 1st verse that seemed to fall down with technical difficulties… the song never really got back on track for me. The Wall of course was being built brick by brick as Side 1 Played out and the barrier starts to fill in… to the point yes where you could barely see the band.
After the intermission HEY YOU starts and the entire song almost is play behind the Wall…it’s cool and as the light shines thru the cracks and you hear the band playing it really shows what Roger was thinking about years ago of feeling that distance from some of the audience…those who were not engaged with him as he performed . Speaking of di-engaged…The guy beside me after introducing himself 4 times and asking about doing ACID kept praying for David Gilmour to walk out and join in. I didn’t feel that was going to happen. I didn’t feel it needed too….The Gilmour stand in did fine at most points and this was not Pink Floyd we were seeing… it is and was billed as “The Wall Live…featuring Roger Waters”
The imagery on the circle screen in the back dipped into parts from the Wall movie and the overall scenes on the 200+ foot WALL itself were quite thought provoking weaving in some of todays political issues and visuals from past Tours I had scene…all very cool to watch in a synchronized kinda way
“One Of My Turns” turned out beautiful as you can see below in the video and “Run Like Hell” with the flying pig got the crowd up, dancing and celebrating it seemed… ..as security told the front row to move back… and we all started to chant along with “THE TRIAL”... “bring down the wall, bring down the wall..”the WALL did come down..crashing faux bricks.
No encore, just The Wall and alot of entertainment to go along with an amazing album… I will leave the comments open here for others who visit the shows as the tour unfolds. ROGER WATERS SETLIST AND MORE PHOTOS BELOW…
It isn’t just a rock show!! U2′s 360 Tour is a massive spectacle!! This band is at the absolute pinnacle of their success in many ways!! Heading into this show if you want to be close to the stage you have to go the full GA immersion. You have to get down early and stay alert and get ready to run when you can. Jeff got down to the Rogers Centre somewhere around 8:30AM and I arrived just after. There was a fan list being done that never really helped much but none the less we were numbers 236 and 237. The first few barricades held tents, chairs, newspapers and lots of sleeping bags. There were people who started camping out before the first show was even over and others who attended show #1 on the 16th & walked out of the venue and right back into line.
Understanding there is an circular area that holds some 2000 we were going to be in there no problem… it is the barrier spot in between Bono and the Edge that is in very high demand and this was our predetermined ideal location for watching U2 360 unfold.
This would be my 8th U2 show and of the last to 2 tours I was inside the ellipse twice and the heart twice. The location of the Rogers and the many store in close proximity made life a lot easier. The day was spent people watching and meeting new fans. The line up began to tighten up around 2PM. Security had people get rid of their chairs and begin to bunch up. Close to 4PM security began to stamp tickets and hands with a green stamp indicating these were general admission bodies and tickets. At 5PM security made a weak announcement letting people know there were 5 shoots to move down and we needed to remain orderly. This is where security was the most lax.
I stood in my approximate location and watched as easily 50 to 100 people began to filter into the line. This is when I made my decision to move directly to a shoot bypassing the barriers all together!! Being basically a loner concert goer I move quickly and hit a hard run as I clear the turnstiles. Security told people not to run. I just kept running. I ran down 3 ramps and then the stairs to floor of the stadium and to the security manned barrier at the entrance to the pit!! Bang! I am in the pit and dash for the rail stage in the space between the microphone stand for will Bono and where Edge will spend most of his time during the show!! Out of breathe but very happy I check number of the people beside me just for curiosity sake and they are in the low teens!! Not bad and right where I want to be.
Right away the stage is massive and very impressive. In size maybe the Stones last couple of tours would compare but by design this beast is in a league of its own. As I understand that there are 3 of these babies playing leap- frog around North America. A show on this scale has to stay on the road for a couple of years to really make it worth while. AS an added bonus the roof is fully retracted. This is the first show the roof has been opened since one of Bruce Springsteen’s shows in 2003 a the Rogers Centre.
After everything is said and done this tour will likely be the highest grossing tour of all time. Were not here to count beans we are here to see rock and roll in all its glory!! Snow Patrol, open the show and they are very well received. Nice gig for these guys!! Fellow Dubliners getting to open up for what is right now the biggest band going!! Snow Patrol play an inspired set given the task and really come across as having a lot of fun!!
The anticipation is thick!! As 9PM nears and with the end of each song being blasted over the PA it grows… everyone know what signifies the beginning from following YOUTUBE videos or reading or talking to someone who went last night…. delirium reins down as the opening chords of Bowies Space Oddity unfolds for us….as Bowies tunes concludes Larry’s drums kick in and out of know where the new tune Breathe hits as the Biggest band in the world is pretty ballsy to come out and play 4 new songs one after another.
