Roger Waters is on his Us and Them Tour which he has taken all over the world and called in at the Echo Arena in Liverpool last night and gave an amazing show to his fans. There are some spoilers in this article!
He played songs from Dark Side of the Moon where his two female backing singers did a hauntingly good version of Great Gig in the Sky featuring some new harmonies which gave it a fresh re-make.
The Wall also featured playing classics like Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 and used some excellent projections onto the large screen behind the stage giving an interesting multimedia experience that the Pink Floyd and Roger are well known for.
The most spectacular moment came during the Animals segment where an amazing apparatus came down from the area ceiling which had been obscured for most of the show where a very large Battersea Power Station – from the Animals album cover – appeared out of nowhere.
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There were mechanically grown cooling stacks that appeared from the apparatus with smoke coming out the top and remote operated enormous screens that unfurled from the apparatus to become projection screens for the multimedia experience that ensued.
A highlight of the multimedia experience was Roger expressing his negative views about Donald Trump which excited the audience with a strange array of Donald graphics including attaching his head to a pig and dressing him up as a woman with lipstick on!
The band sounded great and on top form and featured some long standing musicians like Dave Kilminster on guitar and Jon Carin on keyboards. There was also Gus Seyffert on guitar also joined by Jonathan Wilson who did a great version of the classic Pink Floyd and Roger Waters sounds. Bo Koster also gave keyboard support and the bands token Scotsman Ian Ritchie gave saxophone support as he has for many years and gave Roger the opportunity to do his Scottish accent impression which he certainly seemed to enjoy!
Joey Waronker provided percussion and drum support and gave a fresh take on many songs seemingly enjoying some of the thundering and rolling drum fills on the likes of Dogs from the Animals album.
And last but not least, two young ladies gave a great performance on backing vocals, percussion and leading the local Liverpool children who joined Roger and the band on stage too – they were Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig who gave a fresh take on many vocals and had a very distinctive projection of themselves on the big screen behind the stage with negative images in monochrome, sparkly dresses blending in with the space scenes on the stage screen behind, often looking a bit scary too! But not as scary as when Roger had his pig hat on!!
The show will thunder on and play in Manchester tonight and ends up in Mexico in December 2018. Get tickets if you can it is an amazing multimedia experience!
P.S I think the way the Echo Arena get people inside so the show starts on time needs looking at! There was such a big queue outside half an hour before the show was due to start – the show had to be delayed half an hour so did not start at 8pm prompt! A small complaint!
