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Roger Waters
September 21st, 2006
Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada
Written by
Patrick Loiselle
Photos by Bart Jan van der Vorst
On september the 21st Roger Waters was gracious enough to stop by
Montreal on his North American treck. Something David Gilmour failed to
do, even if Pink Floyd is probably the most popular band in this part of
the country.
So, on that night, after driving for a few hours from Sherbrooke to
Montreal, being stuck in traffic thus not letting me have enough time to
grab a bite at the Peel Pub before the show, I headed for the Bell Centre
where for 28.00$ I had a slice of pizza, french fries and 2 beers,
talking about being ripped off !
The Bell Centre is one of the largest hockey / concert venue in North
America and the place had been sold out for a few months already. So a
good night was expected for my 3rd times seeing Rog after the Radio Kaos
and In The Flesh tours.
Well I'm sorry to say the show was a bit of a disappointement, for several
reasons. First the sound level was way too low. When you can hear what the
people from the rows below you are saying, there's a problem. The quality
was great, but way too low (for a live concert). The light show was
 probably one of the worst I've seen in a very long time, unless you enjoy
monochrome based lightings. I mean there's a limit yellow lights will give
you for excitement. For the major part of the show the large screen was
showing videos / films which was quite interesting, but it took away the
involvement of the band. You really felt like watching a 2.5 hour video
with the band as a back up. I saw The Autralian PF Show a few months ago
and they were miles ahead as far as light show's concern.
The band itself wasn't as tight as they could be. Dave Kilminster seems to
be a very good guitar player, but looked so bored during the first part of
the show, before coming alive in the DSOTM section. Snowy White, (please
somebody tell him it's allowed not to wear the same clothes as he has
since 99) was very ordinary that night. The chemistry between the 2 just
wasn't there, specially during Comfortably Numb.
But everything was not all bad, there were also some very good things
during that night. Like I said earlier, the videos were very interesting
and fun to watch. The sound quality was superb, (too low, but superb), and
some of the songs were magical. I'm not a big fan of DSOFM but it was very
well played and intense. The other members of the band were great, even
Andy Fearwheather Low, who I thought was there just because he's a good
buddy of Roger, impressed me a lot during Leaving Beirut, (which should be
quite interesting when played down in the midwestern US states with all
the Bush references during the song). The singers were all good and it's
always a treat to hear Mrs. Kissoon, the other voice of a Roger Waters
concert. The setlist had some nice surprises amongst the standards.
Of the 3 times I saw Roger Waters, that night was # 3 on the list. I was
expecting a fantastic concert but instead I got a good one. However we
must keep in mind the a "good" Roger Waters show is probably better than a
great one by almost anybody else and I will for sure I will be there if he
ever comes back again. Don't let the negative parts of this review stop
you, if you get the chance go and see him. The guy's still a legend.
Setlist
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 - 2
Leaving Beirut
Sheep
Speak To Me
Breathe
On The Run
Time
Breathe (reprise)
The Great Gig In The Sky
Money
Us and Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall Part 2
Vera
Bring the boys back home
Comfortably numb
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