Roger Waters ...14/09

I'm gonna nick my sons Glasto waterproof onesie just in case not sure how much cover the seats get.

From Wembley Stadium web site at http://www.wembleystadium.com/...Waters/The-Wall-Live - there is no roof to close. 

Folks are asking if they can take umbrellas and being told - no. 

Scott

...and you thought there were stupid questions on this forum?   

Maybe the water proofs are not needed then?

yeah just read, does not completely close ....but looks like from mid afternoon onwards, the weather is in our favour

We are in the first tier seats. I would hope they are under cover.

Have a great time guys, the o2 god was amazing and I was lucky enough to pick the show that Gilmour turned up for - many a grown man was shedding a tear!

Gary

Off to see the show in Manchester on Monday, so looking forward to hearing your reviews.

Regards

Nic

Have fun guys, I saw the show last summer in Werchter (Belgium) and it was absolutely awesome!

Regards,

Michel

Lucky you Gary I went the night after.......still a great night though

Don't visit Cymbiosis Saturday as they are closed so they can all go to Wembley.

Too right Howard 

Phil, Wayne and I have "Pitch Standing" tickets and I have to say that driving back from Heathrow last night, I was thinking not good weather-wise, as the visibility on the M25 was just awful!! Anyway the forecast looks better for later......... I hope!

KR

Peter 

No body else got back to a computer yet? Great show, crap venue and rail service organisation. Just got in 3 bloody hours it's taken.

Anyway the show was super the projections were stunning, some subtle musical re-workings/additions adding to the well know piece.

We had a great view from the first level seating directly in front of the stage, as with O2 lego people on stage, but with the projections it was like being at the cinema. Another plus was it stayed dry.

Although I'd seen football there, I'd never been to a gig at the New Wembley. It's still a bit crap for this purpose, but infinitely better than the old Wembley, which was a toilet and possessed of some of the worst acoustics in the world.

I thought it was interesting how small Waters made the stadium seem - it was almost intimate! Waters is a master of these large scale events and The Wall's inbuilt "bigness"brings out the inventiveness in the former Floydian and his team.

I was at the 2011 London shows but I actually thought this - the Second Coming of Fat Dave and Pig Farmer Nick excepted - was better. The visuals were updated, and, on this larger scale, worked better. The sound was stunning - the best I've heard in a stadium (and indeed, almost anywhere).

Kevin whereabouts were you? 

We were about central great view:-

Block 103, row 10. So very near the pitch and to the right of where you were. Have to say we were very pleased with our seats.

Thus:

Have to agree twitch you Kevin,  and to those of you going tomorrow you won't be disappointed,

Enjoyed the show but....did no one else not notice the out of synch close up video of Roger at the ends of the wall. Whilst some of these projections were clearly live feeds some looked prerecorded from another concert.

In 1977, during the Animals tour, Roger comes to realise the rock music doesn’t really work in a football stadium and so he created The Wall to illustrate this.

In 1981 I saw The Wall at Earls Court and was spellbound. I’d been going to gigs for a couple of years by then but they were for the most part in 2,000 to 4,000 seat venues with a band on stage some lights and that was it – that was all you needed. The Wall at Earls Court worked for me because even though the venue was much bigger and half the show was performed behind the Wall there was enough other stuff happening to keep interest levels up. The memory of Dave Gilmour on top of the Wall during Comfortably Numb being a highlight I still remember – so not all about the effects.

Fast forward to 2013 and here we are to see The Wall MK2 in … a football stadium. Hmm. Our seats were in the front row of block 217 so a little bit left of BigH but on the next level up – and consequently much further back, possibly in Neasden. Initially I thought the view was going to be better than I’d anticipated and to be fair it wasn’t blocked by anything. But the stage was so far away and for most of the time too dark to actually see anything meaningful. it was so dark that I actually had to point out to my other half that the Wall was still being built during the first half. So then you have to resort to just watching the screens and at that point I agree with BigH – it’s just like the cinema. So why then not just have live feeds to cinemas like they do with Opera ? It would be cheaper (for us fans) and more comfortable and I wouldn’t have to spend half the day travelling to and from the cinema. Also I agree with John3 that the synching of video with audio was “out” for much of the show as well – I think it improved in the second half but when the kids were doing their bit in Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) it was like they were half a bar ahead of the music – this could well be because we were so far back and further forward it may not have been an issue.

