Any Colour You Like

Chiar daca concertul era programat sa inceapa la 8, din cate imi amintesc, cu intarzierile de rigoare, a inceput cu aproximativ jumatate de ora intarziere. Reactia mea de atunci a fost ca : “uite, si la ei se poate sa existe probleme”. Intarzierea nu a fost totusi intamplatoare. S-a asteptat cat mai mult sa apuna soarele, astfel ca show-ul de lumini sa iasa misto, dar nu prea a mers. Lumea s-a adunat; si pe cat de putina lume era cand am intrat eu, pe atat de 60000 de oameni s-au facut pana la ora 8 si ceva. Era “ceva” lume, da. 

Scena arata bine, mare, cu podeaua foarte inalta, mai inalta decat am vazut vreodata eu la un concert, un ecran maaaare de tot si foarte bun calitativ se afla in spatele ei, 2 ecrane laterale, si un arsenal impresionant de boxe: 2 turnuri laterale in fata scenei si inca 3 perechi de turnuri pe ambele laterale, indreptate atat spre fata cat si spre spate. Impresionant de multe boxe. 
Inca de la intrarea in arena, pe ecranul principal din spatele scenei era deja proiectata o imagine – un radio vechi, un avion de jucarie pe el, gen al 2-lea razboi mondial si o sticla de whisky in stanga. Concertul a inceput intr-o maniera total inedita. Imaginea a prins viata. O mana s-a vazut aparand in fata radioului si deschizandu-l. Timp de aproximativ 10 minute, am ascultat la radio Elvis – Hound Dog, cat si bucati de alte cateva piese clasice; la cateva minute, mana tot aparea pe ecran, interactionand cu obiectele de acolo sau schimband postul de radio. Dupa vreo 3 piese schimbate, radio-ul a fost comutat pe un post care difuza exact inceputul silentios, calm de la “In the Flesh?”. Mi-am dat seama ca avea de gand sa inceapa. Dupa vreo 30 de secunde, a intrat cu o forta ametitoare bass-ul titanic al lui Roger Waters, alaturi de celelalte instrumente bineinteles. Deja ma luasera niste fiori greu de descris. WOW !!! Uite !! E ROGER WATERS !!! cum zicea si prima piesa, in the flesh. 


Sunetul era pur si simplu impecabil. Se auzeau perfect fiecare instrument, in frunte cu bass-ul. Piesa fiind de pe The Wall, pe ecranul din spate incepusera sa fie proiectate niste animatii superbe foarte bine realizate bineinteles, inspirate din cioconele binecunoscute de pe The Wall. In continuare a urmat o piesa de pe acelasi album, Mother, pe care Roger Waters a cantat la chitara acustica. 



In continuare, ne-am intors in 1968, la albumul A Saucerful of Secrets de pe care am avut norocul sa ascult o piesa incredibila, din anii de inceput ai trupei Pink Floyd, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. Un bass mult mai puternic decat cel din versiunea de album; piesa a fost insotita de proiectii care erau in acelasi ton psihedelic cu piesa. Daca tot a fost amintita perioada Syd Barret, au urmat piese de pe Wish You Were Here, 1975; Shine On You Crazy Diamond, piesa dedicate in totalitate lui Syd, a avut parte de o interpretare as zice dubioasa, extreme de scurta, de doar 4-5 minute; intre timp, de undeva de sus, au pornit niste aparate care au format un nor de baloane de sapun, care in lumina soarelui care apunea straluceau foarte simpatic; imi pare rau ca nu se vede si in poza acest lucru. 



Sarind peste Welcome to the Machine, piesa care urma pe album si pe care Waters a interpretat-o in turneul precedent, am ajuns la Have a Cigar, care m-am bucurat enorm ca am avut ocazia sa o ascult, mai ales ca a fost una din primele piese pe care le-am apreciat de la Pink Floyd. 

