Roger Waters

In an effort to catalog some of my favorite moments from attending concerts, I began my series with a brief recap of the Boss's Atlanta performance several months ago. The Roger Waters Atlanta show on May 22, 2007 also provided a great moment. For a little taste, here's Roger Waters playing Brain Damage during his nightly performance of Dark Side of the Moon.

On this night (As well as most every night on this tour), Waters performed Sheep from Pink Floyd's 1977 release Animals. As a note of caution, while Waters was certainly inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm, this album is not a substitute for the Cliff Notes if you're still struggling with 10th grade English. Of Pink Floyd's great seventies albums, Animals may be the most underrated and one of their finest. I was able to avoid seeing set lists from previous stops so the inclusion of Sheep was a complete surprise. Sheep is my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs ever released by Pink Floyd. I absolutely loved hearing that bass line louder than ever. During the song, Waters floated an inflatable pig over the crowd with various messages and personal opinions written on the animal. Even though he's been pulled this stunt since the Animals tour, the pig had no effect on my pleasure of hearing the song performed live. As a trivia note, Waters (And Pink Floyd) often lets the pig fly free during shows in open air theaters, not only to prove that pigs can fly but to jeopardize the safety of unsuspecting passenger jets flying in the immediate vicinity. A giant inflatable pig soaring over factories actually serves as the album cover.

Roger also played my other favorite Pink Floyd, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Waters' tribute to his friend and Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett. While I've seen Pink Floyd (Sans Waters) perform this song live, it was the very touching visual tribute to Syd Barrett that made this song so memorable. Upon viewing the images of decades old photographs, it was quite clear that Roger missed his dear old friend, who had passed away two years before the show after decades in seclusion. A very beautiful but sad song.

Some other notes from the show. When the band played Time, the sound of the clock pendulum was played by Waters deadening the strings on his bass. I'd always thought the sound was recorded from an actual clock. Quite interesting.

Also, I attended the show with Strange Calm, a good friend who worships the Floyd more than I ever dreamed possible. As we discussed the highs of the show while waiting for MARTA, we discovered our only low: We were cheated by the separation of Waters from Pink Floyd. By the time we achieved concert-attending age, Waters had already left the band. Each of us had only seen Floyd but it became quite clear from the Waters performance that a united Pink Floyd show would be mesmerizing. While the egos of Waters and David Gilmour led to the ultimate demise of Pink Floyd, each performer brings unique features to the band that were missing in their separation: Waters lyrics and concept development and Gilmour's music. They relied on each other to strengthen their respective weaknesses and produce an incredible combined talent. If only we were old enough to have witnessed this greatness.