Rating: 
Summary: The Concert I Missed
Review: I really wanted to go to this concert when Roger Waters was touring America a few years back, but the logistics made the trip impossible at the time. Well, here it is in all it's glory. The band is remarkable and the DVD quality played over a really good stereo brings the whole experience to life. Especially powerful were the excerpts from AMUSED TO DEATH and it was great to hear SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN from the old-old Pink Floyd days. The abreviated version of SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND serves as a nice tribute to Sid Barret. Another highlight of this DVD is the behind the scenes video showing the involved process leading up to the staging of this impressive tour. Highly recommended to fans of Pink Floyd and Roger Water's solo career.
Rating:
Summary: Among the best concert videos
Review: Well done! Sound, performance, and musical selection all excellent and among the best concert DVD's on the market. First rate band assembled by Waters. I'm not a huge "Floyd" fan, and I have a short fuse for psychedelia and other such theatrical nonsense so I was almost surprised to find this concert (and the DVD format) excellent across the board. My personal highlights: "Mother" and "Southampton Dock". I don't always agree with Waters' predictable and politically pedestrian stabs, but he is a genius mixing material and mood. This DVD reminded me again of the overlooked brilliance of "The Final Cut".
Rating:
Summary: GREAT DVD, Great concert, Great Quality, Legendary Music!!!
Review: In The Flesh is a world tour Roger Waters will be finishing this June, and while he was visiting the states, he releases a double cd and a DVD. Both are divided in an all Floyd half, and the other one is a half-floyd, half solo career and a new song. Here are the pros and cons of In The Flesh DVD: Pros: - I actually found the DVD at a cheaper price than the cds. - The Band (Snowy White, Doyle Braham II, Fairweather Low, The 3 singing chicks....) are awesome throughout. - The sound on the DVD and on the tour is tremendous, and I was glad that acute attention was paid to every little sound effect from the albums. - Once you 'get over' the fact that there's no dave (guitar and vocals), no Rick and no Nick, you can really appreciate what these talented group of musicians are doing. - The concert starts off with a bang with 'In The Flesh'. A song which I always thought would be the best concert opener. Followed by a tight rendition of 'Happiest Days Of Our Lives' and 'Another Brick In The Wall Part 2'. This section along with 'Mother' almost made me cry. 'Happiest Days' is great and Waters adds even the slightest sound effects from the original songs (Hey you, stand still laddy). ABITW 2 is different, hearing the 3 women sing we don't need no education was a shock.
But once you get into Waters gimmick of having them as back-up vocals so as his voice wont sound as weak, you find they actually add to a lot to the songs. - Next is a mellow and heartfelt perfomance of 'Mother'. Roger actually plays the guitar in this one. Dave's lyrics (mother) are done by the three singing chicks, this actually feels at home since mother is a female character. Roger sings with a lot of emotion IMO on this track, beautiful end to 'The Wall' Section. In my opinion, adding 'Mother; was a very good choice. - Next off are 2 songs from 'The Final Cut': 'Get Your Filthy Hands off my desert' and 'Southhampton Dock'. Both are played and delivered beautifully but very short. 'Southhampton Dock' is particularly beauitiful. But all in all, a short section. - This is followed by 2 songs from 'Animals': 'Pigs on the wing Part 1' and 'Dogs'. 'Pigs on the wing 1' is short and sweet, followed by 'Dogs', now THAT was a gutsy move by Roger. 'Dogs' is cut down to size and some of the notes are changed, and Dave's lyrics are sung by the keybordist/guitarist (a very talented guy with a good voice), I can't remeber his name as of now, and he does a good job, but still, one can't help miss Dave's voice. Roger ends with his section of the lyrics. All in all, this was a tight and stupendous number, I was really glad he added this one on his tour. - This is followed by three songs from 'Wish You Were Here': 'Welcome To The Machine' was another very, very gutsy move on Roger's part. He sings it nicely, and they play it beautifully, again I was VERY happy he added this one along with Dogs, two songs I would have loved to see on PULSE. - Wish You Were Here is sung by Waters. I'm actually glad he chose to sing it himself, it's different but it still feels heartfelt. Next is 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' which is all over the place, the sections are shifted but still, it IS a great song and feartures IMO Snowy White's best guitar work. - To top the first section off we have 'Set the controls for the heart of the sun'. This old floyd classic gets a welcome R&B groove and a very bluesy sax solo (yes, sax solo) in the middle. I think this actually improves on the original, even though I still miss the original bass lines and taken as individuals, they both seem like 2 different songs. I still like the original though. - The second section starts off with a bang: 3 songs from Dark Side. 