Pink Floyd's Roger Waters 2017 Us And Them Concert Report

First of all I had to drive into Philly down the Sure Kill Express, so that took almost 2 hours due to construction.

Once there it was $25.00 to park, in American dollars.
It was in the Wells Fargo Arena (remember Wells Fargo the scam bank?).
We had the top seats in the house, about ten stories up, our heads were scraping the ceiling so the mortals down below looked like the proverbial ants.
Luckily they apparently enlisted NASA in the design of the upper reaches as they had thoughtfully installed anti gravity flooring so you couldn't fall over the edge and plummet to your death. I'm assuming it was some kind of Velcro as our shoes stuck to the floor when we walked, but I was afraid to look down because of the height.

It seats over 20,000 thousand.
A rum and Pepsi (generic rum and Coke) cost $11:00 per Dixie cup...so screw that. Our tickets were about $85.00 plus fees.
Down on the floor they were over $250.00 for in the back as the dude in front of us said he got those by mistake for the first show and he couldn't see a thing because everyone stood up.
So he came back to the second show and bought "in flight seats" so he could see what he missed.

The show started with Speak to Me, with videos on a huge, I don't know 40 foot screen in the back of the stage.
Next was Breathe.
The sound was excellent. There were speakers hanging down all over the ceiling...below us, and they really provided fantastic separation so the music flowed around the arena.
The videos were very good progressive art mixed with views of the band as they played, very nice.

The rest of the set list for the first half of the show was as follows:
One of These Days
Time
Breathe (Reprise)
The Great Gig in the Sky
Welcome to the Machine
When We Were Young
Déjà Vu
The Last Refugee
Picture That
Wish You Were Here

Then there was a 15 minute break for bathroom calls, beer, and whatnot.

The second half kicked off with The Happiest Days of Our Lives, which was okay.
Then Anther Brick in the Wall 1 and 2, for this part they marched out a bunch of school kids who danced around in "Resist" T shirts.

Next Roger kicked it into high gear.
There were two long parallel rails hanging from the ceiling below us. Around three quarters as long as the entire stadium. They descend toward the floor until they were just over the peoples' heads then four smoke stacks arose toward the ceiling belching smoke. I was hoping it was happy weed, but alas..
Then screens dropped down from the ceiling, below us, along both rails. Eight 40 foot tall ten foot wide ones facing each side of the seats.
The image of the powerhouse from the Animals album was projected onto the screens.

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Then they played Dogs, followed by Pigs.
This was the best part for me as while they played, images of Trump and Putin appeared on the screens. Trump as a baby, later as a fat man with his little dickie showing, doing a Nazi salute, etc. All the while the famous flying pig was circling the arena, below us, with "Trump is a pig" written on the side. Also a lot of really stupid true Trump quotes which were kinda scary.
Then they did Money, with more pictures of greedy Trump, Us and Them, Smell the Roses, and Brain Damage.

The screens, pig, and smokestacks disappeared and a flying silver orb started flying around...below us, as they finished with, Eclipse, Vera, Bring the Boys Back Home, and Comfortably Numb.

Also the giant laser pyramid appeared and lasers shot all around the place but we didn't get burnt or anything.

Roger came down to the first row and shook hands all around but he never made it up the mountain to our seats.

Then we went home.

Next, Willie Nelson and Van "the man" Morrison.

 

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In the sixties and early seventies music was very political. It's just another medium for transmitting messages.

All music has a message, so when I go to a concert I take into consideration what the message is and who the artists are.
For example Arlo Guthie's Alice's Restaurant wouldn't be much of a song if it wasn't for the political monologue. Just the same old notes over and over again for 18 minutes.

Dark Side of the Moon was a statement about mental health.
Wish You Were Here was about Syd Barrett (who had mental health issues)
Animals was based on the political book Animal Farm
The Wall was about megalomaniacs and fascism.
The Final Cut was about Nationalism

...so they have a history of expressing ideas through their music.

 

The show was very good. I don't mind political content in music.....I thrived on that in the daze. But I'm particular about the content, I would never attend a Ted Nugent concert.

The musicians at the Waters show were very good. Every song was just as good as the studio versions.

Mudslinging? Tit for tat I'd say.

I really didn't mind the drive or the seats I just like to bitch. I've driven farther and had worse seats.
I'm not really a fan of showmanship in rock concerts, but if it's done well and the music is good it's okay. I'm there for the music not the show.
For instance I saw Roy Buchanan once in Pittsburgh and he walked out on the stage carrying an amp, set it down and played. That was the concert, no one else just Roy and an amp. And it was good.

Big name shows....depends on what you call a big name and who it is. I saw Paul McCartney recently and it wasn't cheap, and he had a lot of theatrics, but I was shocked by how good he was. I really was expecting a so-so concert.

Other big names...well I'm stuck in the sixties so a lot of current big names have no hold on me whatsoever while there are some that many would consider has beens that I would jump at the chance to see. If possible I never pass up an Iron Butterfly, Quicksilver, or Eric Burdon show.