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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Show 4, Buenos Aires

Kami and I left for the bus stop for the local bus to the venue a bit later than usual, and after 4 buses passed us completely full of people without stopping, we were about to get a taxi. We hung on, and one finally came along that was merely almost full. We managed to get on-board with the other revelers. Even the bus driver was whistling Comfy Numb most of the way there!
It was about 8:15 when we got to the venue, and the show starts at 9:15. By that time it's almost dark. It had been raining all day in BA. It was showers most of the day, but there had been a few prolonged bursts of rain mixed with thunder and lightning. It wasn't raining when we got to the stadium, but vendors were selling ponchos and umbrellas, and everyone was wearing them, too! Beth had given us two ponchos to bring with us, but we had defiantly left them at the apartment. (Actually, we just forgot, and we didn't realise it until it was too late.) I was in shorts and a t-shirt, and Kami was in jeans and a t-shirt. I guess we were both hoping that the rain held off for the show, but I was still a little curious to see a show in the rain, though. Of course, I was just hoping we got a little sprinkling or a minor shower.
We didn't meet up with anyone tonight, just took our seats at around 8:30 and watched the crowd and the crew onstage with towels mopping up any remaining water from the earlier rain. The instruments and front stage was covered in plastic sheeting that was only removed 10 minutes before show time. The extensions to the wall at either side are not actually bricks, nor are they sheeting painted to look like bricks as was used on the few extended walls in Europe. It's actually made by erecting scaffolding at the rear and then sheets of cardboard the exact same shape, size, and colour of the bricks are stapled on at the front! I’ll try take a picture of this at the next show. The earlier rain had warped a few of the fronting pieces, and until the projections were shone on the wall, you could see each side of the wall looking a bit warped and out of shape.
The show started at 9:15, and the launching of the pyros and shining of spotlights illumiated a few spots of rain, but not many.
Crew towel drying the stage                        Lights! Roll the sound effects! Aaaaaaand action!
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Crowd behind me during In The Flesh
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It was during Another Brick part 3 when the heavens opened up, and my wish came true--we had rain! It wasn't as humid, and even though the weather was warm, when it rained, it turned ever so cold. The rain felt freezing when it hit you! Everyone opened their ponchos and put up their umbrellas while Kami and I just huddled down a bit and got wet!
Stuka coming down tonight:

Rain in the spotlights behind us                                                                    Projected fallen wall and band
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Of course, a little rain wasn't going to stop the show, and it carried on regardless. It didn't last long--maybe 10 minutes at the most--before everyone started taking off their ponchos again.
Roger did his usual speech in Spanish at the beginning of Mother, but tonight he read it all off a screen in front of him on the floor below the stage. Just before he did his “It was 30 years ago that we played The Wall" part, he started to strum Wish You Were Here on his acoustic guitar. I've heard him do this at a couple of shows before, however, this time he really got distracted, and it took him a second to collect himself as he pondered aloud, “Ok, where was I?”
Projected wall fall and flowers video below with the new graphics of two doves flying by.
The band were faultless again tonight, and the huge roof that was built over the stage for these stadium shows obviously did its job holding the rain off of the equipment. There are actually two roofing and scaffolding structures being toured at the stadium shows. They are “leap-frogging” the roof--there is already one being set up in Brazil now so that when the shows finish here, only the wall, front stage, and equipment need to be sent to Brazil. It's an expensive way of doing things, but ultimately much quicker and more efficient!
Roger is still spitting on the stage during One Of My Turns. One day I'll ask him what the relevance is, as it surely can't just be a coincidence that he does it at the exact same part of the show every night!
Roger Spitting                                   
At intermission all was well, and the rain had held off since Brick in the Wall. However, by the end of intermission, there was some heavy rain and lightening all around the outside of the stadium, followed by huge roars of thunder, followed by huge gasps and cheers by the crowd!
Rain at intermission video
We were sat directly in front of the vets that Roger invites to each show--at intermission they are taken to meet Roger and get a signed picture and a t-shirt.
Vets at the show                             Using anything to keep the rain off
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The rain had more or less stopped as the 2nd set started, and due to the rain, it was no where near as humid as it had been at the first few shows.
No problems tonight on missed lyrics for Nobody Home. It must have been a one off.
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Below is a video of the new graphics for Run Like Hell. I think this is now THE best part of the show for me. It's just perfect.
It got the people to their feet, even though it was starting to rain a bit again. I just wish we had brought a towel to wipe the seats off after the rain! Not sure what happened to the pig last night and tonight, as we were too far forward to see, but I'm guessing it's now a regular occurrence that it is pulled down and ripped to shreds by the crowd.
The rain held off for the rest of the night and the show finished without a hitch. After the wall had came down, Kami and I headed to the front of the stage to see the guys as they came out. They spotted us straight away, waved, and said hi. The venue security won't let people stand right at the front on the barriers, so we stood alongside other people in the aisle, but just on the front row. Just as Dave was leaving the stage after being introduced, Kami and I started to make our way out along the front of the stage parallel to Dave. I turned to him and did the “We're not worthy” action. It brought a big smile to his face before busting out laughing!

Did I forget to mention that this was my 100th Wall show?

3 comments:

  1. Well Si, if you'd come to australia you would have seen them a month earlier

    ;-)

    Loving the updated travelogue

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats on the 100th show Simon!!!!!!

    Deano

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey si, saw this picture on sean evans' blog
    http://instagr.am/p/IHj6VwwMN9/
    the rain soaked warped bricks at the wall ends.

    ReplyDelete