Arrow Rock Festival

Ticket scan - thanks to Jan van Grootel

Capacity: 25,000
Concert starts: 2:30pm

Address of venue: De Schans, 7137, Lichtenvoorde, Netherlands. MAP

Website: www.arrowrockfestival.nl

A special site has been set up by Arrow Rock Festival fans, which will collect together materials for ALL the bands: ArrowRock.web-log.nl.

A festival crowd saw another good show on Roger's tour, with fans and non-fans alike appreciating the performance. The set list was unchanged from the Berlin show - have the band now settled on that order, we wonder? There are growing numbers of comments about the possibility of Roger miming to parts of the show - if true, this is a curious tactic at best, and we hope that it is short lived, and that it has been used for good reasons.

The tour moves to Iceland for a show in Reykjavik tomorrow evening. Have a great time if you are attending this show!

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Robert Geerling

This was the third time I saw Waters live (The first two times during the In the Flesh tour). I can say it was a special show, with the live performance of Dark Side of The Moon. The first part was a mix of Floyd songs and solowork. The highlight for me was Sheep and the biggest disappointment The Fletcher Memorial Home, because Waters was definitely lip-syncing here. Dave Kilminster (guitar) did a very good job, he stayed very close to the original Gilmour guitar parts.

The second part was the performance of Dark Side; using a lot of the original round-screen films, great quadraphonic sound effects and a band playing really good! The Gilmour-vocal-parts were pretty okay done by Kilminster/Carin. The second part ended with The Wall; Happiest Days of Our Lives, Another Brick in the Wall, Vera, Bring the Boys Back Home and Comfortably Numb. This was a great Waters show, but I don’t understand why he plays The Fletcher M.H. if he can’t sing it...?

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Ger van Wunnik

A few days before the show on Arrow Rock, a friend of mine gave me a recording of the television transmission from the concert on June 2nd, Lisbon Portugal.

It was very bad; Roger's voice was completely overruled by the backing vocals. I thought it was a problem with Roger's voice and was afraid the concert in the Netherlands would also be that bad…

But, after a car ride of three hours, we arrived at Arrow Rock. Ray Davies was performing, and the PA-sound was not bad at all.

We had to wait several hours, but the atmosphere was great, all kind of people having a great time, young and old, wearing Pink Floyd and Waters t-shirts… Great!

Roger and the band gave a great show, perfect sound, and Roger’s singing was OK (he is getting older, just as we are).

There were three people I missed, but as I close my eyes…

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Ralph Plug

After a long Saturday of watching and listening to many great bands at the Arrow Classic Rock Festival, it's finally time for the legendary Roger Waters to take the stage. With two big videoscreens at the side of the podium and a massive projection screen in the middle in the back the band starts off with "In the Flesh", which is in my opinion the best possible way (lyrically) to start off a show by this 'other Pink Floyd'.

The first half of the show is a trip down memory lane featuring the "Wish You Were Here" album played in its (sort of) entirety, with the 27.000 people audience chanting along with classic songs like "Wish You Were Here" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". The sound is great, the videoscreens are used wonderfully, providing a variety of images to emphasise the songs as well as a good look at what's happening on stage for those further in the back. Halfway through the first set Waters does a few semi-acoustic songs from "The Final Cut", with the great "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" and "The Fletcher Memorial Home". The first half also featured the massive "Perfect Sense" (with an inflatable astronaut floating around the stage) and the relatively new song "Leaving Beirut", with Waters fiercefully lashing out at U.S. president G.W. Bush.

Then it's the end of the first half of the show. 'We'll take a short break,' Waters says, 'after which we will perform THAT!' he adds smiling, pointing at the full moon shining brightly over the festival grounds. It's a nice touch.

So, the second half of the set features the entire "Dark Side of the Moon" album played integrally. It's great to these songs performed live with crystal clarity. From the frantic "Speak to Me/Breathe" to the concluding "Brain Damage/Eclipse", it's goosebumps throughout the entire set, with "Great Gig in the Sky" as an arguable highlight where Carol Kenyon giving away an unforgettable and spine-chilling performance. The audience again chants along with every song, and, regrettably, it's all over before you know it. The set ends with the encores "Happiest Days of our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2", the two-piece "Vera/Bring the Boys Back Home" (which apparently becomes a strange entity once ripped from the context of "The Wall", and doesn't really work as a stand-alone thing) and the fantastic "Comfortably Numb".

