Roger Waters
Verizon Wireless, Irvine – June 15, 2007

After making it late to the Roger Waters show (thanks to the 405/133 interchange), I had my lawn ticket in hand and got there just in time to find a spot standing in the very back, with everyone else who was victim of the oversold Version Wireless Amphitheater.

Realizing that the angry hippies with bad tickets were not doing it for me, and hoping for a change for the better, I hopped on the cell and found a buddy with ticket stubs to sneak me into the seated section. Score one for the good guy.

I was now able to actually hear the music and see the man and the mind behind Pink Floyd, Roger Waters himself.

Everything was happening: The enormous inflatable pig was in the house, flying around the theater before being set free into the summer night. The Dark Side prism hovered above the stage, shining out to everyone who watched. The coolest thing of the night however, was a pack of very small-sized, future stoners in front of me. You may refer to them as children, but these were cool kids, and watching them rock out side-by-side with their super-sized, ex-pothead parents, it all goes to show what Pink Floyd means to each and every one of us, in our own spaced-out way.

If the night wasn’t great enough, check this out.

(This is an account of what I remember, but things got a little silly at this point.)

My friend Matt is running toward me.

He’s grabbing me by the wrist….

Beer in hand….now we are running

Running…. like never before,

I am running to wherever I’m going. All I know is I want to get there as fast as possible.

The music keeps getting louder,

The lights….brighter and brighter, and now they were giving off an incredible heat,

I blacked out… ok now im back.

I have a new home now….7th row.

Heaven.

All of this happened so quickly, it was sort of like dying, or at least how I hope it will be.law logo2x b

Now it was truly time for Dark Side of the Moon. The way it should be experienced. Gaining steam with each song, a jubilant and brave-faced Waters led the entire stage as one cohesive, Pink Floyd music-making machine. Even as scripted and tight as the performance is, the raw sensation of the music overwhelms all senses. The synthesized splendor of “On The Run,” the meticulous drumming in “Time,” and the angelic, soul-wrenching vocals in “The Great Gig in the Sky,” all backed up by great stage visuals had me wondering what life was worth living for after this. I could talk about each song they played, but it just wouldn’t do it justice, so dust off the record player, and slap on the vinyl. For a moment time stopped in Irvine, just long enough to forget about life, and just long enough to remember what real rock 'n roll is about.

–Ryan Colditz

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