Pigs on the Wing

I may never have seen Pink Floyd as a band, but after a nearly 19 year wait I can now say I have seen them all live.

The first half (or should that be three quarters) was as a callow 23-year old in February of 1988 at East Fremantle Oval. Extremely drunk and drugged up I saw the group in what was their first post Roger Waters world tour. I loved it but couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that he wasn't there. Fast forward to last Friday night when, fuelled by two mid-strength beers, I rounded out the quartet when I saw Roger Waters at Members Equity Stadium in Perth. And it was awesome, in the true definition of the word. The first part of the concert (which was my favourite part) was made up of songs from "The Wall", "Wish You Were Here", the (IMHO) under-rated "The Final Cut", "Amused To Death", "Animals" and the excellent "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" from "Saucerful of Secrets". Some reviews I had read leading up to the show criticized the strength of Rogers vocals, but we must have got him on a good day, because he just blew me away. The set finished with "Sheep" from "Animals" complete with inflatable pig. And yes (thank you bella) I was one of the sheep staring and taking poxy phone camera photos of it (see above).

After a 20 minute break (during which the full moon projected onto the screen behind the stage grew steadily larger) the band launched into the concert's title piece "Dark Side of the Moon". It was an excellent rendition. My only disappointment (again) was that it was not Pink Floyd the entity. Snowy White and Dave Kilmeister were superb on guitar, but couldn't quite carry off Dave Gilmour's vocal parts, which to me are a highlight of the album. Other than that I could have been sitting at home (in a really uncomfortable platic chair in the backyard crushed up againslt my mate Norm) listening to the album. Even P.P. Arnold's vocal on "The Great Gig in the Sky" was almost indistinguishable from the original.

After a rousing standing ovation, Waters then returned to introduce the band (interestingly, keyboard player Jon Carin toured in 1988 with Pink Floyd) and finish off with a collection of songs from "The Wall".

Members Equity Stadium may not have been the most comfortable place to see a concert and I'm never keen to sit through live music (no-one stood until the encore) but I'd gladly cough up $250 to do it all again.