MUSIC REVIEW: Memories of the vintage Pink Floyd with Roger Waters in Liverpool

May 16 2008 by Luke Traynor, Liverpool Daily Post

ROGER WATERS is only performing in two UK cities as part of his world tour. London, because everybody has to play the capital, and Liverpool because nobody salutes the Floyd quite like a Scouse crowd.

There was barely a spare seat in the Echo Arena for the biggest event the venue has staged since opening in January.

The two-hour set opened up with the sinister crashing chords of In the Flesh, the spotlight dancing among the crowd.

Then it was onto the tender Mother, one of a large chunk of tracks taken from The Wall, Waters’s own Floyd baby.

Winding the clock back, we were treated to a mesmeric performance of Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, with some nostalgic images of the four band members together in the Syd Barrett era.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Wish You Were Here were predictable show-stoppers, but without Gilmour’s faultless vocal they perhaps failed to scale their usual awesome heights.

A brilliant version of Have a Cigar, a rousing Perfect Sense, and two Final Cut tracks – Southampton Dock and a brilliantly morbid The Fletcher Memorial Home – were the first half highlights.

Only new track Leaving Beirut, with its whimsical cabaret-style melody and kindergarten morality tale, didn’t hit the mark.

Typically, the famous Floyd pig made its floating appearance during a classic rendition of Sheep, daubed with the words Fear Builds Walls, as ticker tape urging everyone to “Vote Obama” descended upon us.

Anti-war and anti-government have been Waters’s themes since the cradle.

All night, the visuals on the screen behind the band were simply stunning, with the heat from the fire cannons felt from 300 yards away.

Into the second half, it was Dark Side of the Moon all the way, which really kicked in from Time onwards and gave us the best song of the night, a haunting Us and Them.

Was Roger playing an encore? Of course, this is Liverpool, and he leapt into an explosive Another Brick in the Wall.

Floyd fans were pleased to next hear the touching Vera, before the experience was brought to a crashing close with possibly the best rock song ever written – Comfortably Numb.

After the last strident chord, Waters turned to the adoring throng and said: “We’ve done this thing 165 times, and I think you guys are probably number one.

“You’ll never walk alone.”

Even the Blues in the audience didn’t mind that much.