Jones Beach

Ticket scan - thanks to DPS

Capacity: 15,200
Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: Jones Beach, Wantagh State Parkway, Wantagh, NY 11793. MAP

Website: www.tommyhilfigerjonesbeach.com

COMMENTS

With the audience in a stadium facing the sea, this is possibly the most unusual venue on the whole of Roger's tour. Where else could you watch him, and see ships moving about on the water? The stadium faces out to the sea, with the stage set on the edge of the water. Historically used for things like waterskiing displays, it makes for an unusual concert experience.

Reports on the show are now coming in, all remarking about the inclement weather... as you can see from this picture, the rain came down during the show (picture courtesy of Stephen Lukas).

The tour now moves to the second of the Tweeter Centers - this one in Camden NJ. If you are going, have a great time and tell us about it!

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributor, Stephen Lukas

What a night. After a three and a half hour drive from CT, battling heavy Friday afternoon traffic, and wind driven rain, we finally got to the stadium.

Before we got to the show a friend of mine who was able get there early was able to enjoy Roger going through a sound check and got to witness two rainbows form over the venue. I think it proved to be good luck as the heavy rain turned into a light drizzle by show time.

I have never been to Jones Beach. Once inside, I could tell it was going to be a great show. The stage was the same as the MSG show, and I think the tour. Except at MSG the music played while everyone took their seats was Neil Young. This time, every tune about Mother Nature was played. From Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head to A Rainy Night in Georgia was played. Roger’s idea? Maybe, but the atmosphere of the audience was lively, in spite of what was falling from the sky.

Roger took the stage at about 8:25. The set list was the same as it has been for the entire tour. The band was once again very tight. In humble opinion, Roger and Co were perfect.

I did not think it would be possible to beat the performance I saw at MSG, but they did. And despite what the weather was like, Roger was very energetic and fed off of the feel of the audience, which were there no matter what. True fans, one and all! During one of the breaks between songs Roger even mentioned that the weather did not bother him and that he quite liked the “atmospheric conditions”. Roger’s pig was let go into the stormy sky, never to be seen again??

So as the band played on, the drizzle fell, the wind gusted and some lightning lit up the sky, but we sat there through it all and were treated to magic! Magic I will never forget!

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributor, Bradley Kaplan

It was raining all day. Leaving from Manhattan at 4:30, the 30 mile drive to Jones Beach took 3 hours! As soon as we arrived at Jones Beach the rain stopped. Since it is a complete outdoor venue, this was obviously very good. It did slightly drizzle through parts of the show but no big deal.

The concert started about 8:20. Same set list as usual. Roger brought the kids back on in Another Brick from the previous night. They seemed more choreographed and Roger had them dancing behind him.

The Pig was released during Sheep. It was last seen floating over the coast of Long Island. It was the same pig used at both MSG shows as it was the exact same spray-paint on it. They took the light up eyes off the pig. The launching of it went very well as everyone in the venue saw it (in PNC half of it was a covered roof so half of us did not get to see the pig launch.

The spaceman was not brought out during this show. Probably too windy.

I sat right next to the left rear quad speaker. Of interest was during Shine On, Fletcher Memorial and Comfy Numb they had the backing organ coming out of the quad and main speaker. During Money they cut the quad out with the money moving around the speakers as soon as Roger's bass started playing bass and only pumped it through the main speakers. After 4 shows I can clearly say that compared to the '99 and 2000 shows they are not using the quad as effectively as those shows. Unless you are right next to the quad speakers you cannot hear them. I remember in '99 and 2000 with Dogs the barking going over your head, the end of Shine On.

Roger thanked us numerous times for coming out in the rain.

Of the 4 shows I saw this tour, the best performance was MSG 9/12 followed by MSG 9/13 followed by Jones Beach last night 9/15 and lastly the 9/6 show at PNC.

