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On June 6th, 2007* I saw Roger Waters for the first time, and it was great. Over the years I’ve had many good friends tell me I’ve got to see Roger Waters but despite their advice (and my great love for Pink Floyd) I never had any desire to see him live. It boggles my mind now that I think about it, but at the time I never really pictured Waters as the ‘face’ of Pink Floyd, though I have always been well aware that in addition to playing the bass he was both the singer and principal songwriter for the music that I loved so much.
I guess I put a whole lot of stock into David Gilmour’s guitar playing, and while I can’t fault myself for that I have since learned not to miss a Roger Waters concert.
The first half of the show was a mix of Floyd and Waters solo material while the second half was a straight run through of Dark Side Of The Moon. There was a hefty encore that went back to the classic Floyd catalogue and the whole show was stunningly good.
But for my memory this concert will forever boil down to one moment: the saxophone solo from Money.
I remember standing in the Hard Rock Cafe in Bangkok staring at the contract Dick Perry signed when he got the gig to play that saxophone solo. If I recall correctly he was paid eighty-five British pounds. Eighty-five pounds for laying down a solo that I and everyone I know could sing note-for-note. It’s such an integral part of such an iconic song; it seems like one dropped note would have changed the whole thing.
In short: the saxophone solo is perfect. And he plays it over the 7/8 groove that dominates the song. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Gilmour guitar solo that immediately follows is over a straight 4/4 rhythm, but I digress.
For the show I was in the 100 level, directly beside the stage. Of course this being Ottawa everyone was sitting down the whole time, but given the semi-relaxed nature of the music I wasn’t fighting it and was staying down like the rest of them.
But when Money hit I started moving in my seat pretty hard. When the first, perfect note of that sax solo came I couldn’t stop myself, I burst to my feet and started dancing my heart out. My head swung back and forth in perfect seven and I kept my eyes closed tight, the better to ignore anyone who might rather I sit myself back down.
I tweaked and twitched my body in perfect time to every note. Shamelessly giving myself up to the goddess of interpretive dance, I hit The Zone; I felt that solo in every atom of my physical being and my body could only celebrate.
Near the end of the solo I dared to open my eyes for a fleeting moment. I was fully expecting to see my entire section up on their feet, inspired by my dancing and sharing in this grand moment but no, everyone was still sitting down.
But what I did see in that split second when I dared to slam my eyes open was Roger Waters standing on the edge of stage left right in front of me. He was playing his bass and staring up at me with a huge smile on his face, rockin’ his socks off to me getting my socks rocked off by him. We were in an amazing symbiotic feedback loop of rockin’ socks that kept building in intensity. I immediately closed my eyes again, afraid that if he noticed me noticing him rocking out to me rocking out to him then the whole thing would end, but it didn’t. We raged it together right into those triplets that hand the solo over to the guitar player when I finally packed it in and sat down, with every standing sock thoroughly rocked.
Did I mention the guitar solo is in 4/4? No use standing up for that tripe.
Anyway, it was a really fun moment that will surely stand as a personal Roger Waters highlight no matter how many times I might see the man play in the years to come. Which I hope is many.
*I have no idea why the ticket reads “Mon. June 4, 2007”. Both my ticket book and the internet agree that the Ottawa show occurred on Wednesday, June 6th. The internet would also like to add that Roger Waters actually performed in Quebec City on June 4th, 2007. Smarty-pants.
(edit to add: Further research shows that this was the year the Ottawa Senators made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals and that this show was in fact postponed in order to make room for game four, a hockey game that I should have gone to but didn’t. The Anaheim Ducks beat the Sens 3-2. Once again: smarty-pants internet.
Todd Man Out 