A urmat si superba Wish You Were care a fost deschisa tot de chitara acustica a lui Roger Waters. In continuare au urmat de pe The Final Cut, 1983, Southampton Dock si The Flethcer Memorial Home, cea din urma fiind o piesa cu referiri politice puternice. Concertul a continuat cu doua piese din afara compozitiilor Pink Floyd, Perfect Sense Part 1, de pe Amused to Death si Leaving Beirut. Leaving Beirut este o piesa care a aparut doar ca un single in 2004, pe "To Kill the Child"/"Leaving Beirut”. Piesa a fost cantata doar in cadrul acestui turneu; piesa spune o poveste a lui Roger Waters de pe vremea cand era adolescent si a ajuns prin Liban. Este o piesa foarte buna pe care nu o stiam pana in acel moment dar de care nu mi-a trebuit mult sa ma indragostesc. 

Melodia a fost acompaniata de proiectia unui comic book, in care erau exact versurile piesei, in partile de dialog si imagini din intamplarile pe care piesa le povesteste. Am fost uimit de sincronizarea perfecta a ceea ce se intampla pe scena, cu intamplarile care erau prezentate in comic. Vazand cu luni de zile in urma concertul lansat pe DVD din cadrul turneului In the Flesh, care avusese loc cu cativa ani in urma, stiam, banuiam, speram de fapt sa vad si ceva de pe Animals. In turneul acela, cantase Dogs care iesise foarte bine. In momentul acela eram foarte mare fan Animals si insistam sa aud ceva de pe el, ceea ce s-a si intamplat. Nu a fost chiar mult doritul Dogs, ci a fost Sheep, care a fost cel putin la fel de bun. 




O interpretare impecabila de 10 minute, care a fost insotita de spectaculosul porc gomflabil plin de desene si lozinci care a trecut prin toata arena. Surprinzator a fost ca la sfarsitul piesei, i-au dat drumul si a zburat destul de sus. Probabil ca sperau sa il recupereze de la diversi localnici binevoitori. Dupa Sheep, Waters a anuntat o pauza, dupa care urma sa revina cu The Dark Side of the Moon. Pauza de suc, in care am impartasit impresii cu cei din jurul meu, a fost binevenita. Afara tocmai intunecase in sfarsit. Dupa plecare de pe scena a lui trupei, cele 3 ecrane s-au facut negre cu un punct mic, abia vizibil in centru. Pe tot parcursul pauzei, 15-20 minute, acel punct s-a marit, incepand sa se vada ca este de fapt luna care “venea”. Tipa cu care ma imprietenisem mi-a povestit ca data trecuta, cand a ajuns la pauza, se facuse deja noapte si luna plina rasarise pe cer si inainte sa plece Waters a zis ceva de genul : “We’ll take a break. When we come back we’ll play that” (aratand spre luna). Pauza a trecut greu. Eram plin de emotie, ca inainte de un examen. Vedeam cum luna se apropie din ce in ce mai mult si simteam cum sunt cuprins de lumina ei magica. 



Trupa a revenit pe scena. Tensiunea cresetea cu fiecare secunda. Au inceput sa se auda bataile de inima care precedau inceperea albumului. Eram vrajit. Nu imi venea sa cred ca urmeaza sa vad cel mai bun album din istoria muzicii cantat live, cu Roger Waters la bass. Proiectiile au fost ametitoare. Erai total cuprins de moment, ca si cum traiai fiecare piesa din tot sufletul. In mare parte elementele vizuale au avut loc pe poriunea de ecran circulara din centru, echivalenta cu dimensiunea lunii. Inceputul relaxat al albumului, Speak to Me si apoi Breathe, au pregatit On the Run, o instrumentala total mind-blowing, cantata pe niste sintetizatoare foarte rare, alaturi de o multitudine de efecte. 






Interpretarea a fost pur si simplu perfecta. Imi amintesc ca o vazusem live cantata chiar de Rick in P*U*L*S*E (1994) si acolo a fost cu atat mai spectaculoasa, pentru ca un avion a zburat de-a lungul salii, prabusindu-se langa scena, si creand o explozie spectaculoasa. Cel mai bine am vazut ce fel de monstrii de aparate sunt folosite pentru piesa cand am vazut show-ul tribute al celor de la Dream Theater in care si ei au cantat integral tot albumul. Din cate am vazut Jordan Rudess avea conectate aparatele direc la niste orgi, astfel redand exact efectele de pe albumul orginal Pink Floyd. Revenind, si in acest concert, asemeanea P*U*L*S*E-ului, On the Run s-a terminat cu o explozie care a cuprins tot ecranul si care a creat linistea de care era nevoie pentru a auzi ceasurile ticaind, anuntand astfel urmatoarea piesa, Time. In toata arena s-a auzit superb ceasurile care sunau, urmate de solo-ul de tobe. 


