Capacity: 13,000

Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: 7300 116th Ave, Edmonton, T5B 4M9, Canada.  MAP

Website: www.rexall-place.com

Tickets for this concert went on sale on February 24th, through www.ticketmaster.ca, and other normal agents.

Our thanks to Richard Guilbault for sending over the ticket scan, shown to the right...

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Do not read on if you don't want surprises to be spoilt, regarding what the band played!

With the tour entering its final stages - there's incredibly just eight full shows left, plus the Live Earth appearance - time is running out if you want to catch the show which has wowed audiences worldwide!

We've had some great pictures from the Edmonton show from some of the kind souls that attended (see below), and now we've had more comments and reviews from kind BD visitors. It is people like you that make BD what it is!

We understand that various members of the band and crew have been checking them out on a very regular basis as the tour has progressed, and have appreciated all the contributions thus far.

Finally, to see what the local press thought of it, read the scan of the Edmonton Sun (click the thumbnail to the right) which Michael Speke kindly sent in....

CONCERT PICTURES - courtesy of BD contributer, Michael Speke

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES - courtesy of BD contributer, Richard Guilbault

WOW. Words cannot say enough as to how great of a show this was! I had seen The Police here in town earlier this month, and that in itself was a great experience. So now I had another show coming up (being the wonderful Mr. Roger Waters here) that I was hoping would really be as great, if not better than the Police show. And it indeed was!

The show had actually started about half an hour late, as the band were themselves late for soundcheck, not having arrived until 5:50PM (the show having been due to start at 8PM).

Entering the venue, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the radio display on the HD screens from the back. It was SO realistic, as I had heard about before, so I sort of had been expecting that. However, I was in front row for the show (thanks to one of the guys at K-Rock, who traded one of their front row seats for my 5th row seat - thank you guys!! - when the draw winner never showed up to claim his front row tickets), so I was more focused on the band members themselves than I was on the screen during the concert, however much the visuals themselves were excellent and awe-inspiring. (And a note to people with front row seats for future shows: Beware the pyrotechnics ;-) )

As for the concert itself: Friggin' A!! It was a very great experience! No need to go into most of the details, as most of the reviews on BD here will give you a general idea of the concerts itself ;-) I was worried that the late start would result in songs being dropped from the setlist, but fortunately that didn't seem to happen.

The performances were excellent. Can't say I noticed any major flubs in playing. However, I CAN confirm that there was indeed some miming that was somewhat noticeable during: Have A Cigar (REALLY apparent when he missed the second "woo!"), The Fletcher Memorial Home, Sheep, and BTBBH. During parts of these, he didn't seem to be fully putting effort on the physical movements of his mouth that would normally really show that he's indeed singing loud and high. I kind of suspected a bit of miming in a couple of other spots, but he did a pretty good job of making it difficult even for me in front row to tell for sure. (Most of the concert was still "live" though :P )

And DSotM...omfg, that was AMAZING seeing it live! And the girl who sang TGGITS (Carol Kenyon) was pretty much right in front of me when she was singing it...OMG, you HAVE to see and hear it to believe how amazing it was! (And I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the strap on the right shoulder of her dress was *really* partially falling down her arm....ohhhhh my ;-) )

But overall, I can't say I have any complaints about the show at all! The sound was great, as were the visuals. And the band members were on top form! Oh and of course, THE pig! Was really cool to see the pig coming out from stage right during "Sheep". Was a bit bigger than I thought, lol!

I would definitely go to another RW show if I had the chance. Hopefully he may come back on another future tour....we'll see, maybe or maybe not :)

If you are anywhere near the cities/venues that he is playing in for the short amount of time left on the tour, GO SEE HIM! :)

CONCERT COMMENTS and PICTURES - courtesy of BD contributer, Chris Downey

Not much to say really about the show, it was absolutely amazing... there is no better experience. You have to see it to understand.

CONCERT REVIEW - by BD contributer, Doug Mitton

Well after years of listening to Roger Waters and Pink Floyd I must say that you, Roger Waters, and Syd, are the true sounds of Pink Floyd!! Wow this was my biggest concert of my life, and at my age I’ve seen a lot of big name concerts. So to cut this short Thank you Roger Waters for allowing me to be able to say Yes I’ve seen the master of concerts and will always be a great fan of the past and future of ROGER WATERS!!!!

