Incredible In The Flesh

It is almost a week since we made our wonderful way across London to the O2 Arena to witness what can only be described as THE best concert EVER in our lives (we we have been to a few) and while these days have passed, the memories of all the magnificent moments of music we found ourselves immersed in are as clear as crystal, meaning it’s time for another of our now infamous bite sized reflections, as we bring you our Preview The Review, catching a short sequence of some of the most memorable minutes of our life.

Ever since we began to talk about it, not long after landed from the truly epic Jean Michel Jarre concert last October, we have been wondering exactly what it would be like to actually see another of our all-time greats in the flesh, not that we would be getting that close, but through the music of Pink Floyd certainly feeling the full effects of the sights & sounds that were a major part of our formative music years. And when close & damn fine friend Tom Fuller confirmed, on our birthday in fact (that’s 20^th Dec), that the tickets to see Roger Waters, he of Pink Floyd fame, in concert, the build up began, one that was to reach a colossal crescendo & climax five months later, as we once again found ourselves on the river boat, speeding our way to the O2 Arena, comfortably numb with excitement & anticipation of this captivating concert to come. But before all that was a surprise we could never have imagined, as having sipped our way through a bottle of champagne (what a great way to start!), upon arrival at this incredible arena, we were greeted by our second concert companion, one Paul Vlad, we being shocked to the point of losing our breath at his presence,, the only words emitted being “Hey You”, although a better person to be with us in one of the happiest days of our lives, we could have wished for.

So, the start to what would be a truly scintillating showing by Pink Floyd’s Mr Waters was underway and after short refreshments when we were still soaking up the superb shock of seeing Paul in our presence, we found our seats in the massive auditorium and waited, patiently, for the main man to arrive centre-stage. Now, to capture the sequence of events that led to what we have described as THE best concert EVER will be difficult to cram into this small bite sized reflection, but the first roar of the crowd was the catalyst for the next three captivating hours, as the visuals, the effects, the lighting and, moreover, the music, simply blew us away. Naturally the theme & inspiration of this live 2011 tour was the incredible Pink Floyd album, “The Wall” and as the minutes ticked by, the physical feature of a huge white wall grew, brick by brick on the stage, the first highlight being a life size plane zooming through the air and crashing into the stage side in an explosive pyrotechnic prolification. But the effects were going to just get better & better, the view from our seats perfect & with Paul next to our side glued on the action like us, while Tom was in pure heaven a seat further away, we were treated to all the best bits from “The Wall”, including “Mother”, “Empty Spaces”, “Goodbye Cruel World”, “Is There Anybody Out There”, “Bring The Boys Back Home”, “Vera” and, of course “Another Brick In The Wall”, that wall at the final moments of the concert, naturally, tumbling down in scintillating style. So, with so much more to reflection of this colossal concert and still, a week later, feeling comfortably numb for having seen Roger waters in the flesh, we simply say that “it’s ready, steady go for the review”. (DISCO MATT)