'Breathe' is surprisingly waterless bocally, so is 'Money'. But it was very brave of him to sing the first part of 'Time', when I heard 'Ticking away, the moments...' delivered by Waters, it sent shivers up my spine. This section is actually pretty tight and well played, Breathe is ok, Time is very well played (or immitated if you wish), but Money gets into this very welcome jamming section that gets the audience more interested and Waters' bass is better than in the rest of the concert. - This introduces us to 5 selections from Waters solo years. First off is 'Every Strangers Eyes' from 'Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking', it is sung very emotionally and the lyrics are so beautiful, it perfectly goes into 'Perfect Sense 1 & 2'. - Next off are 4 selections from Waters amazing 'Amused to Death' solo album. First off is 'Perfect Sense 1&2' that song seemed perfect for a live gig, and man oh man does it work. It really gets the crowd going and it's a real energy-charged section because it is followed with 'The Bravery of being out of Range' a real heavy song that is played and sung with a lot of energy. - This adrenaline infused section prepares the audience to withstand two mellow but beautiful songs. First off is 'It's a Miracle', if it didn't have such beautiful lyrics and Roger's emotion-driven voice, it would have ruined the tempo of the concert so far, but it doesn't. Next off is 'Amused to death' a gem from that album that is sung flawlessly by Waters and the female backup vocalists. Beautiful. - This is closely followed by the orgasmic section of Dark Side: 'Brain Damage'/'Eclipse'. This really builds in energy and explodes. By this point you can see the band is really into it and so is the audience. - This leads to 'Comfortably Numb'. David's part (Pink) is sung by Doyle Braham II. He does a good job but still... Waters' part (Doctor) is delivered perfectly and with amazing energy and precision. The solos of course don't compare and that's good because these guys don't seem to want to immitate Dave, but do their own stuff with the notes. Even though they needed two guitars to complete Dave's sound.
* Doesn't compare to the CN on PULSE, but again we 'SHOULDN'T' compare. - To top it all off is a new song called 'Each Small Candle'. The first verse is a poem written by a torture victim. Really heartfelt lyrics delivered beautifully by Waters. Really is a ray of hope in contrast to Water's other gloomy lyrics. I'm glad he introduces us to this song on this tour. - By the end you get the sense that Waters isn't such a [jerk] after all. By watching the concert and him closely as well as the 20+ min. documentary you really get the idea that if Dave, Rick and Nick would get off their [rears] and propose something theyre might be a remote chace (2 or maybe 3/10 of a chance) that they might do something together. - Great image quality and the 20+ min. doc. is a welcome special feature, so are the stills and the band biographies. Did I mention the sound is awesome. Cons: - Why those two short songs in representation of 'The Final Cut'. Why not two of those 3+ min. masterpieces like 'Fletcher Memorial', 'The Final Cut', 'One of the Few', 'The Gunners Dream' or 'Not Now John' (now that would have been something!). - Why in the hell not play 'Pigs on the wing' extended 8-track version. I mean he had Snowy White, he was right there!!!
The extended version is actually parts 1 & 2 united by a bridge solo played by snowy white, all in all a fuller song, that just aches to be played live. - Why only 'Every Strangers Eyes' from 'Pros & Cons', that album had so many good songs on it. Would have preffered 'Pros & Cons of Hitchhinking', 'Go Fishing', 'Sexual Revolution' among others. - No Radio KAOS?? - Roger doesn't sing as much as we want him to, we know that he's got a weak voice by now, but still... - Guitar notes and bass lines are changed here and there, I don't really know if this is a con, but there's gonna be the usual guy that says "hey he missed some notes on 'Dogs'". Be open-minded, we don't want the same song, that's why we have the original album. Changes for live performances are 'almost always' welcome. All in all... Well worth owning. Is it as good as PULSE (the video, images withstanding)? Well no, not as, but pretty close.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable!
Review: I truly don't know what to say about this DVD. The only word that comes to mind is - AWESOME, and the only thing better than buying this DVD would have been to be at this concert. If you love PF - buy this DVD. You will not regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Good job
Review: Buy it, it has good quality video and it was well recorded in 5.1
Good music too.