No LINE ON THE HORIZON then a nice Bono Hello with an intro into Get On Your Boots which has some awesome bass and drum kicking…and then into the killer of these 4 tunes Magnificent … this is a great song!! Weare pumped and the euro-rockers keep hitting us Mysterious Ways followed by Beautiful Day come F***IN on! The Explorer Edge uses in the intro to Beautiful Day offers us a slightly longer version…. a nice change from the album track !! Larry gets a ride during this song as his drum platform move around in a circle for some reason and then ELEVATION!
Just look at these songs played already!! We are in a deadly spot as the Edge is playing a lot directly in front of where we are posted!! The camera attached the stage and sliding around the stage perimeter is annoying but it still so nice to be this close. There is some momentary thought of maybe it would be nice to back it the stands to get the full effect of the stage design but this quickly fades when Still haven’t Found What I’m LookingFor get unleashed followed by Unknown Caller!!
Edge does really nice guitar work on this tune just understated enough to really send that trade- mark ethereal sound wafting out to the masses!! The keyboards are magic here as well. Got to Love it!!! New Years Day still carries the same passion it had for when I saw the first time!! This band still plays this with conviction and it is good!!
I have been listening to the bootleg from Barcelona shows of this tour and NYD isn’t played so I guess they are doing some deviating from a standard setlist. This stage & show is so large that deviating from a standard list would be pretty difficult as it has to pretty heavily choreographed, all the way through. I guess you could say this would be the only down side that the show is almost “bigger” than you can take in, like on the edge of being too much!!
During one of the many “participation moments” Bono yells to the condo towers that peer into the Rogers Centre to offer a signal that they were listening …turn your lights on & off if your listening he said ….. there were some responders and it was classic!! Anyway we wind down near here with some acoustic ……Stuck in a Moment.
The second serious sing along is the City of Blinding Lights. I loved this tune from the first moment I heard it was the first song to jump from HTDABfor me and it still sounds gorgeous. At the end of Unforgettable Fire…Bono pulled a young kid up onto the ramp.See it happen here Then he kicked off CITY by walking hand in hand with him. Lucas was his name and Bono seemed to be singing & teaching him something using the songs lyrics. When lyric regarding purple irises the camera can’t see, Bono took off his shaded glasses and had his young partner put them on… it was cool to see the kid looking around with the shades as cameras flashed.. It was marvelous… the interplay and symbolic nature of the song and the child in relation to what was going on in the song. It seemed to fit well!!
Hello Hello!! Vertigo and the crowd are in frenzy. I mean a real frenzy!! I think we are peaking here because the energy is just so high. In this moment we are all just jumping up and down in one big mass!! I’ll Go Crazy gets a highly souped- up extended remix version that is nice! I liked it a lot better then the album. It is tough to say but Sunday Bloody Sundaysailed by way too fast. It wasn’t the most inspired version I have ever heard. The crowd started this song out strong…I am sure the first part of the song got a standard treatment with Edge’s guitar was ringing like a friggin bell… but it got mush more interesting when and we got a little Clash throwin’ in for good measure…with Rock The Casbah and the Irish lullaby that was to bridge to the portion of the show that honors Aung San Suu.
We get out our masks on and volunteers wearing masks walk the catwalk that separates the inner GA section from the main GA section. This is a very poignant moment. I know this deserves more explanation but this is a rock show review. I will leave the political explanation to someone who is more inclined. I could tell but really couldn’t really see the stage when it came completely alive during Walk On. The massive revolving screen dropped down and formed a huge cone. I’m not sure if it was at this point Bono mentioned Daniel Lanois and the fact it is his birthday pretty soon. He said “Happy Birthday Danny Boy”.
The band kind of disappeared for awhile around this point and came out to do One… Bono out to the microphone hold that beautiful green Gretsch guitar with The Goal is Soul pick guard…had the whole place pull out cell phone and called them “our stars”. I know this would have been a nice place for Daniel Lanois drop in for a guest appearance as he did in Toronto during a show at the Air Canada Centre!! For some reason Bono went on to sing Amazing Grace and I kind of recall at some point near Walk On …I scored a setlist from the camera guy that contains some details. Where the Streets Have No Name closes out the first encore and I know that the huge microphone I saw pulled up to the ceiling earlier hasn’t been used yet.
Out comes Bono wearing a jacket covers with red lighting and this awesome microphone drops down that completely lights up in hues of blues and reds that fit Ultraviolet (light my way) perfectly. It is quite a scene as the stage is darkened and we get this ultraviolet futuristic scene played out to a great not so hidden gem from Achtung Baby!! Then he blends right into With or Without You with this same microphone and jacket setup. Pretty intense!!