Roger and his band have directly told numerous people that he will be touring parts of the US he missed next summer. (he also said he will be taping a show in 2007 for a DVD release....hopefully that changes and he records one of these 2006 shows) Hopefully as in 2000 he makes it back to NY again for an encore. (in 99 after doing PNC, Jones Beach he came back in 2000 for 2 shows at MSG)

After seeing 4 of these shows, 5 '99 shows, 2 2000 shows and 1 Pulse show (at 2nd night at Giant Stadium with Dark Side) I can clearly say that I prefer Roger's Dark Side to the PF '94 version live. I actually find it kind of boring when Gilmour & Co played it. With Roger's tours, I prefered the '99 set list which was very Wall heavy over the '2000 set list. Roger seemed much more animated this tour then in '99 and 2000 walking all around the stage, etc. Set lists between '99 and 2006 I would kind of call it a draw. But Roger's personal stage performance makes the '2006 shows much better. And obviously seeing Nick Mason at the 2 MSG shows was a real treat especially watching him do the drum intro to Time.

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributor, Scott Hanlon (who kindly provided the two pictures sandwiching his review!)

Not much of a reviewer, I'll let the more experienced handle that, but a couple simple observations.

Where's Nick? Does he have another job that we don't know about? Perhaps working with Henry McClean on some sort of flying machine. Anyway, very disappointed with his absence. But aside from that, atmosphere and amazing sound quality made this show much better than MSG. I didn't really understand the rave reviews of that show. I though it sounded very amateur. Aussie Floyd sounded better than that show.

The crowd at Jones Beach actually stayed in the stands and watch and listened to music. Even at Radio City for Gilmour no one shut up for the entire show. NYC thing perhaps? When I pay to hear music, I wanna hear music. I can BS on my cell phone when I'm not at a concert - a little known talent most people have, but just don't know it. Again, not the case at Jones Beach - Great crowd. Perhaps no alcohol means people have no reason to get up during the Final Cut cuts.

Politics, politics, politics. Fine, freedom of speech. I'd still rather not get political advice from any celebrity, whether is Roger Waters or Ted Nugent. But my one real problem is that he places all the blame for everything on the right. Let me pose the rhetorical question - How did LBJ handle Vietnam? Roger won't put his picture up during Fletcher Memorial since he was a democrat and can therefore do no wrong. Not trying to start a political discussion here, just didn't realize the world automatically become utopia when you vote for liberals.

For Roger - Dude, you really need musicians? Little crowded up there.

For Jon Carin - learn to play a glockenspiel... then I'll be impressed.

For the boys choir - How long did it take to learn the British accent? Spot on, laddies.

But I digress. The show was phenomenal from start to finish.

MSG = C+
Jones Beach = A+
Geometry 101 = C- (the important thing is that I still know what a Rhombus is)

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributor, Steve D'Ippolito

I literally was sitting in the 3rd to last row at this show and it still sounded awesome. It was raining on and off but that didn’t stop the outdoor venue from filling up with dedicated Waters fans. The wind was swirling around the venue and the band had to be getting hit with their share of rain yet they played on without missing a beat. Roger walked out to the edge of the stage several time and accepted the rain as well as the fans.

I saw the show at the Garden on Tuesday and “Leaving Beirut” seemed to gather less boos than it did at the Garden, but there still were a few Bush loving New Yorkers ticked off by the song as well as the “Impeach Bush” message on the pig’s ass. This leads me to a surprising highlight during the evening’s performance. Due to brisk winds they opted to bring the pig out in a Macys Day Parade style rather navigating it with the remote control like they did Tuesday night at The Garden. Unfortunately this method only worked for about half of the mid section of “Sheep”. A gush of wind may have snapped one of the handlers rope or made him lose grip which put too much pressure on the last and second handler. Long story short, the pig found its freedom out of the venue and drifted off into the rainy cloudy Wantagh sky. The crowd loved it! Would love to know where it ended up. We were also treated to a free natural light show. During key parts of certain songs lightening flashes and bolts appeared over the Jones Beach sky enhancing the show drawing cheers time to time. We left the show during the encore and the sound system even sounded awesome in the parking lot.

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributor, Revel Thom

Roger was PINK FLOYD last night at the Jones Beach Amphitheatre in NY. Heavy rains covered NY the entire day with the exception of light drizzle throughout the entire show. The only difference with Roger's show was the lights. Although not categorised as PF light show quality the show was insane and the smell of Dagga lingered through the aisles. Word for word and with exceptional timing, Roger and his band sucked us in to that Floyd zone and then with a short intermission flew us all to the Dark Side of the Moon. Many thanks to the band and Roger for keeping the fans happy.