CONCERT PICTURES - courtesy of BD contributer, Douglas Mitchell

CONCERT REVIEW - by BD contributer, Andrew B

Let me start by saying this is the second time I've seen Roger Waters. The first was on the In The Flesh tour in Toronto in 1999.  For that show, I was sitting very far back, up on the lawn.  Well for this show (Edmonton), I ignored the money factor, and bought the best tickets I could...  Floor seats.  Row 24, to be exact.  Not right up at the front, but still on the floor, and close enough that there was no (annoying) delay between what I was hearing and what I was seeing (often happens for far away seats).  That slow speed of sound...  Anyway...

Being a HUGE Neil Young fan, I couldn't have been more pleased to hear his greatest hits cd playing over the PA when I arrived.  I arrived early too, so I listened to a good half hour of it or so.  Then the "movie" started. The music playing became 50s music.  The hand reached up and changed the station.  I'm sure it's been said in other reviews, but I can't tell you how funny I thought it was when Abba started playing, and the hand quickly reached up to change it.  I was very thankful.  But then more Abba... and more Abba!

Too funny.

After maybe 10-15 minutes of the radio/hand "movie", the lights went out, and they came on stage.  In the Flesh. Awesome.  Loud.  The sound quality was the best I've heard it in this venue (and I've been to many shows at this venue).  Having seen him before, I wasn't incredibly excited to hear the songs I had already heard live before, but it was the "new" ones that got me really excited.  Set the Controls (it wasn't played at the Toronto 1999 show, even though it showed up later in that tour)!!!  Ummagumma (the live disc) is the album that got me into Pink Floyd in the first place.  Hearing Set the Controls live was like nothing else.  That song means so much to me, personally.  I first heard it as a teenager, during my musical formative years.  To hear the man who wrote it singing it to me...  just too much for words.  And it was SO cool to hear Roger singing Have a Cigar.  It fits his voice very well.  Sheep was really cool.

The giant pig...  how can you top that?

But what really hit me was Fletcher Memorial Home.  I LOVE the Final Cut. Last time he did two short songs from that album.  This time, he did one short and one long song from it. And the long song (FMH) sounded incredible.  It was like the album version, but it shined more.  It sparkled.  It sounded beautiful, and had so much emotion.  I found it both funny and a bit of a shame that everyone got up for beer/bathroom breaks during this part of the show.  I didn't care too much though.  I will never understand why people drink beer at concerts.  They will always have to leave at some point to go to the bathroom and miss part of it.  I'll NEVER understand that.  I guess they're not music lovers; just music enjoyers?  They can tolerate missing part of the concert that they paid dearly for just to get a little more light-headed.  meh.

***begin rant:

And let me digress for one moment here and state something which did bother me about the show.  There was too much smoke from the stoner audience.  I don't care how many "floydheads" like to smoke up and listen to their favourite music, but when you do that at a concert, it can spoil the experience for someone else.  I DON'T want to smoke up and listen.  I just want to listen.  And anyone who wants to, has to realize that everyone who doesn't want to is still going to have to smell it, and cough, and all the rest.  Maybe some people enjoy punching other people in the face while they listen to music!  But they can't do that, because it detracts from the show to those who they punch!  Same principle here. Have some respect and courtesy for your fellow human beings and music lovers.  PLEASE.  I don't know if this is the Rexall staff's fault for not doing anything about it, but it did detract from the show.  Maybe you could just smoke up at home and then come to the concert?  Sorry for the rant.

***end rant.

OK, back to the music.  I'm really only discussing the songs that were new to me, as I sort of mentioned before.  Leaving Beirut sounded great.  Way better than the recorded version I heard.  The comic strip backdrop was really cool.  And the word bubbles over Roger's head, and then the three word bubbles over the backup singers.  It was funny.  But the song was great, and it had a great message.

After Sheep was the intermission.  15 minutes, as a moon showed on the screen and got bigger and bigger (very slowly).  Dark Side of the Moon started.  Awesome.  Sounded perfect.  On the Run was really cool.  The intro to Time sounded great.  Cool to see Roger doing his tick-tock thingy on his bass.  Great Gig in the Sky was better than on the album.  So nice. Money, yeah yeah.  US AND THEM!!!  so nice.  That song always just hits me right here.  And when I hear it live, it hits even harder.  That song was definitely one of the highlights (along with Fletcher, and Set the Controls).  Any Colour You Like was similarly awesome.  BD/Eclipse was more powerful than on the last tour.

Encore break.

The encore was good.  Got everyone moving with the beat to Another Brick II.  Vera was so cool to hear live.

So?  The concert was beyond perfect.  11/10!!  All the marijuana smoke did bother me, but other than that....  ok, so maybe that brings it down to 10/10.

