The Lunatic is on the Grass.....

Last Saturday (9/16/2006) I went to see Roger Waters at the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ. I went with a couple of friends of mine, and we went to the show right after an afternoon of disc golf at Sedgley Woods Disc Golf Course here in Philly. The word over the 'net about this tour was that the entire Dark Side of the Moon album would be played live, from first note to last note, and of course, we expected lots of Floyd songs. As we tailgated before the show, we altered our moods in preparation, and from the look of the other concert-goers in the parking lot, we weren't the only ones.

The show was awesome! We had managed to score a great spot on the lawn, looking down at the center of the stage, and though the band looked tiny from our perch, the humongous screens on the facade of the pavillion brought them to us in much better detail. More important than seeing the band was being able to hear the band, and the sound was great. There were many great moments, but the best was during the playing of "Sheep", and the well-known Pink Floyd inflatable pig made its appearance. (note: apologies for the less-than-stellar picture...it was taken with my cell phone....at night....but, it is an accurate visual description of how everything was looking to me that night!) The floating swine had many things written on it in black ink: Habeus corpus is still the right way was written on the right side; Kafka Rules okay on the left; and on the ass-end was written Impeach George Bush. Hey, the pig speaks the truth. The pig was floating and being pulled through the covered part of the pavillion by someone who had it on a tether. As the portly pink porcine was hovering its way over the crowd, it eventually was brought to those of us in the cheap seats. Once clear of the pavillion and out in the lawn area, it was let go. Yes, the pig was on the run. And as we looked up at it, floating away into the dark of night, spotlight on it, we saw what was written underneath: Free at Last! What we wondered was this: how could something so big be released so close to a major airport.? The Philadelphia Airport is only 5 miles from the concert venue, so we pondered: would there be a UFO (Unidentified Flying Oinker) sighting reported? Would planes flying by it have an announcement of "ladies and gentlemen, if you look out the right side of the plane you'll see a pig"? Would thousands of people lose money on bets they placed with the "when pigs fly" caveat in place? Would it reach a certain altitude and pop, sending bacon bits raining down on everything below it?

Early in the show they did a nice tribute of sorts to the recently deceased Syd Barrett. The four-song block of "Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun/Have a Cigar/Shine on You Crazy Diamond/Wish You Were Here" was accompanied by lots of film footage and pics of Syd and the early days of Pink Floyd.

The set list:

Set 1: In The Flesh / Mother / Set the Controls for The Heart of the Sun / Have a Cigar / Shine On You Crazy Diamond / Wish You Were Here / The Final Cut / Fletcher Memorial / Perfect Sense / Leaving Beriut (new song) / Sheep

(15 minute break)

Set 2: Entire Dark Side of the Moon (Speak To Me / Breathe / On The Run / Time / Breathe [reprise] / The Great Gig in the Sky / Money / Us and Them / Any Colour You Like / Brain Damage / Eclipse)

Encore: Vera Lynn / Bring the Boys Back Home / Comfortably Numb / Happiest Days of Our Lives / Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2

Post concert, we tailgated for about another hour to give time for the traffic to ease up. It was a great time.

I've never seen Pink Floyd live (the real Pink Floyd band...not the one that currently tours but would be better off called the The David Gilmour Band), but I've seen Roger Waters twice (the other time being in 1987 in Worcester, MA during his Radio K.A.O.S. tour), and both times the shows have been great. Can't wait for him to come around again.

So, an afternoon of disc golf and an evening seeing Roger Waters in concert on a clear, starry night. That, my friends, is The Finest Kind of Pork.