Ecranul din spate a fost cuprins de imagini care din cate stiu eu au fost folosite de Pink Floyd in cadrul altor reprezentatii ale albumului inca de la lansarea lui. Cred ca au fost cam aceleasi si in P*U*L*S*E. Chiar nu imi amintesc exact. La fiecare piesa in care a aparut luna in spate pe ecran, aceasta a fost acoperita de un filtru de culoare diferit. A urmat reluare de la Breathe, Breathe (reprise), asa cum era intitulata pe album, dar care nu aparea ca o piesa separata, fiind inclusa in Time. Totusi, chiar pe vinil, versurile apar separat cu titlul piesei; nu sunt incluse in Time. In continuare a urmat o piesa destul de trista, fara versuri, despre care trupa a zis inca de la compozitie ca este o piesa trista, despre moarte. Chiar daca nu are versuri, piesa este de fapt un solo vocal, in care vocea feminina este exploatata la maxim. Acest solo este precedat de o parte vorbita :
And I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do; I don't mind.
Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it—you've gotta go sometime.
Cunoscand foarte bine piesa, ca tot albumul de altfel, aveam anumite pretentii sa semene cu versiunea originala, lucru care s-a intamplat doar pana la un punct. Nu a fost cred cea mai reusita interpretare a piesei. A fost una buna indiscutabil dar nu cea mai buna. Dupa terminarea piesei, linistea s-a lasat dar doar pentru cateva secunde, pentru ca ecranul s-a facut verde, sub forma unui disc de vinil care a inceput sa se invarta; in acelasi timp au inceput sa se auda sunetele banilor care au precedat iconicul bass din inceputul piesei. Pe parcusul piesei si o prisma tridimensionala superba care a inceput sa se invarta. Cam in acelasi timp, si mega-prisma de deasupra mea a inceput sa se invarta si sa faca un nor de fum in jurul ei.



A urmat bineinteles Us and Them, care a adus o luna rosie pe ecrane. Piesa a fost mai lunga decat in original, avand cateva parti improvizate si solo-urile putin prelungite, ceea ce nu a stricat cu nimic farmecul ei. In continuare, Any Colour You Like, o piesa bazata in principal tot pe solo de clape, la fel de reusit si de aceasta data. Undeva intre Any Colour You Like si Brain Damage, prisma a prins viata, si prin norul de fum a aparut de-o parte a ei o raza alba de lumina si pe cealalta spectrul razelor formate prin dispersie. In tot acest timp prisma se invartea deasupra scenei. Din pacate putina adiera a vantului a facut ca fumul sa treaca cam repede de zona prismei, neputand reda o imagine perfecta pentru mult timp a imaginii de pe fata albumului. Sfarsitul a fost cat se poate de relaxant. Brain Damage si Eclipse care au fost considerate ca o piesa unitara, au avut parte la randul lor de o interpretare impecabila, incheindu-se exact ca pe album, cu fraza :
There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it’s all dark. 
si cu bataile de inima cu care a fost deschis. 
A fost superb. Nu se poate exprima in cuvinte cum si ce am simtit. Trebuia sa fii acolo ca sa intelegi adevaratul sens al cuvantului UNIC. 



Dupa ce s-a terminat, in mod logic, publicul a izbucnit in aplauze care nu aveau de gand sa se opreasca pana dimineata probabil, daca nu ar fi revenit pe scena. Bineinteles ca a revenit pe scena pentru un bis dupa vreo 4-5 minute de aplauze continue. A cantat din nou piese de pe The Wall, adica The Happiest Days of Our Lives, care a fost un intro pentru Another Brick in The Wall 2. 