I know the show ended with a new song Moment of Surrender but I may have given up the ghost because I just can’t seem to light that candle. I remember the band fading off the stage and this juggernaut coming to a slow crawl. The show seemed to fly by. It felt like the main set was done in a half hour. Sometime after the lights came up and people were milling about watching the techs begin the load out. A tech threw a bunch of guitar picks out. As the crowd reached high the concertaholic goes low and to the floor because he knows these thrown guitar picks are hard to catch and some always hit the floor…. Yes I got a pick!! It was a long day but well worth it!! The 360 spectacle is a must see!! All future tours will be measured against this new standard. I don’t see anything on the horizon that will even come close!!
The concert goal tonight was to get a cheap single on the street and get inside to where my contact was so he could assist me with getting down front on the floor. There weren’t alot of singles floating around but after waiting about 6 songs in I grabbed a ticket for $20 and was into The Air Canada Centre now. This is the ticket here… wondering why it says “Rumour” on it? Anyone?
After seeing the band last week I did not have plans to go this week until I found out a friend of mine from high school was going to the show and would be in the front row. This friend… Tina and I went to go see Fleetwood Mac together in October of 1987 at Maple Leaf Gardens here in Toronto. We had reminisced about this show once or twice over the years and how Christine McVie performed Songbird as the closer. ( Did you know Lindsey Buckingham didn’t perform on that tour?) Now for tonight I knew I could get down front where Tina & her sister Robin would be and I thought the 21 year concert reunion would be a blast.
Down to the floors & contact made with my friend and I am on the floor at the back, big lights full house and he tells me that no security is allowed up front and that I was on my own from about the red-line. No problem. I’m in my element. Total Pro. I stroll up and crank a hard left at the stage…it gets louder, I make no eye contact and…
I’m in.
There is 7-8 feet in front of the Row 1 seats that seem like a VIP Section gone wild. Cameras, dancing and the Mac groove is on. I figure these girls are dead centre. Yes. Tina turns her head and its them. I edge my way in and the reunion is on. Wow we are close. I mean no barrier, do what you want close. This is unique in that there is no security to be seen… heck we can’t see anything except Lindsey Buckingham’s boots.
This type of access changes things so much even compared to the 3rd row seats I sat in last week. One of the key factors( for those who haven’t put their elbows up on a stage before) is that you hear the show mainly from stage monitors… not the actual stacks of speakers that the rest of the Arena is listeing too. Right beside us was what looked like a centre channel from a home theater system and it was Lindsey’s vocals mainly…so at times Stevie’s vocals were abit distant.
This crowd did seem to respond at a more heightened level then the previous show. I won’t compare the two shows song for song as I noticed a few slip ups each night and at the same time some stronger moments for Stevie and John McVie during this Show 2! When you are only 4-8 feet from the performers you see everything. From the detail in Stevie’s costumes to Mick’s Red Shoes… everything is right there including the glances back and forth between Nicks & Buckingham… or better yet… eye contact & a nod from Lindsey that makes you feel like you are part of the show.
And we are.
In this video you will hear more from fans than you think you would down front… Never Going Back Again none the less is timeless.
Robin loved “Storms” and for me… the Drum beginning of Gold Dust Woman… just grabbed me… when I wasn’t expecting it. These are the moments the music lover goes for…. You sing along, your brain reminisces and your eyes get glued to the Gypsy that remains… doing her turns, her dance and finally a pose.
The setlist was identical almost to last weeks.. so we hear Lindsey wind it up on “So Afraid” including the guitar solo where he lets a few fans touch his strings…then came Stevie after another small break for her Stand Back and Go Your Own Way to close out the set.
Back onstage for the encore and here we get World Turning including Mick Fleetwoods Drum Solo. I actually sat my camera on the stage while video taping part of this. You can hear the groove being delivered here and we all joined in here heavy. Great Tune!
The crowd is in the ether. Don’t Stop…is in full motion … my guess now is all Robin and Tina can think about are the Roses they bought for Stevie… we knew Silver Springs was next. We were dead centre. Would Stevie take them or would Lindsey just pick them up for her like at some previous shows. Silver Springs begins and Tina goes to get the flowers. We could be in no better positon.. It was a privilege now to see this unfolding… Robin had probably rolled this movie thru in her head numerous times … I leaned over and asked do you want this moment on video or a photo? She said “Video”…. I clicked on the camera and joined Lindsey right here…
How did it all finish…? ……..Just like this photo says above…
Mick Fleetwood’s Red Shoes,
Lindsey’s guitar on the floor 3 feet in front of us
and ….
Stevie Nicks holding our Dozen Roses.
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For more photos from the Stage see our Flickr Page
down side that the show is almost “bigger” than you can take in, like on the edge of being too much!!
We get out our masks on and 
around this point and came out to do One… 
The show seemed to fly by. It felt like the main set was done in a half hour. Sometime after the lights came up and people were milling about watching the techs begin the load out. A tech threw a bunch of 
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