Jones Beach, Long Island, New York Review 9/15/06
How special is a rainbow at night?
A rare occurrence indeed, but a fitting one that welcomed Roger Waters and company on this very wet, but enchanted evening.
Traversing pond-like puddles and horizontal rain the multitude of fans were treated to this meteorological unicorn upon entering the Jones Beach parking lot. This was the first of many things this evening to leave me in a state of awe. What impressed me was that no one was complaining about the weather or even thinking about leaving. When the lightning crashed folks just turned their car CD players louder and opened another beer. At around 8:30 when the rain had slowed and late arriving fans got settled Roger took the stage to perform a stellar first half of some truly incredible music aided by his famous circle screen of marvelous images. Opening with The Wall?s, ?In The Flesh? Roger greeted and outed his audience to their enthusiastic delight. ?Mother? was next and the comforting sing-song chorus seemed to blanket everyone protecting them from the threatening elements. Roger?s heartfelt tribute to Syd Barrett came in the form of, ?Shine On You Crazy Diamond? and ?Wish You Were Here?. This was extremely moving and played in front of a montage of clips warmly remembering our recently departed genius. The Final Cut was represented with the beautiful, ?Southampton Dock? and ?The Fletcher Memorial Home? and these songs along with, ?Perfect Sense parts 1 and 2 helped to ease into the tricky ?political? part of the show. ?Leaving Beirut? a new song, was assisted on screen with a comic book recreation of a personal event that inspired Roger and it?s lyrics which were visible from the upper seats made the audience think as well about our government?s policies abroad. ?Sheep? closed the first half but not before it saw Roger taking one last shot at our faltering leadership. An inflatable pig was brought out and let into the air with all sorts of Democratic slogans and warnings spray painted on it, complete with an ?Impeach Bush? tattoo on the animal?s backside. After a fifteen minute intermission Roger came back on and gave us, ?The Dark Side of the Moon? in its entirety. Do I have to say anymore? Those lucky enough to be there felt the blessing.
The evenings encore was a spectacular 1,2,3,4 punch of, ?The Happiest Days of Our Lives?, ?Another Brick In The Wall (Pt 2)?, ?Vera?, ?Bring the Boys Back Home? and ?Comfortably Numb?. After nearly three hours of unforgettable sights and sounds the show was over and it was, ?time to goooooo? but while sitting in the parking lot waiting for traffic to thin, everybody got a chance to reflect back on what a truly rare evening this was. From the rainbow to the lightning to the pig flying high, we all received the message clear?.from the stage and from above.
- Matt Parish