In continuare proiectiile au fost la fel de spectaculoase ca pe tot parcursul concertului. Tot de pe The Wall, au urmat Vera si apoi Bring The Boys Back Home, care a fost plina de explozii si efecte pirotehnice. Concertul s-a incheiat glorios cu Comfortably Numb, adica tot cu The Wall. Gata. Se terminase.

Din punct de vedere al vocii, in tot concertul au fost o multitudine de voci care au cantat. In afara de Waters care a cantat mai bine de jumatate din piese, la Dark Side of the Moon au cantat de asemnea si chitaristul si claparul din cate imi amintesc si nu au fost singurele moment cand Waters nu a fost si vocalul pieselor. Instrumentistii au fost buni. S-a vazut clar ca sunt oameni cu experienta si dupa cum au cantat si dupa varsta lor inaintata. Clapele au fost bune, la Hammond si sintetizatoare a fost chiar fiul lui Roger Waters, Harry, iar la celalt set de clape a fost Jon Carin, care are si el o scurta istorie prin Pink Floyd dar si prin alte mari trupe. Chitarile au fost bune, dar nu stralucite. Daca a fost ceva ce a lipsit acestui concert, au fost chitarile. Daca doi chitaristi care sunt sigur ca au o experienta mare in cantare, nu au fost in stare sa duca chitara la nivelul lui David Gilmour, care era o singura chitara, asta in mod clar spune ceva despre cat de bun este Gilmour. Mi-au lipsit solo-urile lui. S-au simtit ca nu sunt in regula. Shine On, Wish, Time, Money, Brick si mai ales Comfortably nu au fost complete parca. Si sunt sigur ca ce le-a lipsit a fost David Gilmour. Este de neegalat. Sunt multe piese care pot fi cantata de doar un membru, cum a fost acest concert in care putine chestii au deranjat si nu au fost asa cum a fost Pink Floyd de-a lungul “secolelor” si anume perfect. Sunt piese care totusi necesita talentele inegalabile a tuturor celor 4. Roger Waters – David Gilmour – Richard Wright – Nick Mason. Nu sunt niste muzicieni. Sunt Pink Floyd. Si sa faci ceva cum face Pink Floyd nu este ceva simplu si de multe ori e de fapt chiar imposibil. 

11 mai 2008, Megaland, Landgraaf, Olanda – The Dark Side of the Moon Live.  Set list-ul concertului a fost pana la urma urmatorul. : 
Partea I : 
1. In the Flesh
2. Mother
3. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
4. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
5. Have a Cigar
6. Wish You Were Here
7. Southampton Dock
8. The Fletcher Memorial Home
9. Perfect Sense, Pt. 1
10. Leaving Beirut
11. Sheep

Partea a II-a (The Dark Side of the Moon)
1. Speak to Me 
2. Breathe
3. On the Run
4. Time / Breathe (Reprise)
5. The Great Gig in the Sky
6. Money
7. Us and Them
8. Any Colour You Like
9. Brain Damage
10. Eclipse

Partea a III-a
1. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
2. Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)
3. Vera
4. Bring the Boys Back Home
5. Comfortably Numb

Efectele vizuale – incredibile, sunetul – perfect, spectacolul – incomparabil, sentimentul lasat – nemuritor , Roger Waters – UNIC. Sa vezi live macar o bucatica din Pink Floyd si sa asculti muzica care a scris istorie este ceva cu adevarat special. http://rockopedia.blogspot.com/2009/06/8-any-colour-you-like.html

