Hi guys bit later than i thought for this but he goes my report on last nights Dublin Gig....Met up with 3 of my 4 bros for couple of pints in city centre before hand and glad to say pub was well populated with fellow Floyd nuts. 15 minute walk out to the new O2 arena ( formerly The Point ). Got there about 7.45 and first impressions were plenty of room in the concourses with lots of bars, food outlets and toilets. Found our entrance to the auditorium and were delighted to find out you could take drinks into the arena. Good quick service from one of the many bars and we were in our seats with our pints in hand at 7.55 waiting for the 8.00 sharp start. Looking around, the old warehouse appearance of the Point has been replaced and for tonights concert there were about 10 rows of seats on the flat directly in front of the stage and then a well tiered horseshoe shaped bank of seats with all the seats having unobstructed views of the stage. Unfortunately the notorious bad time keeping of the Irish in general meant the place was only about 1/3 full and it was just after 8.15 when the lights dimmed and we had the opening clarinet piece and off we went. At 11.00 pm sharp it was all over for another year unfortunately. Brother no 1, my elder bro thought it was great but admitted he didn't know all of the Wall and hence he prefered the last Aussie gig he saw 4 years ago which was more of a medley of their greatest songs. He was especially cut up that we missed out on the ladies performing Great Gig... Me thinks the penalty for the late start as apparently all concerts must finish by 11.00 under some stupid planning permission ruling .
Brother no 2 was his first experience of the Aussies and he was blown away. In the pub beforehand as he was paying for his ticket he said he couldn't believe we were paying Eur 48 (GBP 43 ) to watch a cover band. By the end of the night he said he would pay anything to see them again . Told us his wife had bought them tickets for Leonard Cohens upcoming gig at Eur 120 each .....Throughout the concert he was phoning home and holding his mobile up to transmit the sounds to her and they have both told me to include them in tickets for next time they play Dublin.
Brother no 3 is the youngest of five and was fortunate enough to see Pink Floyd during their stint at Earls Court in 1994. He said though he liked the Wall he preferred the Aussie gig 4 years ago and was somewhat dissappointed in the light show....Have to admit the use of the visuals during the Wall did mean the lighting show wasn't as spectacular as previous shows but that been said the visuals were superb , dominating the whole of the back stage area ,and without them the theme of the Wall would have been lost. His final comment was they were nearly too perfect.....I'd take that as the ultimate compliment.
So to me , an avid Aussie Floyd fan . As a warm up I had been playing the Wall CD on my car for the last couple of weeks and also caught the film on one of those movie channels a few weeks ago so knew what to expect. Once again I think the band surpassed themselves with an awesome performance. Every aspect was spot on with unbelivable clarity of every instrument and voice throughout, allied perfectly to the backdrop. I don't normally single out individual performances but the guitar work of Steve Mac and Damian in particular Damian's solo on Comfortably Numb was awesome . However most praise has to go to Ian...I remember his first appearance in Dublin a couple of years back when this guy dressed in black would casually walk onto the stage sing a song and then wander back off...I always thought his voice was good but last night his performance was out of this world. The range in his voice was surpassed by the way he could change the tone from being languid to totally anguished when needed ...As someone said in a previous review the roll of Pink was made for him and he has made it his own. The excellence didn't stop when the Wall was finished. The encore was superb with lighting show up to normal incredible standard . Unfortunately at 10.50 Jason thanked us all for coming and announced they only had time for one more song and the show finished . Encore Consisted of
Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-5
Wish You Were Here
One Of These Days (Pig And Skippy inflatables Came Out and stayed )
Brain Damage
Eclipse
All in all a great gig even though we didn't get Great Gig as part of the show . As the 4 of of us left and started our walk back to city cenntre I asked would they be up for trip to Belfast for tonights show and all said you bet.....By the time our walk was over reality had kicked in that we all have work tomorrow so here I am talking about the Dublin show and wishing I was in Belfast...Might go surfing Ryanair tomorrow to check prices of flights to link in with one of the still to come dates in the UK.....
Kevin
