Capacity: 23,000
Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: Northwall Quays, Dublin 1, Ireland. MAP

Website: www.theo2.ie

COMMENTS

Roger's tour of The Wall arrives in the Emerald Isle, at the O2 Arena in Dublin. A couple of days break follow as the production hops back into mainland Europe for the concert in Belgium. Our thanks to Tony Manto for the first of the ticket scans shown to the right, and to Gary Holderness for the second of the scans to the right.

For tonight's concert, 14 pupils from St Joseph's co-education school in East Wall, Dublin, will join Waters on stage for Another Brick in the Wall. According to their teacher, Jennifer Savage, the irony of the chorus has not been lost on the kids. “We are taking the fun side of it, we haven't gone into the meaning of it. [The kids] think the line 'hey teacher leave those kids alone' is very funny.”

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 went on sale on June 4th through this direct link to Ticketmaster. The public sale will also see a limited number of VIP packages made available for each show on the tour.

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 thirty-six of the tour, and the first of two nights in Ireland. We got reports from the show at Intermission that the show wasn't going entirely to plan...for some reason, the volume was very low, which resulted in the crowd crying out for it to be turned up! Hopefully this will be addressed for tomorrow evening's show at the same venue, although it might be a regulatory requirement of the local authorities, restricting the overall volume. If you went to this show in Dublin, 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.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Tony Mirolo

Wow! Wow! Wow! What a fantastic show, both visually and technically. I did think it was a bit quiet at first but as the show went on I didn't notice, well, not from where I was standing (just left of the light/sound stage).

My brothers ranted and raved about The Wall for decades after seeing it in Earls Court back in the 80s and now I can do the same. I couldn't believe I was experiencing such a mind boggling show.

If this concert is visiting your country... Just GO! Thank you Roger Waters for bringing this show to Dublin.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, David Holloway

I took my boys (6 and 8) to see the Wall in Dublin on the 23rd of May. It was an indescribably special experience to share with them a moment that I dreamt but thought would never fulfil.

The venue was filled to capacity and I sensed that the entire audience was both in awe of, and overwhelmed by, the pummelling intensity of the combined package of lyrics, imagery, light show and effects. It struck me as more theatre than rock show and I noted how dwarfed the performers were (deliberately so, I think) by the scale of the presentation, they were relatively anonymous and this added to the impact of the message and imagery.

My very high expectations were met in full by the scale and technological wizardry of the event- truly incomparable as an audio visual experience and much like a political rally/religious revival with the emotional ups and downs of rage, anger, frustration, lust fear, paranoia, identification and importantly- ultimately hope and redemption. I felt myself emptied, filled and emptied over again by the experience.

A message and a spectacle for our times.

Highlights- Spartacus, the opening barrage, mother, the school kids, comfortably numb, honouring the dead of all sides and none during the interval, the audience sense of participation in the event, everyone singing along word perfect, the wall crashing down at the end, the personal interaction of Roger with audience, 'God bless you Dublin', the consistent quality of the music and sound."

Thank you Roger.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Michael Donnan

Went to the opening night of Roger's appearance at the O2 in Dublin accompanied by my 18 year old daughter; whose knowledge of Pink Floyd extended to the songs “Comfortably Numb” and “Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2”. I was hoping her interest would be much increased by the end of the night but to be honest I didn't know what to expect.

I needn't have worried – the whole experience was fantastic. Roger was in fine voice (I had concerns he might not be) – the giant puppets (including the well received flying pig), video and animation and the wall itself were an incredible sight. The latter produced an amazing display – the ever changing colours and animations being shown on a backdrop over 30 feet tall, whilst the wall itself was slowly being constructed during the first part of the show is something I will never forget. I don't feel I can sufficiently put into words what an experience this concert was – it is like nothing you will ever have witnessed before (and are likely to again).

My only gripe was with the location of my seats in the balcony – having pre-ordered before general release I was expecting a good central view of the stage but instead we found ourselves way over to the right, looking at the stage from an oblique angle. This meant we could not really see the big circular screen during the show and whilst this did not detract from our overall enjoyment (there was so much else to see), it meant we did not see things like the flowers scene (which I was looking forward to). Anyway that is more a criticism of the O2 arena itself and probably this is not a concern for other venues. I will see it all properly on the DVD which I hope is not too far away!!

Regarding the complaints of the sound quality – we experienced no such problems – the music and vocals were crystal clear (and loud!!) where we were sitting and I suspect this might only be a problem experienced in certain areas – maybe in the standing section?

The show got off to an explosive start with fireworks going off to the beat of “The Thin Ice” and then the Stuka (disappointingly small) crashing into the top bricks of the wall. From then on it was an incredible show – the teacher puppet was fantastic – he was huge compared to the kids on stage who were from a local school and performed their parts brilliantly.

I am no prude but I thought Roger could have toned down the “Young Lust” video a bit. It was verging a little on the pornographic and it perhaps could have been a bit more suggestive or titillating rather than in your face but maybe I'm alone in this view.

