Last week, as final rehearsals for the 2008 tour took place, Roger Waters gave 150 lucky people a very special opportunity. They were invited to see Roger and his band doing the full dress rehearsal in the Inglewood Forum, on Friday April 25th, for the Coachella Festival concert which took place yesterday (Sunday). (The venue for the rehearsals was revealed at the end of last week on saxophonist Ian Ritchie's tour blog - a great, insider's view of things!)

Terry, a Brain Damage visitor, was part of the small audience and he has kindly sent in some pictures and a report from the event. Naturally, what follows below reveals information about the 2008 version of the show, so if you are going to one of the upcoming concerts and don't want to know, we suggest you read this report after you've been!

Ian's blog noted: "The last day of rehearsal in Los Angeles features a dress run through of the complete Coachella performance in front of a small invited audience. Everything went to plan apart from Lili's violin effects deciding to not play ball during 'Numb'. Roger stopped the band half way through and when the problem was sorted, we played the tune again from the top to good effect..."

The invites were given out at short notice, and Terry said: "I was expecting some kind of music-only rehearsal. Instead we got the whole thing: lasers, flying pig, inflatable astronaut, pyrotechnics and fire towers. They did the Dark Side of the Moon album along with Sheep, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Fletcher Memorial, Leaving Beirut, and lots more.

"Waters really went back to his childhood and young adult years for inspiration. I guess he always did that. I don't know how this stuff will be received by a festival crowd but I thought it was relevant and Roger seems passionate about the message he is sending.

Terry also noted that the violinist Lili Haydn "was excellent, her voice too. She did Gilmour's solo on Comfortably Numb and really smoked it.

"Then they all came out and mingled with the lucky guests. Everyone was very friendly and very British!"

With thanks to Terry, here's a selection of pictures from the rehearsals that he took during the performance. Click on any of the thumbnails for a larger version...