Don't Leave Me Now

Having finally come to the realization that he is absolutely alone in the world after having failed to form a true connection with his wife or the groupie, Pink lapses into the depressive bout of "Don't Leave Me Now." Perfectly reflected in the sluggish rhythm of the piano and the reverb-laden synthesizers, the reverb itself hinting at the hollowness and void of Pink's life, "Don't Leave Me Now" finds Pink in "the depths…of deprived depravity" (interviewer Tommy Vance, 1979 Roger Waters interview). At first the song seems to follow in the tracks of the few songs before it, wearing its meaning on the surface. Distressed at the thought of his wife's infidelity, Pink gives voice to the plethora of warring emotions teeming within his heart, mind, and soul. In one instant he pleads with his wife not to leave him, not to say that their relationship is over. Seconds later, the rage over being left boils to the surface and Pink threatens to put his wife "through the shredder" or to "beat [her] to a pulp on a Saturday night." It's certainly a shock for most listeners to hear the previously docile Pink (submissive to the point of being non-responsive) not only conjure up brutal images of physical abuse but also relish the thought of meting these very images on his adulterous wife. So is Pink physically abusive to his wife? Are these random beatings that he sings about true? As I mentioned above in "One Of My Turns" concerning Pink's "favorite ax," there is a certain danger to interpreting these lines in a literal context. First and foremost, it must be remembered that this character is uttering these lines at the extremes of his emotional capacity. In "One Of My Turns" he is at the height of his violent rage and now in "Don't Leave Me Now" Pink is at the bottom of the darkest depression. I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep a character's mental state in mind when interpreting, or even reading / listening, to their narrative. Many writers love to use the unreliable narrator, presenting the protagonist's skewed views as truth in order to reveal fully the instability, deceptiveness, or simply playfulness of the main character's mind. I think that is what Waters is doing with Pink at this moment, using these false recollections of beatings in order to show just how far gone Pink's mind really is. Keeping this in mind and judging by the complete absence of spousal abuse throughout the rest of the album, I personally would say that Pink never physically mistreated his wife. One can argue, and rightly so, that Pink mentally abuses her, belittling her rather than physically beating her to "a pulp" in front of his friends. Perhaps he says these things to justify her leaving him. Perhaps he says them in order to get some amount of revenge on her, using the very thought of beating her to placate his own wounded pride. Whatever one's interpretation of these lines might be, it is most interesting to see how quickly Pink flips from one apparent extreme to the other, wondering where their relationship went wrong before lashing out at the very thing he supposedly held dear.
Along with the rapid shifts in feelings, it is also interesting to note Pink's obliviousness throughout the song in which he blindly asks, "how could you treat me this way?" As I'm sure I've mentioned countless times before, Pink is still ignorant of his liability in the formation of the bricks for his wall, believing this whole time that it is the world and everyone in it who have created and continue to create bricks through their injurious relationships with Pink. Accordingly, Pink sees himself as the hapless victim in all of his failed relationships. At his very core he wants to connect with someone, to forge a personal bond with another person, but is unable to leave himself so vulnerable. But rather than realizing that he is as much, if not more, to blame for the distance he creates between himself and the rest of the world, Pink projects each one of his faults onto the external world, blaming everyone except himself for "running away."
Not surprisingly, it seems that cycle of Pink's mother's overprotection has come full circle, causing Pink to protect himself from the world almost by means of the same neurotic behavior of his mother. Notice that Pink repeats "oooh babe" throughout the song, a phrase that until now has been uttered numerous times by his mother alone in songs like "The Thin Ice" and "Mother." And so the cycle of obsession continues,paralleling such haunting ideas like the mother putting "all of her fears into you" with Pink's equally disturbing threats of putting his wife "through the shredder." Even the image of an actual shredder quite possibly alludes to Pink's childhood education in which the teachers attempted to mold their students into model citizens (the movie scene of "Another Brick In The Wall 2" uses a hamburger shredder to perfectly convey this point). Pink alludes to the shredder here as being an implement of personal humiliation, an instrument that produces submissiveness. Simply put, he fantasizes about molding his wife in much the same way that the teachers tried to mold him. In other words, Pink has adopted both his mother's obsessions as well as his teacher's methods of using humiliation to create the desired product. Pink is becoming the very things that he detests in a cyclical pattern that culminates in his final, corrupt transformation later in the album.