I'd just love for Roger to do a small theatre tour.  Like 2000-seat venues. And NOT play some classic PF album, but only his solo stuff (where was pros and cons, kaos?), and maybe the Final Cut.  Hell, even a Final Cut tour!!  I'd love that even more than a Dark Side Tour.  I'm sure there would be less general interest, but that's good, because there would have to be if we want smaller venues.  And for those who WOULD be interested, the interest would be great.  And the show would (in my opinion) even top this one.  Yes, one can dream.

But thanks, Roger.  Your show was awesome.

CONCERT REVIEW - by BD contributer, Glenn Usher

I have been a fan of Roger Waters while he was still in Pink Floyd so when they broke up I felt my chances of ever seeing him live in Canada were nil.

So when I found out he was coming to Edmonton with a line-up of great musicians I made sure my two older sons got seats as well. This was their first concert and I think the bar may have been set too high for their future concert going experience.

I have been going to concerts for almost 30 years and I thought I had seen it all, but Roger and the band re-defined the concert experience to me.

After Pink changed the giant radio’s dial a few times the lights went out and Roger walked out. With a play by play announcer in the background Roger yelled the intro from Waiting for the Worms and then the band burst into In the Flesh. The hammers had returned and the crowd went wild. Roger had two large screens on either side of the stage that showed off the people he was picking out of the crowd. “There’s one smoking a joint” as the camera jumped to the guy a few rows in front of me who was really smoking a joint. We felt teleported into the experience as they music went on. The song ended with some fireworks and everything went dark.

Then Roger started Mother as quickly as it starts on The Wall. His choice of a female lead in mother seemed odd at first since I was so use to Gilmour’s voice in that part, but after a short time it seemed to fit as a mothers voice should. Set the Controls was the next song and the backdrop burned away as we were taken back to the psychedelic past. Next up was Shine On and Snowy White stepped into the spotlight to lead us into that great song.

Next up was Have a Cigar. I always wanted to hear Roger sing this song live and I was not disappointed. The song ended just as it did on the album with everything going quiet and the focus was shifted to the giant radio behind the stage.

A few dial changes and we were at Wish You Were Here which was a highlight for this crowd. They all started singing and the lighters were everywhere. The crowd grew a little lost over the next few numbers Southampton Dock, The Fletcher Memorial Home, and Perfect Sense, Parts 1 and 2, but P.P. Arnold woke them back up with her amazing voice. It was a real pleasure to see her live.

After a massive explosion that we could all feel the heat from Roger took some time to talk to us and introduce Leaving Beirut. A great song to see live. The talking parts of the song were played out with comic pages on the screen and all the lyrics were displayed so everyone could still sing along. The final song of the set was Sheep and they saved the best for last. It was almost overwhelming by the time the pig was released into the air. A very surreal experience for me and the band really made the song come alive.

Roger took a 15 minute break and promised to return for the Dark Side of the Moon - the second set. I would really have trouble putting the experience into words. It something that must be seen live in ones lifetime.

Some major highlights were Roger’s bass playing (Money and Time), Graham Broad playing his life out for the intro of Time, Jon Carin’s amazing keyboard and vocal work and Carol Kenyon stopping the show with The Great Gig in the Sky. To my surprise On the Run was one of the best numbers played. It seemed as if Roger let the entire band re-interpret the entire Album and it sounded better than it ever has to me. There’s something to be said for letting musicians this good have their way. After it was over they left us all standing in awe of what just transpired before us. No one would sit down or be quiet until we got more and so Roger and the band returned.

Roger thanked us all and introduced his entire band. Then you could hear the helicopter noise….”You! Yes you! Stand still laddie!” and so our encore began.

Everyone in the house knew the lyrics to what was coming next and I don’t think I ever had so much fun singing “we don’t need no thought control”. Roger extended the song so the crowd could enjoy it a little longer. Bring the Boys back home was another great highlight with the war explosions and tribute to getting our boys home safely. Finally after a familiar “is there anybody out there” Comfortably Numb started. I always hoped that someday Roger would let Jon Carin do the Gilmour part and finally he did. It was the perfect end to an incredible evening.

I was always a little frustrated that I never saw Roger with Floyd, but now I am not. This is what I really needed to see. This was not the angry Roger of the Pink Floyd days. Throughout the entire show he was smiling, energetic and really working the crowd well. His singing was excellent and he seemed more alive than ever. His choice of artists to accompany him was excellent as well.

Many people will now want to check out P.P. Arnold, Jon Carin, Snowy White, Carol Kenyon, Andy Fairweather-Low and the rest of this line-up. I’ve seen recordings of old Floyd shows and Rogers’s solo videos but after this event I think we just may have seen Roger at his best.