Rating:
Summary: Pefect Show Captured on DVD
Review: On stage Roger was joined by Doyle Barmhall II (guitar & vocals), Graham Broad (drums), Jon Carin (keyboards, lap steel, programming, guitar & vocals), Andy Fairweather Low (guitar, bass & vocals), Katie Kissoon (vocals), Susannah Melvoin (vocals), P.P. Arnold (vocals), Andy Wallace (Hammond, keyboards) and Snowy White (guitar). The saxophone solos on the tracks are played, in each town, by different people, because they couldn't/wouldn't afford a saxophone player for the whole tour just for one performance. The DVD starts with In The Flesh , Happiest Days of Out Lives, Another Brick in the Wall (part 2) and Mother (brought tears into my eyes!), all taken from The Wall.
The Final Cut album is represented by the lovely acoustic medley of Get Your Filthy Hands of My Desert and Southampton Dock.The Animals album is the next to be visited. It's a shame that Pigs on the Wing (part 1) is not played with the guitar bridge and flowing into Pigs on the Wing (part 2). It seemed appropriate to play it that way with Snowy on stage, but unfortunately only the regular first half is played. What comes next easily makes up for this minor letdown; a full version of Dogs, amazingly well played and with great guest vocals by Jon Carin. A highlight of the album! Next up is a selection from Wish You Were Here. After a fine version of Welcome To The Machine, featuring massive backing vocals, we get the re-arranged version of the title track Wish You Were Here as Waters also used to play it live during the eighties, again with lots of backing vocals. A nice, fresh version of a beautiful song.
The version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond which follows is rather strange. Its starts with part 1 and 2, followed by 4 and continuing with part 6 and 7 to finally return part 5 and to the opening section of part 1. A good version nevertheless. The next is a Floyd classic, Set The Control for the Heart of the Sun. A great rendition complete with saxophone solo and a freaky middle section. Then follows Breathe, including the Speak to Me opening of Dark Side of the Moon. Both this song and the next one, Time feature Doyle Bramhall II on guest vocals, although surprisingly enough Waters has chosen to do Gilmour's vocals on Time himself, instead of the less powerful vocals that were originally done by Richard Wright. Although not mentioned on the DVD, Time does end with Breathe Reprise. Bramhall continues guest vocals on Money. The nice thing about Waters' versions of the songs is the even more extensive use of (female) backing vocals on various tracks. Not only do they compensate for a certain lack of volume in Roger's voice, they also add to the power of the performances. And then we get to Roger's solo material. First we are treated to Every Strangers Eyes. Without a doubt, Roger's vocals are no longer strong enough to reach these notes and volumes. We continue with a large chuck of Roger's masterpiece Amused to Death: Perfect Sense (part 1 and 2) ,The Bravery of Being Out Of Range, It's a Miracle and the title track Amused to Death. All songs are played very tight. The encores of the set list were Brain Damage/Eclipse and Comfortably Numb.
The DVD closes with a new track, Each Small Candle. The song starts with the backing vocalists and a guitar solo by Snowy White. The song has the same feel as The Tide is Turning and the lyrics, of which the first verse was written by a South American who'd been a victim of torture, are very emotional. Later on the song gets heavier, owning to a more bombastic melody. All in all, this is a very nice package with an interesting mixture of classic Floyd tracks and great solo compositions. The sound is great and very dynamic and performances are of high quality as well.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST CONCERT DVD EVER
Review: This DVD is worth bying in all aspects. I have seen concerts and have collections of concert video but by far this has been the most valuable possesion. Roger Waters the man behind the success of the great band "PINK FLOYD" has this uncomparable sense of music thatcould really blow your mind. This piece is a great buy and with no regrets. Recently I saw his Live concert in India and boy! everything I have seen is all there in this DVD. Try it if ya believe me. Remember "NO REGRETS."
Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait and then some!!