Heretofore I have been discussing "Don't Leave Me Now" as Pink's degenerate mental address to his adulterous wife. Yet in a 1979 interview with Tommy Vance, Roger Waters states that Pink doesn't sing the song "to anybody; it's not to her [the groupie] and it's not really to his wife, it's kind of to anybody. If you like it's kind of men to women in a way, from that kind of feeling." Generalizing the song in the way Waters does really stresses that Pink's relationship with his wife is seemingly the same as his polar love-hate relationship with everything in his life. He loves his father but hates him for dying. He loves his mother but hates her for stifling him. He loves his celebrity but hates it for being so shallow and materialistic. He loves his wife but hates her when she cheats on him. And as we shall see soon enough, he loves his wall for the protection it gives but will eventually hate it for nearly entombing him.
The movie scenes accompanying "Don't Leave Me Now" once again depart from simply depicting the ideas conveyed by the lyrics (as seen in the past two songs) and instead offer up many densely packed images. The song begins with a close-up of the debris in Pink's hotel room, littering the screen with shots of broken glass, overturned tables, and smashed guitars. While the chaos might not seem like much out of the ordinary at the moment, I think it is important to note so that the development between this point in time and the ordered chaos depicted later in "Is There Anybody Out There?" can be truly understood. The Christological parallels of "The Thin Ice" depicting Pink floating in a crucified form are furthered here, first with a close-up shot of Pink's blood-soaked hands reminiscent of the stigmata and then with a full screen shot of the "crucified" Pink, his blood dispersing and staining the clear blue water of the swimming pool. This shot is interestingly superimposed over images of Pink's wife and her lover, the faded image of Pink's crucifixion standing out in sharp contrast to the almost animalistic movements of the lovers. Though he is a sort of anti- or mock-Christ, Pink presumably imagines himself otherwise as evidenced in the shots. In his mind, he is a martyr who is betrayed by the sinful acts of a loved one (notice that Pink's wife has red hair, supposedly the same color as Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane). As a result, he is suffering for their sins by means of his own mental crucifixion, the depressing anguish that he is experiencing because of his wife's transgressions. Though Pink is presented in such a light, the audience is far more cognizant of his mock-Christ role, knowing that Pink was not so much betrayed by his wife as he was by himself, that he is only victimized by his own blindness and ignorance.
Pink is next shown sitting in a chair watching TV while each splash of blood that falls from his fingers takes on a cataclysmic, Christ like resonance. Despite the apparent ordinary reality of the scene with "the Dambusters" still playing on the television, this scene is quickly revealed to be another one of Pink's hallucinations. Far from the littered screen that opened the song, the room, though sparsely furnished, is still intact just as the TV is still in working condition. The hallucination continues as the shadow of Pink's wife emerges onto the back wall before transforming into a preying mantis, the very name of which creates a hunting / hunted scenario in which Pink, the "hapless victim" is hunted by his wife. The mantis's face soon transforms into the female flower from "Goodbye Blue Sky" which itself is suggestive of a woman's vaginal lips, a "symbol of womanhood" as Gerald Scarfe suggests on the DVD commentary. Pink cowers in the corner, tortured by both the mantis in front of him and the thoughts of his wife's adulterous acts superimposed on the screen. And so the song ends with Pink crouching in the corner, helpless in his mind, surrounded by the massive blue walls that possibly allude to the "baby blue" innocence which he believes he still possesses. In his mind, he is as innocent and unaccountable as the crucified Christ who, according to Christian beliefs, suffered and died on the cross as a result of the world's transgressions. Yet here we find another separation in the characters of Christ and Pink, further supporting the argument that Pink is a mock-Christ rather than a Christ figure. While Christians believe that Jesus gave himself to the world when he died so that all might live, we will see in the next song that Pink takes the opposite course by completely isolating himself from the external world, symbolically sacrificing himself so that he alone might live.
Resurging from the depths of his depression, Pink commits one final violent act before completely isolating himself from the injurious external world. With the rage that has built up over his life, Pink symbolically attacks the burdens that he feels has been placed on him. He destroys the television with one fell swoop of his guitar, striking out against his past afflictions (represented by "the Dambusters" that was playing on the TV) and his present burdens (embodied in everything from the materialistic symbol of the television and the surrounding hotel room to his very solitude in the scene). It is also interesting to note that Pink destroys the TV right before the couple on the screen kiss, alluding to his own severed relationships and his inability to truly connect with anyone. In an instant Pink is propelled into the uncharted reaches of mental dementia. (Sursa)

Pink Floyd members discuss recording "Money"

Pink Floyd members discuss recording "Money" - From Classic Albums: Pink Floyd - The Making of 'The Dark Side of the Moon, a must-see documentary for any Floyd fan.