So, in the end, Roger Waters delivered what was promised, and much, much more. This two-and-a-half hour set has been a memorable one indeed, leaving no one unsatisfied. The surround sound system works wonderfully, the pyrotechnics were great and the overall performance was wonderful. Best show of the year for me personally, and I hope Waters comes back soon, because I definitely could do with another!

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Ron van der Kolk

Wow, what a great concert last night!

Sound was perfect, clear and not too loud. I was up front so I could only hear the quadraphonics in the relatively quiet intros like time and money; very interesting effect. Sound was a lot better than Def Leppard playing just before Roger on the same stage.

No guest appearances... not Guy, not Rick, not Nick. But I missed them only at one point in an otherwise perfect show: the vocals of Jon Carin in us and them were a little disappointing (but I'm being a purist here since this is one of my most fav floyd songs).

Show started at 21:30 and ended midnight with a short break between the first and second set. Roger was wearing black trousers, black t-shirt and black jacket. The jacket came off after a while. For Dutch standards the weather was very hot and dry. The almost full moon was not behind the stage but behind the audience this time.

The entire first set was accompanied by video on a huge screen behind the band. Leaving Beirut was very very impressive. It was accompanied by a cartoon like video clip including the full lyrics and a few extra lines. It literally brought tears to the eyes of some spectators, including yours truly. Videos for dsotm were a little dim.

Performance of Roger and all band members was perfect. They were in a relaxed state of concentration and they all gave the idea they meant every note they played or word they sang. Rogers voice was fine.

On stage fireworks and flamethrowers were nice, but the other reviews had created a bit of a bigger expectation. Nevertheless nice effects. The flame wheel that is described in other reviews was only present on the video screen; I looked round but couldn't spot the real thing anywhere.

This one goes into my top 3 concerts! That said, it would have reached the no 1 position if they had thrown in some real explosions and extra surprises in DSOTM.

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Peter Postma

Roger seemed to be very sensitive, closing his eyes several times, and disappearing within himself (at one moment I thought he had to cry), and enthusiastic at the same time, walking up and down the stage during the solo's and miming the singing parts. He even said that he loved the audience: "I LOVE YOU!" Strange though, to hear that from the man who wrote 'The Wall'.

The band played very well, with no mistakes and no signs of a loop for Roger's voice either.

Highlights for me were 'The Final Cut' parts, 'Perfect Sense' and 'Leaving Beirut'. It was quite amusing to hear the strong reactions of the audience to George Bush's pictures on the screen, and Roger singing the lines about him in 'Leaving Beirut'. Also great was the quadrophonic soundsystem, which really worked out very well during 'Dark Side' and 'Sheep'. I was in front of the stage, and could hear the sheep and voices all around me. Also some funny reactions from the audience, who did not seem to know that Roger was using the quad system. People smoking tea were really going wild on that one, but I'm afraid it wasn't their tea - it was the quad!

To conclude with: a fantastic night! Thank you Roger!

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Henk v.d. Weide

whoaah! what a terrific show. Already after In The Flesh and Mother I knew that this one was way better than the Rio gig. The band was really tight (although there where some f*ck-ups like at the beginning of SOYCD...but as professional as they are, they recoverd very quickly), Roger was in great shape and the crowd was huge and above all: 'inspiring'. Singing-a-long, clapping, making the 'The Wall'-gestures, and spreading the hands in the air ...well...just like I said, it was inspiring. And I think that gave the band a reall big boost, besides the mistakes, they sounded awesome and primary: they really had a good time.

I already was in front of the stage from around 2 o'clock, with the burning sun right above my head. But when the sun finally disappeared behind the stage (which was a beautiful sight) it was only 8 o'clock so I still had to wait 1,5 hours (oh...my back...my legs: everything already hurts...) But then finally..the lights went out and the band entered the stage...fireworks...'In The Flesh' And I didn't feel one single little pain.

And after Sheep (which he playbacked together with Fletcher) he pointed at the full moon (everyone looked behind) and he said "after a few minutes, we're gonna do....THAT". And all the 50.000...maybe 60.000 peoples exploded in one big "YEAAAAHHH"....oh....wonderfull!

