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Roger Waters in Mumbai: Review
BY A CORRESPONDENT
February 19, 2006
Oh George! Oh George!
That Texas education must have fucked
you up when you were very small
Screamed Roger Waters during the
best concert Mumbai has ever witnessed
in many years time. Around 40,000 +
people turned out for the concert.
People of all ages were seen right
from the 1950’s to the 1990’s, the
show had already started before the
band even came on stage. The huge
backdrop behind was playing some
visual which looked like an
advertisement but it was part of the
show. Roger Waters and the band came
onstage, the crowd went totally
berserk .The show started off with “In
the flesh” and picked up with Shine on
You Crazy Diamond, slowly but surely
when they got to the chorus, and then
you realize how many people were there
40,000 odd people screaming the chorus
overpowering the sound system, in turn
which bought a smile on Roger Water’s
face. The 1st part of this magical
journey started with the song “The
Fletcher Memorial Home” from the 1983
album “The Final Cut” which was so
visual oriented that it almost looked
like a music video on a music channel.
The 2nd highlight and which
undoubtedly stole the show was the
song “leaving Beirut”. Words cannot
express how magical this entire
section was. It gave me goose bumps
during the show and its giving me
goose bumps even now as I’m typing
this story. This song is anti-war and
the way they portrayed it was another
magical moment. They started off this
song with solo vocals of one of the
backing female vocalist, and then
entered Ian Ritchie playing the
Saxophone player and played some
beautiful lines on his instrument.
Then Roger Waters steps in and sings,
the way this song was presented was
another magical moment of this show.
Every line of this song got applause,
but the one statement that really
brought a smile to my face was this
line from the song, Oh George! Oh
George! That Texas education must have
fucked you up when you were very
small”
Your browser may not support display
of this image.
When the crowd seen and heard this
statement, the applauding never
stopped from then onwards. In this
song every line had a meaning, every
sentence made sense and Roger Waters
and his set up made it look so
dramatic and an experience of a
lifetime.
The 3rd highlight of the show was a
huge Flying Ping Pig which was
inflated and was flying across the
grounds during the song Sheep and then
let the Pig go into the sky and fly.
After the break Roger Waters played
songs from the album “Dark side of the
moon” .Great Gig in the Sky was done
to perfection with some help of the
visual in the background. All the
clocked started to tick; the crowd
roared literally roared cause it was
time for another Pink Floyd hit
“Time”. Roger Waters played the
ticking of the clock of his bass
guitar which sounded awesome along
with the band. At the end of the 2nd
half Roger waters introduced the band
and then came the 4th highlight of the
day was when Roger Waters introduced
his son Harry Waters on Hammond that
was another magical moment for Roger
Waters himself.
With people screaming “WE WANT MORE ,
WE WANT MORE”, after 2 minutes Roger
Water comes back on stage ask the
crowd “Do you guys want more” the
crowd responds in chorus “YES”, Roger
Water replies “Then why dint you say
so” .
The encore started off with “The
happiest days of our lives” followed
by you guessed it “Another brick in
the wall II” in which again the crowd
overpowered Roger Waters and then the
songs everyone was waiting for .As
they say SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST , they
played Comfortably numb with the crowd
laterally going numb. The show ended,
the crowd wanted more but the 10:00 pm
deadline was nearing so Roger Waters
feds farewell to Mumbai. It was a
truly magical moment to see Roger
Waters LIVE, now I understand the
magic when people spoke to me about
the Pulse concert of Pink Floyd being
out of this world. Hope Roger Waters
and Dave Gilmour re-unite again as
Pink Floyd and spread even more magic
in Mumbai next time around.
The band members were :
Andy Fairweather Low – Guitar
Snowy White – Guitar
Graham Broad - Drums
Dave Kilminster – Guitar and Vocals
Jon Carin – Keyboards
Harry Waters – Hammond
Ian Ritchie - Saxophone
Katie Kissoon/ PP Arnold/ Carol Kenyon
back vocals
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