Nassau day 1……

So as i didn't get into the hotel till gone 1am last night and i had no real plans for today i had a lay in till around noon. Not at all like me, when I'm home no matter what time i wake I'm outa bed and its very rare that i have a lie in at all. I guess due to all the travelling, later nights etc my habits have had to change to accommodate this!

I went for a run early afternoon, felt great to get out and pound the pavement again, did a quick 30 minutes and came back for a shower. My friend Brad from Manhattan was coming out to the show as was my friend John K whom i hadn't seen since the Dark Side shows in Boston. I had his cell number and he said he was arriving around 3pm, i tried calling him but found out i had the wrong number! all was not lost though as i found out later on. Ellie called me to say her and Andy were close by, about 15 minutes away by car. I arranged to meet them for dinner and we met up around five.

 

It was nice to sit down and relax and eat a good meal (i hadn't eaten all day) and enjoy some nice company rather that the crazy meet ups that were all so used to! Not that i don't like these but its just nice to have time for a proper talk with people sometimes and we did exactly that. Thanks for dinner Ellie, i miss you guys and you both mean a lot to me:) hope you enjoyed the show and will see you in NY in a few weeks.

We headed out from the restaurant around 6:30, got to the venue around 6:45 and met i Brad in the parking lot. I wanted to find John K and went over to the Marriott bar to see if i could see him, i couldn't. I did however get accosted! a guy came up to me and said “ hey your Simon right ?” i said “ depends who's asking” he said he was a lurker on one of the Roger Waters forums and had been reading my blog and i was a legend! lol, I've been called some stuff in my time but  a legend isn't one of them! cheers John, was great to meet you for the 30 seconds we talked. Hope you enjoyed the show!

The sunset as i arrived at the Coliseum

After 20 minutes of looking for John K i gave up and headed back over to the venue. Tonight's venue, The Nassau Coliseum is very unique in that its the only place on the tour that Roger is playing where he also played the original wall shows back in the 80’s, this is something he  mentioned a few times at the show tonight. I was sitting 14th row in the middle block on the aisle tonight, again my favourite place to sit with the expectation of standing on the front rail.

The place is a lot bigger inside than it is on the outside, Its a perfect circular building just in the middle of a parking lot and the floor area is obviously sunk into the ground which make its look a lot smaller from the outside.I went over to see Ellie and had a quick chat and also had a drink with Brad in the bar. As i was entering the venue i saw Mark (Lennon) again and he said he smiled and said hi. He is such a nice guy and hopefully I'll get a chance to sit and have a chat with him at one of the shows real soon.

The gig started as usual around 8:15, again a lot of the audience were seated for a lot of the time but as the show went on they started to get more and more into it and stood for a while. The show was without fault! i don't think I've ever seen a show that was without a single problem! I'm sure there were some but i certainly didn't see any. The teachers legs were a bit messed up tonight but i wouldn't call that a problem, one of the wires was just caught under its foot which made it look a bit odd at the bottom. The kids came on as normal and they still have a long way to go to beet the ones that were onstage in Chicago!

As good as the show was it was the best due to people sitting down and the people not as into as say Chicago or New York. Roger commented about the show he played there all them years ago and the crowd roared with cheers and whistles, again Roger telling the crowd what a “miserable old man” he was back in them days!

Snowy's solo in Mother

The first halves of the shows seem to fly by now for me, the highlight definitely being “What Shall We Do Now” I'm so pleased he decided to play this at the shows, its always funny looking around and watching peoples faces who have no idea what this track is! as it wasn't on the album and only in the film. I love it and its one of the best tracks in the first half for sure.

   

So at intermission i go to the bar and buy myself a coke, I'm standing  in the lobby minding my own business and i hear a female voice shout “hey Simon” i look over and see a woman who i honestly don't recognise, i acknowledge her and say “yup” she then turns and shots “ hey John, i found Simon” it was John K whom id been looking for earlier! It was great to see him again and he was so happy to see me, he had just before the show started pulled my facebook page up and shown his wife a picture of me and said to keep an eye out for me!! Amazing

 

We chatted for 25 minutes and i told him about the cell phone thing, turns out i had entered a 4 instead of a 1 into his number. I corrected it so we can now keep in touch for the NY show on the 6th November. we chatted about the show and all the people that used to be on the ATD message board and i was kinda shocked when he said i was the only actual person off online that he had ever met! It was great to see you again John and hopefully we will have more time to chat at the NY show.

Myself and John K

I made my way back to my seat for the second half, this is my favourite half of the show, i just think Roger outs that bit more effort into the whole part that he plays. Watch when he initially walks onstage during In The Flesh, he walked onstage, stands still, looks at the backing singers, smirks at them and moves on, he acknowledges Robbie with a salute type hand gesture and just as he walks past he waves his finger to Robbie to follow him,Roger then stops at Dave, again acknowledges him and Dave returns the acknowledgment, he then carries on to Snowy, Roger smirks at him and Snowy doesn't look at him at all, he just stares forward all the time, all part of the act of course. Roger then continues to look at the audience in a menacing way, picking people out and pointing to them and mouthing something that i haven't been able to work out yet but i will.

One thing i do like is how the lighting rig is a circle which is half behind the wall and half in front of it and you can see all the lights move forward for the second half of the show so they can shine on the front of the stage, Mark Brickman has done a fantastic job of the lighting on this tour and you can tell that every little details has been thought about and tested.

   

 

Comfy Numb was again faultless and played with such passion that only Dave K can give it. His actions at the end of his solo tell you how pleased he is with the solo and how pleased he is with the crowds reaction, not only does the crowd know a good solo but you can tell he does too.

The wall came down great tonight, forward then backwards then forwards. Lots of rippling on it too before it actually falls.

     

      

Had a great night, the only “downer” was i was sat on my own tonight, no friends sat beside me, had a cool virtual sing along with Kami by text though during Waiting for the Worms but there's nothing like seeing a show with good friends next to you who appreciate the show and don't just dance along to Another Brick Pt 3 and then talk the rest of the way through the show.

Full album with a few more pics below:

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