Capacity: 65,000

Concert starts: To be confirmed - doors open at 2pm; there will be two or more support acts to be advised in due course

Address of venue: Hyde Park, London, England, W2 2UH. MAP

Website: www.bst-hydepark.com

COMMENTS

Roger's Us + Them tour heads into Europe following the successful 2017 shows in the US and Canada. At the original announcement, the following was revealed:

"We are going to take a new show on the road, the content is very secret," said Roger Waters. "It'll be a mixture of stuff from my long career, stuff from my years with Pink Floyd, some new things. Probably 75% of it will be old material and 25% will be new, but it will be all connected by a general theme. It will be a cool show, I promise you. It'll be spectacular like all my shows have been.”

The announcement notes that "Roger Waters' legendary live performances are renowned as immersive sensory experiences featuring high class, state-of-the-art audio visual production and breathtaking quad sound. This new tour promises to be no exception; following months of meticulous planning and visionary craft, US + Them will inspire crowds with its powerful delivery and take the audience on an unforgettable musical journey."

Those who have attended - or have seen pictures/video of - the US and Canadian shows, will know just how spectacular and moving this new production is, and how it is a show you really shouldn't miss! 

For the regular sale of tickets, which started on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6th at 9am BST (local time), visit Ticketmaster.co.uk - use this link to see any presales that may be happening prior to this date. Using our links also helps toward the ongoing running costs of this site, and is appreciated!

This concert is part of the British Summer Time series of shows in the heart of London's Hyde Park. As such, it is an outside concert, and the staging for Roger's show will be different to the arena shows. We suspect there will be a sole, large screen at the rear of the stage, as seen in the South American shows in 2016.

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

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

Wow - what a show - and what a day! Quite different to the rest of his current Us + Them tour, this show was part of the British Summer Time festival held each year in this central London park, also the site of the Live 8 concert in 2005. Our review of the show will be here very shortly.

First, here's the video from the show from Roger's official Facebook page…

When this show was announced, there were a number of uncertainties in the minds of prospective attendees. The show was part of the now annual British Summer Time "festival", held in the same central London park that Live 8 was host for, with the staging in roughly the same spot in the park. The show would be one of six all-day events, with a variety of acts performing on the main stage, as well as two additional stages elsewhere on the site. Other days were to feature artists as diverse as The Cure, Eric Clapton, Bruno Mars, Michael Buble and Paul Simon, all with intriguing supporting line-ups (Chas & Dave on the Clapton day, Van Morrison sharing billing with Banarama for Buble...)

With no other acts announced when tickets went on sale, some held off to see who else would be on the bill. Others held off with the hope that the O2 Arena, in the Greenwich area, would be added after a period of time. With the vagaries and unpredictability of the British summer, a major question mark was over the heads of many - what weather would attendees have to endure for this show? One only needs to look at Glastonbury, normally held around this time of year, for examples of this!

In the event, this first day of the 2018 British Summer Time was bathed in sunshine. Sitting in the middle of a heatwave, resulting in high temperatures and parched grass, Hyde Park had the added feature that the trees surrounding the audience area seemed to act as a bowl to hold the temperatures too. Thankfully the organisers set up multiple (free) water stations around the site, and electronic signage frequently urged people to keep hydrated, and to apply sunscreen.

The staging seemed to be Roger's Desert Trip/Mexican screen, with the Battersea chimneys hidden behind ready for deployment at the appropriate time. One of the features of the "Great Oak Stage" - the one used by the main acts - is that it has two large, fake trees spaced along it, dividing the visible screen into thirds, with the bands performing in the central bit. Fine for most acts, but with the likes of Roger making full use of the extent of the display, at times things were obscured by the fake trunks, particularly if you weren't completely central to the stage. A further complication was that with it taking place not long after "longest day", the sun poured onto the stage from the start of the event, right through to Roger's intermission. I guess having the stage facing the sun meant only the performers would be dazzled by the light - and in the case of Roger and his band, they each wore sunglasses (with the exception of Holly and Jess). The imagery on the screen in the first half was washed out by the light, sadly, reducing the impact of it.

