Capacity: 75,000
Concert starts: 9:15pm

Address of venue: Stadio Olimpico, Via Foro Italico, 00194 Rome, Italy. MAP

(Stadium) Website: www.asroma.it

COMMENTS

Roger's second 2013 concert in Italy, at a stadium which he last performed at back in 2006. However, this show is scheduled to have a much larger audience - and staging - than the TDSOTM show presented seven years previously.

The RogerWaters.com presales have begun, with advance tickets available to those who had registered their interest in particular cities. General sale tickets are on sale through TicketOne.it and other outlets (exact dates and outlets can be found via Roger's website). The public sale will also see a limited number of VIP packages made available for each show on the tour. Our thanks to Allesandro for the ticket scan to the right.

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!

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 five of the tour, the second in Italy, and by all accounts a fantastic show in front of 70,000 fans.

As our friend Simon Wimpenny declared on his blog, this veteran of Roger's Wall shows was "Speechless!". He continued by saying that it was, for him, the "best show ever tonight! Out of the 127 I've seen, for me this was THE best one; Italy really did Roger proud."

The stadium in Rome:

His show report will hopefully follow, but we'd love to hear the thoughts of anyone else who also attended. How was the show for you? Please let us know!

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Simon Denton

Just seen Simon Wimpenny's initial comments about The Wall in Rome. Like Simon we have taken the opportunity of following this show to various destinations around the world over the last few years and would agree that last night's show in Rome was a sensation.

In terms of set list and performance, the show was the same as all the other Wall shows. To our great surprise, the show lent itself perfectly to the huge Olympic Stadium and worked incredibly well as an outdoor event. The additional width of the wall was put to good use with shots of Roger and other band members alongside the usual projections.

I read a previous review saying the band sounded tighter than ever and I would agree with this. The whole band put everything into it but Dave Kilminster continues to stand out as the star performer for me.

But what made the difference on a Sunday night in Rome (the concert didn't start until 2115) was the crowd.

You know the feeling you get when you walk into an event and sense that 70,000 people are really, really "up for it" ? Well, that was the feeling we got as we walked in. Respectful during the songs, letting rip between the songs...no constant stream of audience members going to and from the bars.

The band clearly enjoyed the appreciation Rome showed for an (almost) flawless performance and seemed to love the atmosphere. The only obvious error was Roger either missed the opening line of Nobody Home or his mic wasn't working properly.

At the very end of the show, during the "thank yous", the crowd filled the stadium with football style chants of "ole, ole, ole ole ole, ole, ole" which went on for so long that Roger joined in. The crowd continued chanting for so long, and the the stadium lights stayed off so long, we almost convinced ourselves that the band would come back for an impromptu encore. Alas it wasn't to be !

CONCERT REVIEW, PICTURES and VIDEO by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Simon Wimpenny

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

Upon entering the venue we had an incredible view of the wall and the area behind it — a unique view not normally seen at most venues.

     

 

   

The stadium was a fantastic venue built for the Rome Olympics, and I believe has a capacity of 85,000 when totally full! I’d guess that by the time the show started there were 68,000 people there to watch the show! I don't believe it was totally sold out, and there were a few people outside selling tickets and still tickets available online on the day of the show.

I wanted to take the whole show in again and sat at the side where I was able to see the whole of the floor area and the people in all the level all around the stadium.

Ole took some pictures from where they were stood on the floor, and it looks like they had a fantastic place. Thanks to Ole for the pictures below.

 

The same new Spartacus graphics came on after the pre show music tracks, and the reaction of the crowd even this early on was amazing. They went crazy screaming, shouting, chanting clapping — you name it they did it — anything they could do to show they were ready for the show!

 

The plane was mounted real high up on the back of the roof tonight, and the timing was just right as it hit the wall making the flames and smoke erupt behind the wall. I think that point was the loudest of all the music, explosion sound effects, and crowd screaming I have ever heard. It truly was totally deafening, even where I was. I can’t begin to imagine what it must have sounded like on the floor. Phil, Ole, and Glenn said afterwards it was absolutely incredible! Phil and Laila had gone in early to get a place near the rail, Stuart, Glenn and Ole had gone in an hour or two later, but made their way through to Phil and Laila by Glenn shouting out “Move to the side, I’m a doctor, let me through!” They all found each other eventually!

  

The crowd sang most of the words to Another Brick, Mother, and a few others. The PA sound was incredible tonight, very loud but crystal clear. Robbie's vocals sounded amazing. It was like the guy was sat right next to me while he was singing—you could even Hhear his sharp intakes of breath during his singing. he was the best I’d ever heard him. Dave K’s sound was just the same, too. The guitar squeaks on Young Lust and the clarity of his notes were incredible. You can hear the crowd singing a little in the video below, but nothing gets it across just how loud they were all around the arena. Take a listen at 5mins 30seconds:

The show went pretty much without incident apart from, again, Roger having problems with his mic at the beginning of Nobody Home. It sounded like they forgot to fade his mic up, and we missed hearing the first couple of lines before Roger had a go at the sound crew saying “About time guys.” This was the second show in a row that he had had problems at this part of the show, and even though tonight he had a spare mic, which he swapped to as soon as he realised, it was obvious they hadn't faded it up as the replacement mic wasn't audible either. (You can hear this on the video below.)

The crowd during the second half, and especially Run Like Hell, were amazing. Every hand in the arena was in the air clapping in unison with Roger. The pig came out as usual and stayed around in the air until the wall fell when it was lowered to the ground and ripped to pieces by the crazy Italian fans.

There was a new “tweak” to the animations tonight that I’d not noticed before. During The Trial when the animated wall spins around 360 degrees, and as the wall come back around and meets the other wall projections, there was a little “whisp” of animated dust as the two pieces meet. I'll try grab a video of it in Oslo in a couple of weeks.

Of course, after the wall came down there was the obligatory Italian singing of Ole, Ole, Ole, which Roger joined in with. This is incredible to hear, and it makes the hairs on my arms stand up just thinking about it now! Roger commented  after Outside The Wall, “This is why we like to come back to Italy.” Listen to the crowd on the video below from 5:15 onwards:

I did a runner the second the guys walked off the stage — ran like hell to the end of the street by the venue entrance and jumped in a taxi. I’d said goodbye to Mike, Ray, and Fern at Intermission, and from what they said then, they were enjoying the show a lot! 15 minutes after I got back to the hotel, Ole came into the room and headed downstairs to the pizza restaurant outside the hotel to have a final drink with everyone before we all went our separate ways in the morning.

I have to say that Rome was THE best show I've seen. I’ve now seen this show 128 times, and tonight was the best of them all, The crowd, the sound, the performance, and the people made this my favourite show of them all. It’s not over yet, though! I’m now home for a couple of weeks, unless I find a cheap flight to Frankfurt or Prague, and then its out to Oslo for the two indoor shows there and the outdoor show in Gothenburg.

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Aldo Spinelli

CONCERT REVIEWS and PICTURES by other BD CONTRIBUTORS

Hopefully coming soon - we welcome all contributions!