The best show I've ever seen by far. Roger Waters is Pink Floyd.

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributor, James Shine

I am not a huge fan, but my brother is. He brought me to 3 concerts. The two in Massachusettes and the Jones Beach show.

I was a little let down at the Jones Beach show. The Mass shows really spoiled me as they were truely flawless in almost every sense (Waters did mess up the lyrics once, but it was okay). I don't know if it was because of the date or maybe it was the moisture filled air, but he started out with that gruff Live8 voice, but it improved as the concert went on. Even the lead female singer had noticeable problem hitting some notes. Again, I think it just it can be chaulked up to the heavy air.

Someone else mentioned the talking going on during the show. Yeah, it was pretty bad. I was seated down by the right side of the stage and I believe a guy treated his employees to the concert. He was going around through the show giving them candy and drinks chatting it up (they were spread out through the section). But when Roger started in with the political stuff, these guys became angry. I heard things like "Sing your songs and get the Fuck out of my country" and "A millionare Leftist, who would have imagined." So for me, it became kind of uncomfortable after all that went down. These guys no longer clapped, no longer cheered, they just glared at the stage for the rest of the show. Lots of tension in that section.

Was the pig intentionally released? I know there is a bit of showmanship to take into account, but to me it appeared the heavy wind pulled the pig out of the grasp of the guys walking it around. One end broke free, there was a struggle, a gust of wind came and it was pulled the rest of the way. Roger was just to my left at the time and he had this look of shock on his face. It could have been staged, but I wouldn't rule out it being an accident.

The kids on the stage was a nice touch. I know they were not singing, and that is okay. It was display. Their shirts read "Fear Builds Walls" in 1980's-esque large lettering (think RELAX). My guess is Roger knew the crowd he was playing to that evening and had to drive the point home even further.

It figures, I see three shows and I mostly remember the bad stuff. Honestly, the Massachusettes shows have blended together in my mind and I can only seperate them on certain parts of the show as my seat was almost exactly in the same spot both nights and the show was consistantly great. But, I know if I attend another Waters show, I will never go back to Long Island. While the venue was nice, some of the people could stand to use some improvement.

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributor, Patrick Neglia

This is my second review of Roger Waters as I posted a review over the Summer when I attended a Roger Waters' Show in Cork, Ireland, during the European leg of his tour. This will be a review of the Jones Beach Show which took place in a light drizzle. "Atmospheric" conditions according to Roger who thanked everyone for coming out. (I also saw RW at Madison Square Garden on 9/13). The Jones Beach Show was the most enjoyable for me as I was seated in the center of the Theatre and experienced the full effect of the sound system swirling around the venue. The rain and the lightning in the distance actually did enhance the experience. Nick Mason was missing from the Beach Show. I was fortunate though to catch Nick on two of the three Shows which I attended.

"Leaving Beirut" was received much more favorably at the Beach than at MSG. (By the way, the fans loved the Anti-Bush message in Ireland). Personally, I am 100% in favor of Roger's decision to get his political message across. He did not stand on a soap box and lecture his fans. His political views were expressed through his lyrics with the aid of incredible and well thought out visuals and props. The pig launching at Jones Beach complete with Anti-Bush graffiti was very well-received by everyone around me. As our friends at Guinness would say: "Brilliant."

The pyrotechnic stage display at the conclusion of "In The Flesh" and during "Sheep" while the Pig was now floating westerly along Long Island's South Shore was a memorable experience. The fireball explosions during the extended version of "Bring the Boys Back Home" during the encore also immeasurably added to the experience. The visuals were top notch. Especially enjoyed the visuals to "Have A Cigar" and "Fletcher Memorial Home." The backdrop High Definition Screen complete with old style radio, ash tray/cigarette smoke, bottle with nearby glass of whiskey... all very clever and it kept the masses entertained before the Concert even started. The lighting of the ceremonial candle during "Wish You Were Here" and the colorized and distorted pictures of Syd Barrett during "Shine On" also very moving.