Then Dark Side of The Moon...what can I say? It was magical. The sound effects where very cool, and On The Run was great fun. There was not one highlight during the secong set: everything was wonderful.

Although I've listened to the album a thousands of times, and I don't even have to put the CD in the CD-player to listen to it because I know every single word and bit, hearing the band playing the album live was a completely new experience. And Roger really enjoyed it. He waved, he smiled, he laughed, he almost cried, and he and everyone else in the crowd took a look now and then at the full moon in front of the stage in the black, summer Holland-sky. Wonderful.

And then the encore...well, just great. You almost couldn't hear the band during Another Brick In The Wall, because of the singing of the crowd. I've been to a lot of concerts, and we Dutchies have a name to be very energetic at concerts...but I truly haven't experienced something like this crowd. This big...so loud...so positive...

To decribe last night in one word would be...."undescribable"

* And yes...he was lip-syncing during Fletcher, Sheep and it almost looked like he also did it during Brick, because I thought I heared a male-voice together with the children-choir and the backing singers while none of the male musicians of the band were singing and Roger was shouting at us at the edge of the stage (like always :) ) ....but like I said; the crowd was very VERY loud at that point so I could be mistaken. But miming or not; the show was awesome*

During Comfortably Numb (I thought during the second guitar solo...or the first), a fan ran from backstage to the edge of the stage where Roger was playing (with his eyes closed and smiling..like during Live8) and made worship-gestures on the ground at Roger. After a few seconds 2 security guys took him down..and Roger didn't see a thing...with his eyes closed and still smiling :)

Highlights of the first set: In The Flesh, Leaving Beirut, Wish You Were Here. Of the encore: Another Brick... and of course: Comfortably Numb

Only 3 hours of sleep...but it was worth it :D.

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Peter van Dosselaar

All in all a disappointing show, seen from the eyes of a die-hard PF/RW/DG-fan. As expected, the show was completely programmed, giving absolutely no room for improvising. Everything had to run in sync with the movie-clips being projected on the screen.

Quite a number of glitches, of which the glitch during "The Fletcher Memorial Home" was the worst one. Roger forgot "Mr. Breznev & Party" resulting in a little internal panic within the band. It was at "Did they expect us to treat them with any respect?" that everything was back on track. In general, Roger's voice was at his best, but the most disappointing part of the whole show for me was to discover that Roger was indeed lip-synching during some of the songs (reminded me of Wall-Berlin). Especially during "Sheep" this could be seen very clearly (I was standing in the front row, in front of Snowy).

As for the other members: Snowy and Jon were really on auto-pilot but played very well. Both Andy and Harry were an unnoticable presence during the show.

Dave's guitar play was excellent, as was Ian's saxophone play and Graham's drums. And the girls.... they were fantastic!! Highlight for me was "Sheep" irrespective of Roger's lip-sync.

Nice that The Dark Side of the Moon set was played during a full moon. Again, as a die-hard fan very disappointing, but for a "standard" fan hearing WYWH, ABitW, SoyCD, and CN, I am sure it was a great show.

SHOW REVIEW

By BD contributor, Ron Bijl

We arrived at ArrowRock at about 14:30. It was incredibly hot! The ages of the people there were going from about 14 to 65 I imagine, but the majority was definitely 20+ years old if not 25+. There were over 30.000 people at the festival and at least half of them were wearing Pink Floyd clothes. There were two stages: the main stage and the huge tent. And the performances were like 13:00 - 14:00 main stage, 14:00 - 15:00 tent, 15:00 - 16:00 stage and so on. I have to say Ray Davies delivered a great show, out of the other bands! I really liked it! Roger was due to perform at 21:30 as closing act. At 19:00 my mate and I were at the main stage pretty close to the front. Def Leopard was on until 20:00. From 20:00 to 21:00 Queensryche was playing the tent. Funny thing is, NOBODY left after Def Leopard because they all wanted a good spot for Roger Waters. Queensryche played in front of maybe 1000 people at most. I was a little to the right from the centre of the stage and at about 6th/7th row. Pretty close up!

The Show:
Roger got on exactly on time opening with In The Flesh. The crowd greeted him with a huge roar. They sang every word of In The Flesh along with Rog while making the crossed arms gesture from The Wall.