Review: After over a six-month delay in its release, finally the live DVD version of this historic tour is out! Let me begin by saying that Pink Floyd is my favorite group with Roger being its soul. However, I would not hesitate to criticize him where applicable (the "Radio KAOS" album comes to mind). Having said all that, this DVD experience is what DVDs are all about. Having gone to five of the shows of this tour, this DVD comes as close to being there as possible! The camerawork gives you the fans perspective with some wide shots that can only be described as just like being there (I attended 5 shows in 5 different cities from 5 different angles so I should know)! The sound is incredible and has a truly live sound and feel about it (not overly "repaired" in the studio afterward). The song selection is great. I'm more a fan of the post-Syd pre-Dark Side Floyd and am a little tired of the "hits" but the dueling styles of Snowy White and Doyle Bramhall make songs you've heard a thousand times like "Money" and "Comfortably Numb" into free-form jams like the Floyd of old that make them as interesting to me as hearing "Dogs" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun." If you don't have Roger's fantastic last album "Amused to Death", you don't know what you're missing. The lyrics on that CD alone are simply amazing, nevermind the great music and thematic presentation of the whole thing. Several songs are represented here from that CD which is the most Floyd-like product either him or the new Gilmour-lead "Pink Floyd" have released since the break-up in '85. The bottom line is that wheter you're an older Floyd material fan like myself, a fan of only their more popular stuff, or just a Roger solo fan, there is no way this DVD will dissappoint. If I could offer you a money back if not satisfied deal myself, I would. If you were at this tour, you'll love it. If you weren't, you need it!
Rating:
Summary: An incredible show!
Review: This is the one to buy! Of course the music is good, this is Roger Waters we are talking about. There was no question in my mind that he would make sure that the music would be dead on. But the music being right is only the first in a long line of great things about this concert film. The guitar work is of course different in places, but is just as good as the original Floyd work, and it offers a welcome look into what can happen with musical variations and different musicians. Much more was live than I thought would have been. The vocals are amazing as well. Roger sure did his homework getting the vocals down, and during some of the songs, I was awe struck with the change into duet rather than keeping with the standard solo vocals. The camera work was really at the top end of this sort of production. Not once did I notice any clumsy camera work or camera men quickly ducking out of the shot. Post production editing was also very good, as the film flowed seamlessly from one shot to the next. Immediately thinking back to the concert, I would rather have this dvd than the cd, and the dvd is less expensive to boot! This is an incredible concert film and quite possibly one of the best dvd values out there.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent presentation of old Pink Floyd qualities
Review: My first reflection about this DVD, is the remarkable resemblance to old Pink Floyd live gigs. Even though I am too young to have experienced Pink Floyd during the 70's, I know them well through old live tapes. When Waters and his band performs an excellent and sombre fully-version of "Dogs", it sounds to me like Pink Floyd at Anaheim Stadium, 1977 (with Snowy White on guitar back then also). It sounds to me that the band is more faithful to old Pink Floyd bootlegs, rather than their studio works - in this case "Animals". This is by far due to the youngish Doyle Bramhall II and Jon Carin, both who very successfully are substituting Gilmour and Wright on vocal parts - as well as guitar and keyboard. Did maestro Waters play old Pink Floyd live tapes for the band when he instructed them? Of course Snowy White has been playing with the Floyd since the Animal tour in 1977 - but it seems as the real PF-atmosphere is caused by Carin and Bramhall. Well. The video quality is excellent. Extensive use of dissolve-clips and moving cameras makes a soft and poetical expression. The whole event is captured with an adequate number of cameras, and there are practically no bad footage at all. All together it leaves me with a perception of masterliness. As expected. My only objections are that Waters have a tendency towards putting an American flavour to some of the old Pink Floyd songs - for instance "Wish you were here", which he has turned into an C&W-ballad (he did that back in Stockholm the 16th of june 1984 too, I remember). Are Waters making a distance to someone in the Floyd? Is he really saying: "I wish you all gone"? No more evil speculations.... The great surprise about this DVD, is the astounding and to times staggering Pink Floyd quality, which are never importunate, and certainly exceeds the expectations of a comeback by far. Waters characteristic voice still make faces, and bare it's teeth. The drummer, Graham Broad, is clever but still loyal to Nick Masons dynamical, almost lyrical, intentions. The underestimated magic touch that Wright once contributed with, is present due to Wallace and Carin. The lap steel is laid back and thrilling, thanks to Carin. The female vocal-trefoil is soothing. My favourite moment is "Breath" and "Time" from DSOTM - a moment where the band fully slides into the old PF mood without being pedantic. Of course the material from Waters later solo projects work out well, too. Especially "Amused to death" and "The pros and cons of hitch hiking, part11", the latter a song which brings Waters voice to it's hights - like at Istadion in Sweeden, 1984. All stars. Let them shine on! Øivind K. Zahlsen
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