Dark Side of Edmonton

Tonight I went to see Roger Waters perform Dark Side of the Moon. How was it? Let's just say that I had goose bumps for ninety minutes straight.

I have never been a big Pink Floyd afficionado, but I have always appreciated their music as imaginative, intelligent, well-crafted, and just plain beautiful in an esoteric sense. And I've had a soft spot for Dark Side of the Moon ever since we did the Dark Side of Oz (you know, where you listen to Dark Side of the Moon and watch The Wizard of Oz simultaneously) in Regina a couple of years ago. I went into that experience as a total skeptic that anything was gonna happen, that it was all just stoner's folklore, but came out as a total believer. Anyways, I went to the concert tonight expecting to be entertained, and ended up being completely absolutely blown away.

First of all, the sound was perfect - I have never heard a concert that sounded so good. And it was not ear-splitting loud, but was still intense enough to make my sternum vibrate. Second, the on-stage ensemble was fantastically talented and did justice to the recorded version. All the musicians - especially the sax player - really did their parts well. Third, the visuals were downright outlandish - there were two projections of the band playing, a huge psychadelic projection, a flying inflatable graffitied pig, and a massive prism with a rotating laserish rainbow. What more could you want?

Well, how about an audience that was deeply, deeply emotionally affected by this whole spectacle? I was sitting in the nosebleed section, surrounded by the type of people who can't afford $150 a ticket. There were grown men there with mullets and baseball caps, lighters in the air, singing Wish you Were Here at the tops of their lungs, tears rolling down their faces. I had the fortune of having the great Waylon Jennings (not that one - the real one from Triton) near me during this event who also admitted to weeping a little. I have to say I was close at a couple moments as well.