Roger went on to play Mother. The female part was just brilliantly done by Katie Kissoon. After that we were treated to three songs of Wish You Were Here. I personally loved Have A Cigar! During WYWH Roger made an extra reference to Syd by looking up at the finish of the song while he sang "how I wish you were here, and don't we all!" which the audience was happy to agree with in the form of a huge applause and cheers. After that Roger went on to play two songs off The Final Cut. Many claim he lip-synched The Fletcher Memorial. And it could very well be to be honest. It was still great though!

The night only included two of Roger’s songs from his solo career. Perfect Sense and the fairly recent Leaving Beirut. The first of these two was, aside from DSOTM, the highlight of the evening for me personally. A beautiful song, with a lot of meaning, that Roger sang fantastically. Also a big round of applause for PP Arnold for doing the female parts. The effects in the backdrop film were just mind-blowing through the Quadraphonic surround sound system Roger brought with him. The first set ended with Sheep, which again might have been partially lip-synched. Not sure, so don't pin me on it! A huge finale with fireworks and flames ended the first set. Roger told the crowd "We're going to take a short break. And when we come back we're going to do... THAT!" and pointed at the full moon that had come up behind the crowd.

When the band came back the stage had changed. The circle of lights that Pink Floyd had also used many times had been set up and there was a big projection of the moon in the centre of the ring of lights. The heartbeat signalled it was time to begin! Roger didn't sing much on the DSOTM songs. Breathe was sang by Roger and Andy together, the background singers did Money, John Carin sang Us And Them (it wasn't Dave, but I thought he did a great job!) and Carol Kenyon delivered a mind-blowing vocal piece on Great Gig In The Sky. Roger, even when not in front of a microphone, did sing along every line with the crowd and delivered a great performance that he clearly enjoyed a lot himself. My highlights here were Brain Damage and Eclipse, which Roger did sing on.

After the heartbeats ended again Roger thanked the crowd and left the stage. After about 3 minutes of "we want more" chants the band took the stage again. Roger pointed into the crowd shouting "YOU! YES, YOU! STAND STILL LADDY!" signalling it was time for The Happiest Days Of Our Lives and Another Brick In The Wall.

The crowd was all too happy to sing the children's parts and nearly took over Roger's as well. After this fantastic duo the show ended with in a row Vera, Bring The Boys Back Home and Comfortably Numb. During the last a huge ring of fire was above the stage turning circles. Just incredible! Also during Comfortably Numb a fan apparently managed to get backstage over the fences and ran onstage dropping on his knees next to Waters and bowing before him. Stupid fucking twat. He was quickly removed by the clearly pissed off security gorillas. After Comfortably Numb, Roger thanked the crowd again and with a from-the-heart "I love you!!" he ended the nearly three how extravaganza.

Conclusion:
I'm simply blown away! First of all the band was fantastic! Andy and Snowy delivered great and moving solo's, Jon delivered superb keyboard work and the three ladies on backing vocals each had their amazing solo moments. Roger was very enthusiastic! He moved around the stage all the time making contact with the fans, smiling, laughing, pointing people out in some songs and winking people when he had eye contact with them. He really got the already pumped crowd going and he clearly loved every minute of it. The crowd was just amazing! Very enthusiastic and sang along on every song. Which Roger clearly appreciated and loved making him even more enthusiastic himself.

Roger's voice was good. Better than I expected. Shame some parts were lip-synched (or sort of sung along with the tape), but from what I've seen (and heard back on the bootleg) I think just parts of Fletcher Memorial and Sheep. It does put a smudge on the otherwise superb concert though. But the rest of the songs he sang he did very well on. Again my highlights were Perfect Sense and DSOTM. The way the crowd answered and sang along with Perfect Sense was great. Good to see that kind of appreciation for his solo works as well! The sound system, lightshow and backdrop films were great. The surround sound really blew you away, especially on DSOTM. The backdrop films were all updated for 2006 and really added to the meaning of the songs. Especially on Perfect Sense and Leaving Beirut they were simply fantastic!! All in all a great, nearly perfect, night and a fantastic show that both Rog and the crowd loved to be a part of!

Tied with David Gilmour for the best gig I've ever been to!