Capacity: 35,000
Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: Batavierenweg 25, 6841 HN Arnhem, Netherlands. MAP

Website: www.gelredome.nl

COMMENTS

Roger's tour of The Wall arrives in The Netherlands, at a venue that Roger played in back in 2007, so will be familiar to him. Following this show, the production moves down to Hungary.

The RogerWaters.com presales began the week starting Monday, May 31st, with advance tickets available to those who had registered their interest in particular cities. General sale tickets will go on sale from June 4th through LiveNation.nl. The public sale will also see a limited number of VIP packages made available for each show on the tour. Our thanks to Eric van Dorland for 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, and what happened as the night unfolded!

Night eleven of the tour, and the production has now arrived in The Netherlands, where three nights are being performed in Arnhem. If you went to this show, please let us know what you thought of the event, and if anything interesting or different happened if you've been to previous shows and can compare.

The concert was covered by de Gelderlander, and a video report can be seen through this link. Our thanks to Kees Nijpels for this info.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Ron Oud

Last night April 8th was the kick off in the Netherlands. The first of three concerts at the Gelredome in Arnhem. Beautiful weather the whole day and at 5 pm it was surprising to see a helicopter land and Roger stepping out!

I saw the The Wall in Dortmund in 1981, on the 15th February and now once again 30 years later. Basically the show has the same big impact on the crowd but of course the technique has much improved. That makes it even more impressive, you will have to be there to feel this really.

Roger and the band played well and they as well as the crowd were enjoying the show from the beginning till the end. For me especially was great to see the picture of my mother projected on the wall as one of the fallen loved ones. Thank you Roger and band for this wonderful evening!

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Richard Hendry

OK, I'll keep this brief because most of it has been said before in earlier, excellent reviews. Sorry this is a bit late but I'm just back home (Scotland) from a trip to see this concert with my wife, 15 year old daughter and two old friends. My wife and I saw The Wall in '80 &'81 (Earls Court) and '90 (Berlin). This was different again, but worth every penny and every minute of the long journey. We had good seats (pre-booked through the fan site) quite near the front, but off to one side.

My friends and daughter (who hadn't seen it before) were blown away. I found it every bit emotional and emotive as the previous experiences.

Highlights for me were:

• Roger's duet with himself on Mother - kind of eary, and very touching.
• Empty Spaces - why did they ever leave this off the original album? (It's OK - it's a rhetorical question. I know why!)
• Nobody Home - gets me in the guts every time.
• C'Numb (of course) - fantastic guitar solo and animation!
• Outside the wall - the best version I've heard.

Overall, I think Roger was at his most relaxed and animated that I've seen him. Some find The Wall too pessimistic, but if nothing else (and it is undoubtedly a lot else), it's an advert for what we can aspire to at the age of 67!

That's it. I can't begin to sum up the experience. You'll get it if you're going. Finally, a wee tip from Scotland: If you have any say over where you sit or stand, aim for as near the middle as you can. The music is great everywhere, bt the impact of the visual show is definitely improved by a central position.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Remko

Just want to ad my 2 cents. I agree with Richard Hendry, not much can be added to all that can already be read about the music/performers. As I have only been to this show, I can't say who has improved his performance or who had a day off. And I don't think that is really important.

It is the enormous emotional impact of the show that can hardly be described and that should get you to attend a show if you have the possibility to do so. We sat in the back of the stadium but I have never been so impressed by any concert I have ever seen. Too bad I am not a native english speaker and writer, so I don't have enough words to describe the show/experience at the right level. It is just amazing how the show manages to get under everybodys skin.

The Gelredome has a 30,000+ audience, but it was an amazing experience that felt enormous and very intimate at the same time.

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Mike Ford

Arnhem on a Thursday afternoon for the first of two gigs. Or Wageningen, to be precise on a beautiful, sunny afternoon, lovely location, in the middle of a forest, miles and miles from anywhere. Even further from the Gelredome. Nice one, Mikey, good planning! (Note to self, the Best Western might be a glass and concrete box, but it is in Arnhem)! Settled in, room service, then sleep.

After a late breakfast, a leisurely glass of wine or three followed, on the hotel terrace, watching myriads of fit, bicycling type people either stopping for healthy fruit juices or just whizzing past on their 'bikes, we left at 4pm to get to the gig. Taxi to station, train to Arnhem, then 4€ shuttle bus from outside the station to the football ground. Picked tickets up from box office, compliments again to the website team, painless and almost tout proof. Very well organised.

Spied the beer tent and stood in queue for forty minutes, only to be told "tokens only" when I got to the front. Thank you so much, to the Dutch guy who took pity on me and gave me one of his beers, whilst heartily laughing, slapping me on the back and pointing me in the direction of "munten", the beer token kiosk. Spent twenty minutes in another queue to get tokens, then went back to queue again for beer. What a tw*t!

Seats were fantastic, on the opposite side from Barcelona and up a bit, cracking view. Sat next to what seemed like an amateur film crew, all dressed in matching black, one guy watching out for pigs, etc who would then warn the camera man, with camera on a tripod, and a girl with a list and a brief description of the songs in the set. Organised, or what? Crowd seemed very reserved, listening rather than joining in, oblivious to the two Brits in section 121 singing their heads off!

Roger told us all of his complete stumping when asked to say "hello and welcome" in Dutch, a bit like ourselves when asking the taxi driver to take us to the train station, Ede Wageningen! No wonder he said, "fuck it, you're on your own!" (Roger, not the taxi driver). Lovely, lovely people but such a tongue twisting language.

Projections on the Wall were simply stunning, and now we knew what to look for, it was incredible just watching what seemed like an organic show, bringing to life a clinical brick wall, and without giving too much away, when Roger head butts the wall during C'numb, the projection goes from b&w to colour, well…………

Would like to say journey back was easy, but 25,000 or so people trying to get on the same shuttle bus was not our idea of heaven, happily a train and taxi journey was tempered by one of the most fantastic kebabs ever eaten, safely ensconced in our hotel room whilst watching parts of the show on camera.

Saturday night, same again, except without the queuing and a larger kebab!

I Wanted to encapsulate the night in fewer lines, so was inspired to write the following-

Getting to hotel
Getting room service
Getting pissed
Getting stoned,
Sleep.
Getting to breakfast
Getting – anywhere from middle of nowhere
Getting to gig
Getting beer
Getting munten
Getting beer
Getting seats
Seeing gig,
half time chips
a flying pig
Getting bus
Getting train
Getting kebab
Getting taxi
Getting home
Watching gig on iphone
Getting pissed, getting naked
Getting stoned
Sleep
Taxi, train, metro, train, plane, car then home. Brilliant. Next stop, Oslo.

CONCERT REVIEWS and PICTURES by other BD CONTRIBUTORS

Hopefully coming soon - we welcome all contributions!

YOUR HELP NEEDED! We want to cover Roger's concerts the best we can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. We'd love to see ANY pictures, tickets scans, reviews, newspaper reports, and anything else you come across for this show - we look forward to hearing from you!