RW plays to the audience with amazing conviction. He delivers each and every song with the utmost passion. Even when the vocals are being delivered by Dave Kilminster or Jon Carin, Roger can be seen walking the length of the stage along the perimeter and mouthing his famous lyrics. His facial expressions and body language while he plays the bass are worth the price of admission alone. He is an incredible showman and looks to be enjoying himself immensely throughout the entire Show. RW should never have given the lead vocals away on the studio version of "Have A Cigar." That song is perfectly suited for his singing voice. (My brother correctly pointed this out to me after seeing him on 9/16 at the Tweeter Centre).

The "Band is just fantastic." Dave Kilminster nailed the guitar solos. Snowy White and Andy Fairweather Low, while certainly less prominent than Kilminster, also played exceptionally well. Jon Carin has obviously made himself indispensable to both David Gilmour and Roger Waters. He is a talented keyboard player and master of the slide guitar ("Breathe" and "Great Gig").

The "Dark Side of the Moon" was extremely moving. The music and visuals were so powerful that I will not even attempt to describe the experience of listening to it performed live, though I must note that I was in awe of Carol Kenyon's vocal performance on "Great Gig In The Sky" ...which reminds me, all three female vocalists were amazing and featured prominently at several points during the Concert. The sax player, Ian Ritchie, also played incredibly well and was featured prominently during several Pink Floyd classics.

The Jones Beach Show was the most enjoyable Concert I've ever been to. Roger Waters has created a body of work over the last four decades which transcends time. That fact is reinforced after attending any one of his Shows on this 2006 tour. I have read several concert reviews and note that most fans have had a positive experience. As for the fans that have not enjoyed these performances because its politically charged, you need to lighten up a little. Otherwise, go see "The Wiggles."

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributor, Matt Parish

How special is a rainbow at night?

A rare occurrence indeed, but a fitting one that welcomed Roger Waters and company on this very wet, but enchanted evening.

Traversing pond-like puddles and horizontal rain the multitude of fans were treated to this meteorological unicorn upon entering the Jones Beach parking lot. This was the first of many things this evening to leave me in a state of awe. What impressed me was that no one was complaining about the weather or even thinking about leaving. When the lightning crashed folks just turned their car CD players louder and opened another beer.

At around 8:30 when the rain had slowed and late arriving fans got settled Roger took the stage to perform a stellar first half of some truly incredible music aided by his famous circle screen of marvelous images.

Opening with The Wall’s, “In The Flesh” Roger greeted and outed his audience to their enthusiastic delight. “Mother” was next and the comforting sing-song chorus seemed to blanket everyone protecting them from the threatening elements. Roger’s heartfelt tribute to Syd Barrett came in the form of, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and “Wish You Were Here”. This was extremely moving and played in front of a montage of clips warmly remembering our recently departed genius.

The Final Cut was represented with the beautiful, “Southampton Dock” and “The Fletcher Memorial Home” and these songs along with, “Perfect Sense parts 1 and 2 helped to ease into the tricky “political” part of the show. “Leaving Beirut” a new song, was assisted on screen with a comic book recreation of a personal event that inspired Roger and it’s lyrics which were visible from the upper seats made the audience think as well about our government’s policies abroad. “Sheep” closed the first half but not before it saw Roger taking one last shot at our faltering leadership. An inflatable pig was brought out and let into the air with all sorts of Democratic slogans and warnings spray painted on it, complete with an “Impeach Bush” tattoo on the animal’s backside. After a fifteen minute intermission Roger came back on and gave us, “The Dark Side of the Moon” in its entirety. Do I have to say anymore? Those lucky enough to be there felt the blessing.

The evenings encore was a spectacular 1,2,3,4 punch of, “The Happiest Days of Our Lives”, “Another Brick In The Wall (Pt 2)”, “Vera”, “Bring the Boys Back Home” and “Comfortably Numb”. After nearly three hours of unforgettable sights and sounds the show was over and it was, “time to goooooo” but while sitting in the parking lot waiting for traffic to thin, everybody got a chance to reflect back on what a truly rare evening this was. From the rainbow to the lightning to the pig flying high, we all received the message clear….from the stage and from above.

