[Sonnie]

DVD Review: Roger Waters - In The Flesh - Live

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/images/rogerwaterslive.jpg[/img]

Roger Waters - In The Flesh - Live

For several years now I've been reluctant to purchase this DVD concert because for some reason I doubted the abilities of Roger Waters to bring together a worthwhile Pink Floyd experience without the help of David Gilmour or any of the other former band members. Well... I was wrong! Fortunately one of our forum members twisted my arm and encouraged me to go ahead and give it a try. I'm glad he did. Thanks!

If you are a Pink Floyd fan, you will not get a better deal than this at only 10 bucks. Superb PQ and excellent SQ and a host of Pink Floyd classics are brought to a spectacular 2½ hour concert on DVD. The light show is the usual you would expect for a Pink Floyd concert... along with some very interesting back drops. They even pull out some of their old original projection tricks to create some really cool placebo/plasma type effects.

I've always connected and acredited the voice of Pink Floyd to David Gilmour, but Roger Waters was one of the original founders of Pink Floyd and has a pretty unique voice of his own, not slacking any in this concert. A yound Doyle Bramhall takes the lead vocals on Money and Comfortably Numb with two excellent performances. Female vocalist Katie Kissoon joins Roger on Mother with another stunning vocal performance. The female backup trio were nothing less than awesome as well.

In comparing this to the David Gilmour In Concert DVD, this is more of the traditional style concerts with the traditional musical instruments... definitely a different presentation style than David's concert DVD. There are only two duplicate tracks on the two DVD's... Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Comfortably Numb. I would give the edge to David's second performance of Shine On while giving the nod to Roger's Comfortably Numb. However, both performances on both DVD's are great. Roger has the total edge here if you are looking for Pink Floyd classics, providing you with quite a few more than what David does. Yet, what you get with David's is somewhat more of an emotional experience vs. the traditonal concert style of Roger's. None the less, a Pink Floyd fan will want to own both and may have trouble choosing a favorite between the two... both are that good. These guys simply know how to perform.

If Roger and David could simply get their differences worked out and have one last complete Pink Floyd performance... there is no doubt it would be one of the most totally awesome shows we'd ever experience.

:5stars:

Filmed in 2000/Released in 2001
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
PCM Stereo - English
Studio: Sony
Running Time: 150 minutes (Concert)
Total Run Time: 170 minutes


Tracks:
1. In The Flesh
2. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
3. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2
4. Mother
5. Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert
6. Southhampton Dock
7. Pigs On the Wing, Part 1
8. Dogs
9. Welcome to the Machine
10. Wish You Were Here
11. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-8)
12. Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun
13. Breathe (In the Air)
14. Time
15. Money
16. The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking Part 11 (aka "5:06 am? Every Stranger's Eyes)
17. Perfect Sense (Parts I and II)
18. The Bravery of Being Out of Range
19. It's a Miracle
20. Amused to Death
21. Brain Damage
22. Eclipse
23. Comfortably Numb
24. Each Small Candle

Additional Release Material:
Documentary - Behind The Scenes

Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access

Text/Photo Galleries:
Stills/Photos
Biographies
Additional Text - Song Lyrics

Here are a few clips from the concert:

Pink Floyd fans will not regret this purchase.

 

[Phil M]

Re: DVD Review: Roger Waters - In The Flesh - Live

Great review Sonnie, this is one of my reference discs.
I didn't notice this for months, but even though the disc is marked as 5.1 the center channel is phantom = missing. Just demonstrates what a great recording this is, and it can be picked up really cheaply.

 

[Fincave]

Re: DVD Review: Roger Waters - In The Flesh - Live

Here is my take on this DVD, let me state straight away that I prefer Roger Waters to David Gilmour (sorry Sonnie) but IMO his voice just has more edge and emotion to it.

As Sonnie already said PQ and SQ are very good, I would give PQ 8.5/10 and SQ 9.5/10 (nothing is perfect, yet)

The band are really good, guitar, drums, the whole lot. I was especially impressed by Doyle Bramhall II, cool as a cucumber during the entire show and boy can he make his guitar sound sweet. The three ladies doing backing vocals deserve special mention as they provide amazing support on all of the songs and especially on 'Mother'.

I like Roger Waters for his lyrics foremost, then voice and music. There are some great songs on this disc which show what a great lyricist Roger Waters is, also his great sense of wit and humour, small digs at, and observations of presidents, Maggie (Thatcher), war, even Andrew Lloyd Webber! His lyrics have always been touching and some of these songs make quite strong statements about war and society in general and so while this is great music to listen to it also has some meaning.

I remeber the first time I heard 'Mother', it literally gave me goosebumps and did again while watching this. I have always loved the album 'Final Cut' and the two songs included here 'Get your filthy hands off my desert' and 'Southampton Dock' sound amazing live, Roger Waters still has the voice and puts a lot of emotion into 'Southampton Dock'.

'Shine on you crazy diamond' is a great song and you can sense that Roger Waters still misses Syd Barret (he may be 'gone' but not forgotten!!)

The Pink Floyd songs are probably a bit stronger than what Roger Waters has done by himself, I think as a band they produced some great music and had a great chemistry that is somehow lacking in their solo efforts. That said there are some great Roger Waters songs on this disc, 'Every strangers eyes' off Pros and Cons is a favourite of mine and the live version here is exceptional.

Music is a pretty emotional experience for me and the songs on this DVD have a lot to say, not all of it nice but certainly riveting and thought provoking. I would recommend this DVD to anyone who likes any of PF's songs and who want to see a bunch of great musicians play some classic tracks with lyrics that should tug at your heart strings.

 

[wgmontgomery]

Re: DVD Review: Roger Waters - In The Flesh - Live

I have to agree with Fincave's assessment of Waters vs. Waterless "Floyd." I saw Pink Floyd on their "Division Bell" tour, and David G. didn't even play 90% the guitar solos!! I also saw Waters (twice) about that same time (1996?) and his shows were MUCH better than Floyd's...IMO.
There have been some rumors that the feud is ending, so we may see Floyd again.
Now...I'm off to pick-up the disc reviewed here; thanks for a great review!

 

[zeplin43]

I too love this dvd.The most amazing thing is that if you close your eyes you can actually think you are hearing Pink Floyd when they play PF songs,I also have PF Delicate Sound of Thunder and that does not sound like PF.
So i prefer this DVD.
Nice review.