Roger Waters: Greatest show in Coachella history!

[Thief of Fire]

It's a subjective question, but I've been going since 2003 and Roger Waters was definitely up there as one of the best Coachella performances I've ever seen... easily my favorite of the weekend. Prince was great too but I'm more of a Floyd fan, and I was standing in the exact same spot on both nights and the people around me actually seemed more into Waters. The sound and special effects were amazing, as everyone is saying. The pig flew right over my head and just as they sang the word 'eclipsed' the rainbow light passed over me... I was sober but I didn't feel like it

Roger Waters was the first real rock concert I ever went to, back in 2000, so that's obviously one of my fondest concert memories but his Coachella set definitely surpassed that show... it was much better than I expected in every way

[mfnalaska]

This set was simply unbelievable. The surround sound was incredible (wow, GV) and the effects were what-the-fucktastic, but my favorite element was the crowd-- thousands and thousands of people singing along together, creating a kind of hum over the field. The show was sensory overload, for sure.

Waters was visibly emotional at the end. And that comes back to my favorite thing about Coachella: the crowd gives so much love to the artists that you can tell that it's kind of overwhelming for the bands sometimes. I'm thinking about Arcade Fire '05, Gogol Bordello '06, and most of the bands we saw this weekend. I love those moments when, as a music junkie, you feel like the respect is mutual, and you know they're thinking, "I have the greatest job on earth."

Thank you everybody for the most incredible weekend.

[SKAPUNKITA]

Yes it was!!!! It blew me away!!!! ...Unfortunately I had to leave mid Dark Side of the Moon, but I did catch a glimpse of the Wizard of Oz movie playing in one of the shaded tents next to the General Store

[sonnyboy11]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Roger's voice was in fine form tonight. I hadn't heard him do anything vocally since his performance at Live 8 (which was off the hook TERRIBLE) and I just assumed his voice was toast and everyone else but Roger would sing most of the time. WRONG! His performances in Mother and Another Brick In the Wall (pt. 2) were tops. For his age, his voice has held up fine when he really focuses and he did just that tonight.

Also, what an incredible bass player! Easily one of the top rock bass players ever. I can't believe how smooth and thumping he plays that thing. And I never knew the opening clock ticking in Time was Roger tamping perfectly on a hand-muted bass guitar. AMAZING!

[jgafs]

''home..home again. i like to be here when i can, and when i come home cold and tired, it's good to warm my bones beside the fire''...
Brilliantly put...

[whynotsmile99]

I was so exausted from the 3 hours of sleep I got since Thursday I literally started to hallucainate during water. Stunning and epic beyond words. Surround sound was magnificant.

Prince, Roger Waters, My Morning Jacket and Hot Chip made the festival for me this year

[wolverine]

Originally Posted by mfnalaska

This set was simply unbelievable. The surround sound was incredible (wow, GV)

That's Waters trademark. The Floyd were the first band to use quad sound in a live setting dating back to the late 60's. It's one of the reasons they are the foremost live rock pioneers of all time.

However I do agree, you have to give GV alot of credit for picking such a great closer and going along with all of Roger's ideas (which probably is a pain in the ass).

[Trudeau]

Originally Posted by mfnalaska

This set was simply unbelievable. The surround sound was incredible (wow, GV) and the effects were what-the-fucktastic, but my favorite element was the crowd-- thousands and thousands of people singing along together, creating a kind of hum over the field. The show was sensory overload, for sure.

Waters was visibly emotional at the end. And that comes back to my favorite thing about Coachella: the crowd gives so much love to the artists that you can tell that it's kind of overwhelming for the bands sometimes. I'm thinking about Arcade Fire '05, Gogol Bordello '06, and most of the bands we saw this weekend. I love those moments when, as a music junkie, you feel like the respect is mutual, and you know they're thinking, "I have the greatest job on earth."

Thank you everybody for the most incredible weekend.

Well put.

[evilmushroompie]

I felt as if I was taken to the edge of death and suddenly brought back, twice!

[corbo]

roger waters was so fucking awesome. fireworks, flying pig, explisions, the dark side of the moon! WOW WOW WOW!!

[thebattleofphoenix]

set list?

[Blinken]

YES! This show was fucking unreal.

[sonnyboy11]

Does anyone have a Youtube clip of Lili Haydn's violin solo at the first break in Comfortably Numb? I'd sure appreciate it. I had to rub my eyes at first to truly believe she was pulling that off on a violin. At the end of the solo, the people around me erupted in cheers. I am getting a little goosepimply even thinking about it. So much emotion. Who would've thought that song could seem fresh to me after all this time?

Thanks again GV!

[shaggyduck]

Honestly, even without considering that Dark Side of the Moon is like 3 decades old, this show was incredible. I don't understand how people can be hating on it.

Roger Waters was an extremely entertaining head liner. I had a blast.

[woogie846]

Roger Waters had the best sound quality I think I've ever heard.

That violinist was amazing!

[reijk]

Comfortably Numb had me in tears.

