A year back , after Deep Purple concert there was all sort of news floating around in the air , ’n I had brushed aside this news of Floyd, touring Blore, as another one of those rumours.But exactly a year later, the biggest reality show did happen at Palace Grounds. I must admit that this concert had the combined electrifying effects of both Deep Purple ’n Bryan Adams show both put together ’n is one of the best I ’ve seen so far (Shh..I missed Scorpions tho’).With those psychedellic images at the back of my mind of Floyd concert videos in Purple Haze, I was really looking fwd eagerly as to how can this dream spectacle really match my imaginations.
Infact I may be technically wrong in calling time ’n again as Pink Floyd but as the saying goes ’’ U can take Waters out of P.Floyd, but cant take Floyd out of Waters’’. So may be u can always consider it as Waters whenever I say PF in my revu here.Infact Waters performed some songs which r Floyd classics ’n not his own .
Lemme , start from the pre-concert buildup to the whole event. The promotion (infact it needed none, but still) gigs for this concert especially for the last week had reached a fervent pitch with all pubs burying all sort of music paving way for Floyd music ’n finally culminating at the Proof on the eve of the concert night with just short of a virtual stampede that night ’n also breaking all the timing curfews.
Anyway moving onto the concert, i must admit that Floyd isnt just a name to be associated with music , but its an experience of sorts, its an experience of pure esctasy , an experience to feel the difference.Its a name that defined the unique blend of music ’n words ’’Pyschedallia’’ and ’’Hypnosis’’ the other day.Eventho’ the typical visual effects were limted to the astral blazing images on the huge background screen , it fell short devoid of lazers etc of what we had all seen in the videos but who cares , it ultimately boils down to adrenaline pumping full bodied music of floyd right? ’n there was no compromise on this front atleast as sound effects was simply mindblowing ’n amazing. The 360 degree quadraphonic crystal clear boomarang sound effects had me totally zapped , ’n perfectly enhanced those reverbrating special effects of helicopters , madman laughing, clinkering of coins, dog barking etc etc.Add to this , the cool exuberant crowd of 30000 knowledgable fans (it doesnt matter even if the crowd is just 100, but being knowledgable is more imp)the whole grounds was pounding with pulsating energy.Eventho’ the tickets were priced a bit higher this time, it was worth every penny , afterall its once in a lifetime (hope not)concert, ’n Britney Spears concerts in US may be much costlier if take into account the price conversion factor.
Concentrating importantly on the enigma Waters , he was such a cool composed guy on the stage ’n he did his smokey vocals ’n guitar do all the talking.Infact his first address to the crowd came only after 1.5 hrs ’n a full speech only at the end of the 3 hours concert.He needed none of those gimmicks of evoking a response from the crowd like asking them to sing along or putting the hands in the air or any such showmanship, crowd just responsed to his pure bloody music.He belted out all those signature tunes which needs no mention like Amused to death, time, breathe, Money, Mother, ...Dock, Return to Machine, Dogs, Shine of the craaaazzzy diamod, animals, set the controls for the heart of the sun, Pigs on the wing, Perfect sense, Wish u were here.But the biggest surprise was his all time college classics ’’Another Brick on the wall’’ which I had expected to be the last track of the concert , but was played initially as the second song ’n u can expect the crowd going wild over this song(Infact my throat has gone for a toss with that dust ’n screamings).Eventho’ the final Floyd song of the concert was the all time great non-Waterish ’’Comfortably numb’’ , the final song was his new private ballad ’n totally uncharecteristic Floydish song ’’Flickering Flame’’ at the end.
This concert coincided with the some new year festival called Ugadi ’n there was one interesting piece of poem in TOI which I wud like to reproduce here:(pls spare me )
the record companies declared rock is dead
so they gave us syrupy pop
they gave us rap
they gave us gooey boybands
then girlbands
then teenage popstars
we wept
we went to pubs ’n begged retro they played hotel california
they played santana
they eveb played remixed abba
we begged for mercy
we went down on our knees ’n prayed to the gr8 lord of skies
give us music, Full-bodied
no compromises
the lord listened ’n said
’’this ugadi , u ’ll be blessed’’
Hey Roger Waters, Blue Skies for u .Always
This concert indeed has set a new standards here which maybe dififcult to be matched in near future.