Earlier in the day, sets by Seasick Steve, and, later, Richard Ashcroft, kept a crowd, made restless by the heat and sun, occupied with well received and performed songs. Other acts playing could only be seen and heard by those close by to their respective stages - a shame as I was looking forward to hearing Squeeze. Steve and Richard both used the screens, but only to a small extent - the latter making more use of interesting framing potentially more part of his normal presentation.

Anyway, back to Roger's set. Being the large, outdoor version, there was no scope for the central screens which form Battersea Power Station, but interestingly there were the laser towers for the concluding prism effect. For the indoor shows, it appears that a unit comes down from the ceiling during Eclipse, firing out the lasers to the four towers. Here in Hyde Park, secured by steel cables, was simply a small reflector plate. Thus, to create the effect the laser beams would need to originate from elsewhere but it wasn't obvious where!

With the event attracting a diverse audience - not all Waters/Floyd fans by a long way - it was interesting to watch the reactions to the first set. There seemed to be a universal interest in the material and the presentation. For some, they would never have seen a show presented in such a powerful way, unifying graphics, video and song. The messages seemed to come across loud and clear, with the social and political points resonating across the park.

Of course, not everything can be expected to pass off without any issue with such a large, sprawling event. As Roger himself pointed out after the Happiest Days/Brick 2/Brick 3 sequence, they weren't able to do their normal rehearsal of this as "you lot were all standing there [earlier]" when they would normally have the local kids on stage to run through the choreography. Hence, some of the children seemed confused as they walked on stage for the first time - some going too far stage left, with Roger telling some to get back to stage right, and others unsure when they needed to take their hoods off, lifting them up at the wrong times, to the seeming amusement of Dave Kilminster and Jon Carin, who were just behind these particular children.

Many of the audience would be oblivious to these issues though, and the unique nature of live performance is why so many of us go to concerts. To be fair, as well, as a teenager (or pre-teen) to walk on stage in front of 65,000 would be rather daunting and they did a good job despite the earlier confusion.

The use of the quad sound system was clearly a novelty for some, too - but the time for many minds to be blown was as the intermission finished (as the sun set behind the northern edge of the park, the rear of the audience and performance area). The "RESIST" messages during the intermission gave way to the tops of the power station chimneys on the screen appearing at the foot of the screen as they seemed to crack through the bedrock, and started rising, until the physical chimneys rose above the screen where they were to remain for the rest of the show. It was a pity there were the trees in front of the screen as it spoiled some of the illusion of the building.

With the ambient light dropped significantly, the screen looked bright and dynamic, with the imagery - be it the power station, or the Trump savaging, or whatever - wonderfully sharp and colourful. But of course, that wasn't the extent of the visuals the crowd would enjoy.

Naturally, we were treated to one of Algie's cousins, floating through the air - this was a sacrificial piggie though, lead to slaughter as happened so often during The Wall shows. Later, the prism was impressively created, thrilling the audience judging by the reaction. Finally, in place of the normal confetti drop was the release of fireworks from the rear of the stage, which concluded things nicely.

For me though, other than the superb visual presentation of this show, I was astonished at the quality of the sound. Indeed, those I was with suggested it was the best sound they'd ever heard at a concert, indoor or out, and they are big Floyd fans so have plenty of experience. The quad effects were breathtaking, and even I looked up at the point when the helicopter sounded like it was overhead. A rich, powerful bass (which made my shorts vibrate at times!) was married to a perfectly detailed soundstage. Incredible. Outdoor shows are notoriously difficult to listen to, as there are so many factors which make the sound muddy, or distant, or harsh, or indistinct. This had none of that. True high fidelity, and hats off to all involved for pulling such a feat off!

The next stop is a more conventional affair - travelling back north (London followed Manchester) to perform in Birmingham, at the Arena there. So, an indoor show, with the central screens, and hopefully a much cooler event...

We'd love to know from those attending how they felt the concert went. How was the show for you, if you were one of the fortunate ones to attend? Let us know what YOU thought!

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Mark Buckee

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!