[sonnyboy11]

Originally Posted by woogie846

That violinist was amazing!

Right? Am I right that the place went crazy when she nailed that first solo in Comfortably Numb?? DAMN! What a buzz! I seriously forgot all about David Gilmour for a minute. I mean, props to all the players Roger had with him for this show but that violinist (Lili Haydn) is out of this world great!

[whynotsmile99]

i was walking to the Sahara during Comfortably Numb. did he do the disco ball thing?

[anonimouse]

Originally Posted by JustSteve

my motto for coachella '08? Coachella: You had to be there...

well put. it was a very different year

[wolverine]

Originally Posted by shaggyduck

Honestly, even without considering that Dark Side of the Moon is like 3 decades old, this show was incredible. I don't understand how people can be hating on it.

Roger Waters was an extremely entertaining head liner. I had a blast.

I think it's just EDM only types who are a bit miffed they missed it. I mean "On The Run".......wow.

[thepoetblue]

Roger Waters' performance at Coachella this year is my personal fave performance I've seen in the 5 years I've attended. It was purely powerful, purely emotional, purely inspiring for me. The music of Pink Floyd is probably, simply put, the most important music in my life. I've avoided seeing Waters or the Gilmour "Pink Floyd" for a variety of reasons. And I'm glad I did - this one performance was everything I needed to see.

Coachella definitely felt different in a lot of ways this year. But I consider it it to be a constantly changing beast. And it has always delivered for me, regardless of those changes and whether or not I liked them at first.

Thank you Goldenvoice for Roger Waters and for another amazing Coachella.

[Pixiessp]

Originally Posted by ecapataz

I was put to sleep by that druggie mumbling on stage
so we went over to Mojave to see Murs which was much better entertainment.

Portishead gets credit for best Coachella performance ever.

i second that(unless someone already did) in that case I agree.

[Coachellagirl]

I didn't go to the concert on Sunday (I know I missed out). But my brother and friends did. I guess the pig broke away from the strings and the pig floated away. I was just watching the news and they are offering a $10,000 reward and 4 Coachella tickets every year for life in return of the pig!!! I need to find that pig!!

[wolverine]

Originally Posted by thepoetblue

Roger Waters' performance at Coachella this year is my personal fave performance I've seen in the 5 years I've attended.

amazing.

[sonnyboy11]

Originally Posted by reijk

Comfortably Numb had me in tears.

Man, I am glad to hear others say this. I still can't get over it. Maybe I never will. Shiat I just got another big chill up my spine. wtf??

[Young blood]

Originally Posted by Coachellagirl

I didn't go to the concert on Sunday (I know I missed out). But my brother and friends did. I guess the pig broke away from the strings and the pig floated away. I was just watching the news and they are offering a $10,000 reward and 4 Coachella tickets every year for life in return of the pig!!! I need to find that pig!!

Im going to be pissed if they dont have the pig here in denver.....

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/04/...lla-pig-f.html
Graffiti artist Slick puts finishing touches on Roger Waters' inflatable pig backstage at Coachella. There's a $10,000 reward for the return of the pig, which was released during Roger Waters' performance.

INDIO, California -- Concert promoters are offering a $10,000 reward and four lifetime passes to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival for the safe return of a giant inflatable pig that's gone missing.

The spray-painted pig balloon was released during Roger Waters' performance Sunday at the festival. The school-bus-size prop emerged during "Pigs," a song from Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals.

"A pig got loose last night," said Bill Fold, one of the festival's producers, on Monday. "We really like him and want him back.... It's a very emotional time for us."

The pig was covered with political graffiti: "Don't be led to the slaughter," read one slogan. "Fear builds walls," read another. A cartoon Uncle Sam painted on the pig held two bloody cleavers, and the porker's belly read "Obama," with a checked ballot box alongside, according to the Associated Press.

Waters brought the three-day Coachella festival to a close Sunday with two sets, during which he played the Pink Floyd classic Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.

If you have any knowledge of the whereabouts of the graffiti-covered piggie, send an e-mail to lostpig@coachella.com.

[Psilo]

This is my review on it,
gokingsgo I used your pics, hope you dont mind.


Anyone who didn't like the set,
Or thinks seeing Justice is better than seeing the man behind Pink Floyd,
is a music amateur and forever will suck at life.
(lol)



Thinking back over the years on how many music events I've attended within every genre of music
to all of the artists, DJ's, and bands I've seen that I've hyped afterwards or given credit for being "the best",
nothing could have ever prepared me for the experience that I was able to be around for last night.

Where does someone begin when telling a story of how one single event hit them so hard and emotionally that it literally changed their life simply for being at that certain place in time?

I know, without a doubt, that this was the most legendary music event I will ever experience in my life, and I would go so far as to possibly say it was the best set ever performed in the history of recorded music up to this point.

This event was 30 years in the making.



I'll start with the overall scenario: 50,000 people, 80 acres of open land all with clear view to the main stage, the best and most technologically advanced sound systems and lighting equipment ever invented and that were definitely used for the first time during this set, anywhere on Earth. This set goes way, way beyond the worshipping or appraise of a single artist/group (Pink Floyd), this set was a mindblowing achievement and major step up within the entire world of Audio/Visual graphic design.