SHOW REVIEW - by BD contributer, Scot J. Peluso

WOW!!!

That was the first and only response I could come up with when asked, while walking back to our car after the show, what I had thought of the performance.  It still is the first word I think of 3 days later.  Of course, having a chance to digest it I have finally loosened up a few more words to describe the show.

I have been concert going for nearly 30 years and have seen all the different Genres.  This ranks up with PF in Toronto at the Exhibition Center (a LONG time ago) as perhaps the best show I have ever seen.  There was – as alluded to in previous reviews – a certain energy both in the crowd and the band.  The weather could have been better (sorry all you thousands, but we were among the lucky few to be under the second level overhang so we were quite dry the whole show) and the wind did blow a bit, but from the folks I talked with after the show, most of them forgot about the rain at the start of the show.  Such was the impact of Roger and Band.

Other reviews have panned the set list a bit.  That is an opinion thing, so those folks aren’t wrong.  Can any of us imagine being so popular that you struggle over which of your kabillion songs you are going to include in any given tour?  I thought the set list was fine.  I am sure most of us knew we were going to see Dark Side Of The Moon and whatever else Roger decided to throw in.  In this age of Internet I chose NOT to look at the set list before hand and was rewarded by a few surprises.

I guess I never EVER expected to hear Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun live and in concert.  That was a REAL treat.  Most of the rest of set 1 contained songs I figured he would play.  However I thought that adding Southampton Dock and Fletcher Memorial Home with Perfect Sense was a timely inclusion considering the world of current events.  Leaving Beirut was the weak point to me.  I just thought it wasn’t that great a song.  I am not afraid of someone’s political opinion.  Hey, we are Americans here, folks.  It is our right, and those “Boys (and girls) to be brought back home” have/are/will died/dying/die to secure that right for us.  So when we get a celebrity that is pointing a political finger, we need to remember the manners our parents taught us and let them have their say.  Again, we have the right to an opinion, and we also have the right to ignore it.  We don’t have to act like children the minute we are confronted with something we don’t like…  The Boo-birds we out on this night, but not that many, and there was cheering going on as well.  I have to say the cheers seemed to outnumber the boos by a nice big amount.

Dark Side of The Moon was nothing short of an epiphany for me, musically, and may be the reason I rank this show so high on my list of favorite concerts.  It has already become cliché, but to get to hear it live was a concert moment I don’t see being “Eclipsed” any time soon.  Since I get to go to about one show a year these days, it could be that I am just very excited to have been able to go to any show.  However, since we saw Santana and Los Lonely Boys the following night at the same venue, and they were not nearly as good, I feel my review is not too biased by infrequent concert going.

I thought that Snowy White was quite on tonight.  This opinion isn’t in line with reviews of some of the other shows on this tour, but I thought he was into it and played very well.  Andy Fairweather-Low came to play as did Dave Kilminster, Jon Carin and the rest of the band.

The Girls were awesome, and GGITS sounded great.  In fact, I thought that version sounded more full and powerful than other versions I have heard from the tour, even though I thought, as other reviewers had, that the heavy, humid air did take a nibble out of vocals, but when it came down to it, PP Arnold did a great job on Perfect Sense, and all in all it seemed as if the ensemble had one of those shows where everything worked very well.  There was a synergy (appropriate term even if it is now overused…) that night where it really seemed that the output of the band was greater than the sum of its parts.  Unlike some of the earlier shows in the tour, there were no technical difficulties.  It would have been nice to have seen Nick Mason on drums but that wasn’t to be on this night.  Still, getting to see one of the best albums of all time played as the second set of an incredible show was something I will not forget.  My kids helped me prepare for the show by watching,”In The Flesh Live” 5 or 6 times leading up to the show.  Now, we have to be patient and hope that Roger will put out a DVD of this tour so we can get that as well.  To echo the words of my 9 year old music loving daughter, “Dad, that Roger Waters has a pretty tight band.  They really rip it up!!!”

My thoughts exactly.