The highlights for me are too many to mention but we really enjoyed the Comfortably Numb section and Run like Hell and the sequence where the hammers marched across the huge wall. The technology today compared to 30 years ago meant this was spectacular. We also enjoyed the duet Roger did with himself on “Mother” using film from the 1980 show – this was a nice touch and it was also nice to hear Roger talking about how he has changed from the troubled man he was then. He also had kind words for the Dublin crowd who “encouraged him to keep going” when he got such a welcome from them in his 2002 tour.

I will sign off by encouraging anyone who has not gone yet to try to go to one of the remaining shows – it may be expensive but it is worth every penny. My daughter is now a huge fan and wanting to borrow my Pink Floyd back catalogue. Thank you Roger and all involved in the show for a fantastic night!!! The show is that complex that so much could have gone wrong but it was flawless.

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Martin Kilbride

First night of two...in we went, slightly left of stage, and were gobsmacked by the length of the partially constructed Wall. We then truly gathered this was going to be a lot to take in.

Lights down, an overture of sorts in the shape of 'I'm Spartacus', some 'In The Flesh' trumpet playing, and then BANG! Fireworks, smoke, blinding lights, Nazi-type foot men rising on platforms bearing crossed hammer banners, then himself appears, arms in air, genuinely happy to be playing for us to deafening roars from the fans who have waited 30 years to see this again, but most of whom have never seen its like before.

'LIGHTS!' Blinding beams from the stage soak the crowd. 'ROLL THE SOUND EFFECTS!' Stuka bombers are heard in surround sound above and behind you, far louder than the crowd, from left to far right. 'ACTION!' Roger calls for action, and to 'Drop it on them', as the stage is showered in sparks, smoke and fire. Suddenly, a dive bomber launches overhead and flies over the crowd and crashes into a ball of flames on stage.

All this on the first number! This was stuff I only read about in various Floyd volumes, and to see it in front of me was a lot to take in.

Inflatable familiars in the form of the teacher, the mother and wife followed, along with bricks being added to the construction, each one lighting up slightly as they're added. Amazing projections and animation, a very clever 'duet' for Mother, flying pigs, guitar solos atop the Wall, Pink's hotel room in the wall, corporate logo confetti, and of course, the wall comes crashing down.

A total feast for the eyes, in fact all the senses. We went on both nights, just as well, as it was so much to take in once.

Roger has never forgotten his Irish fans as he has always come here on his recent tours. He was also able to remember the date he last played at this venue, pre O2 when it was the Point Depot, citing the date he was there and where the stage was also. This is possibly something he did at other venues to please his crowd, but it worked.

He also told a story of Floyd driving late one night from Belfast to Cork in the 60's and being stopped by a gardaí (Irish police officer) and getting a telling off for driving to fast as he 'could have run over a drunk fellah'. I knew this story to be true as he recalled it in a recent Classic Rock interview.

Two observations: on night one, during Waiting for the Worms, Robbie Wyckoff sung 'Would you like to send our coloured cousins home again', while on the second night he sung 'our southern cousins'. Was there a complaint?

Secondly, when the Wall was brought down on the first night it fell backwards, onto the stage. It fell forwards towards the crowd on night two. Which was great, because when the lights went up, I made a grab for one of the white cardboard souviners, but was quickly told in colourful language by one of the stagehands where I should go!

Was this the best concert I ever saw? No.
It was the best concert I ever saw...twice.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Simon Wimpenny

This venue is unique! It's like no other arena I've seen! It's like an amphitheatre but it's indoors. It has an area for standing on the floor but the first (and only) balcony is very close to the stage and as myself and James found out its fantastic place to see the show from.

Kevin, myself, and James took our place by the left hand side of the stage right in front of Dave K. Jackie and Dave were up in the balcony as Kevin had managed to get seated tickets for them. From the second that In The Flesh started I could tell the sound wasn't as it usually was. It sounded a touch muffled and was very VERY quiet. The crowd had obviously noticed too as at the quiet part before the beginning of Mother I heard chants of "turn it up, turn it up" coming from the rear of the audience. With the exception of the sound the show was fantastic. The crowd were great and started to sing along at every chance they had.

For the second half of the show James and I decided to go and sit on the balcony; I had spotted four spare seats that had been free the whole of the first half. We made our way up there, Jackie and Dave spotted us and came to sit in the two other empty seats next to us. It was evident after the first 20 seconds that the sound up here was way better than down on the floor, I'm sure they had maybe tweaked something during the intermission and was told at the second show by my friend Shane on the tour that they had added more speakers for the second night.

It was fantastic to be more or less level with Dave K and Robbie while they were on top of the wall, I'll add some pictures to the 2nd show review I do to give you an idea of the seating set up.

Make sure you check out Simon's blog at SimonWimpenny.blogspot.com where you'll find full details of all his travels, along with more pictures and videos.

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!