They were controlling the entire atmosphere around us. It felt like the entire biosphere was somehow electrically-charged, and the aspects of sound and light waves were all being controlled and manipulated at once depending on the situation occurring at that moment. Everything was done perfect. The graphic artists who worked on the 3 hour customized visuals on the 500x'-300x' ft. screen were able to come up with images that were meaningful, vibrant, and unique, yet still retaining an classic "Pink Floyd / 70's" type of appeal even though they had been now perceived on equipment of the newest technology.

The first half of the show contained songs from The Wall, Wish You Were Here and Animals, among others, as well as including a fully new song by Waters telling a story about an oppressed family in Beirut from the past, which ends with a few lines that incited a feeling of the biggest despise and disappointment towards our leader than has ever been felt collectively at the same time by a group this big. "Are these the people that we should bomb // Are we so sure they mean us harm // Is this our pleasure, punishment or crime // Is this a mountain that we really want to climb // The road is hard, hard and long, Put down that two by four // This man would never turn you from his door // Oh George! Oh George! // That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small.


The song "Pigs" was the highlight of the first half of the show. During this song, an extremely large balloon in the form of a pig (containing a bunch of rebellion and/or non-descript words) was launched from one corner and led through the crowd until it had reached all corners. At the end of the song, right at the peak of the final chorus, the pig's ropes were cut and the helium-filled, baseball-diamond sized object floated into space above the heads of everyone at the park, able to be seen for many minutes following. Somewhere out there in space right now, is a big floating pig.










After the first half cut out, the most intense intermission ever took place. The lights shut out and ambient artificial chirping noises and LSD-inspired auditory hallucinations were being injected into the air around us, moving at different frequencies and pitches, creating an eerie and dark atmosphere. A picture of the Moon went up the main screen. Everyone knew what was coming. But no one would have ever thought the show could get any better than it had already been up to this point.






The 2nd half began and "Dark Side of the Moon" began playing in its entirety. Within seconds of the first lyrics coming out of Waters' mouth, people began to fully realize the power of where we all were at that time. There was truly a sense that the last two decades (of Pink Floyd not playing together) had "all lead up to this point", for both the younger and older generations of this time in rock music as a whole, and irregardless of the other members of the original Pink Floyd not around. It was as if the culmination of millions and millions of previous individual experiences, from people both alive and dead, and their relationship with this Greatest Rock Album of all time, were all being built up hidden through time, and finally unleashed in an explosion on the crowd who were there that night.

The second song, On The Run, which is the instrumental ambient soundscape track, ended with an explosion on stage that I still don't understand as being physically possible. The song peaked with an explosion "in the screen" (as in, it was computerized design), but as it exploded, everyone in the audience felt the physical push of an energy field hitting them. And I mean that literally - they somehow altered the density of the molecules around us to simulate being pushed backwards from a specific focal point. Coachella is obviously at the forefront of technology and there is no doubt in my head that this single set was a multi-million dollar operation to complete.

After Dark Side, he encored with "Another Brick In The Wall", which obviously blew the minds of everyone there, all chanting the same long-established phrase of the song. And the final song of the night was a hugely extended version of Comfortably Numb, which was so musically fine tuned, perfect, and overwhelming that I froze up and could no longer move one single muscle. I stood there and looked ahead at the stage with my jaw open, staring at the intense visuals mixed, unable to process one single real thought while music of this intensity was playing on this big of a scale around me.






The end of the song struck and I was left on my ass, not knowing how to react to the feeling of having my entire psyche and range of emotions having been ripped apart from inside me and put back together within the span of 3 hours. This wasn't a show dedicated to Roger Waters, or even Pink Floyd in general. This show was presented for, and presented by, the entire people of our generation and it will be talked about even decades from now as a legendary and historical performance in all of modern music.

I can almost say even if I was to never to go to another concert again, it wouldn't matter to me, because that single experience has left me asking myself "What left is there to do?".

[sonnyboy11]

Originally Posted by Coachellagirl

I didn't go to the concert on Sunday (I know I missed out). But my brother and friends did. I guess the pig broke away from the strings and the pig floated away. I was just watching the news and they are offering a $10,000 reward and 4 Coachella tickets every year for life in return of the pig!!! I need to find that pig!!

"That's my pig!"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/...a_roger_waters

[deadhead2479]

I felt like I was in an effing forest or jungle during the intermission; sitting underneath the fog, the chirping, the lights, it was pretty magical. Best live experience of my life, the best musical performance has to go to Portishead tho.

[JustSteve]

Originally Posted by Psilo

the best and most technologically advanced sound systems and lighting equipment ever invented and that were definitely used for the first time during this set, anywhere on Earth.

not so sure about the accuracy on that.

Originally Posted by Psilo

And I mean that literally - they somehow altered the density of the molecules around us to simulate being pushed backwards from a specific focal point.

oooookay.