So for me this didn’t work as well as the 81 shows but I concede that this was not the case for others and I suspect that position in the stadium would have had a large impact on this. This was similar to The Who at the O2 in that I just didn’t feel engaged.

In 1977, during the Animals tour, Roger comes to realise the rock music doesn’t really work in a football stadium and so he created The Wall to illustrate this … and then proves the point once again 35 years later by staging it in a football stadium. Amen.

Scott

PS.

People with loud enough voices to overcome the sound system at a rock concert and who have to chat to their partners throughout the show. Get them up against the Wall.

People on upper levels who throw beer down on top of those on lower levels cos it’s a hoot. Get them up against the Wall.

I was in block 109 - didn't think the audio was out of sync but rather a simple difference between speed of light and speed of sound.  300 million metres/sec for light vs 330 metres/sec for sound yields just under half a second lag across a football pitch, so I expect they were in sync if you were stood at the front...

Great concert but our experience was slightly marred by the lights under the overhang of the next tier, which weren't dimmed, and the insistence of a rather drunk Welsh chap on singing along with all the words about a bar ahead almost in an effort to demonstrate that he knew what was coming next - now he was definitely out of sync...

Phil

I figured that was what was going on as well Phil but however you look at it the effect was the same for where we were sitting namely video out of sync with audio. It demonstrates once again that football stadiums are not great places for concerts if you are at the back. BTW I have been to plenty of concerts at the old stadium in my younger days with my back to the mixing desk and it was perfectly fine.

Scott

To me this was not just a syncing issue. The point I made in my earlier post is that some of the video close ups of Roger did not look live but appeared to be a recording of a completely different concert. Syncing problems would not explain the changing beard growth in different shots! (as someone next to me noticed).

Does it matter?

"People with loud enough voices to overcome the sound system at a rock concert and who have to chat to their partners throughout the show. Get them up against the Wall"

+1

Richard

The Wall at Earls Court in 81 was my first ever gig, fifth row, and nothing could have prepared me for it.  I never imagined gigs were so loud - I physically shook with excitement for the first 5 mins!

Anyway, Wembley was the fourth time I've seen the Waters version.  In my belief that you can always get in, and with the rain was holding off, I decided at 6.35 to go!  An hour later £40 quid lighter I was in.  With all things Floyd I try to get fairly central - ended up a bit to the left of the mixing desk so probably near the half way line.

Despite being familiar with the show in more 'intimate' venues, I felt this was in many ways better.  It was an awesome spectacle.  To have most of your field of vision taken up with stunning ultra sharp visuals is incredible, it somehow felt 'right' from where I was, though I fully appreciate the different experience from the back.  The sound was stunning, best I've ever heard outdoors, though would have loved it to be louder (Birmingham 2 years ago was a lot louder).  Anyway, the Telegraph called it a pulverising show, and from where I was stood, I couldn't agree more.

Triumph of production over emotion?  No way.  Lots of spine tingle moments (esp C Numb) and the visuals / narrative are still guaranteed to bring a tear to my eye - very few gigs have ever done this to me.  Makes it all the more annoying when some goon near you tries to drown out the band.  Rog used to stop the show and berate the culprits (or gob on them) - but I guess that would have played havoc with the click track!  

Speaking of which, Lip sync.  The visuals that are superimposed over the animation are from previous gigs, whereas the visuals at the sides are live.  

I absolutely loved it.  That said, I also Ioved one of the four unknown bands I saw the night before at The Water Rats, and their production budget was approx $59m less than Our Rog.

Mark