Monday, driving to Phoenix…

Woke around 9am and Gail, Joe and myself were in the car and on our way driving to Phoenix by 10am James was flying back to New Jersey today and i was sad to have to say goodbye, we've had such a good time this past week but we’ll be meeting up at other shows soon. Matt was flying to Phoenix today and Eric was flying over in a couple of days time.

Takes about 6 hours to drive to Phoenix from San Diego and there's nothing much to see apart from dessert and some cool rock formations.

Wes topped at an Ihop for breakfast about 90 minutes into the journey and that was the first time id got out of the car and experienced the dessert heat. The temperature gauge on the car was 107`!!

We passed a cool “spaceship” motel on the way to Phoenix and about 30 minutes before we got there i called Matt to see where he was. He had landed an hour or so ago and made his way downtown. We arranged to pick him up and then headed to Gail and Joe’s house via the store to get pasta for tonight's dinner. I also picked up some sun tan lotion, i was already like a lobster after catching the sun at the beach in San Diego and didn't want to get burned any more than i already was!

Spaceship motel                                 Its just aluminium siding really!           Lobster boy!

  

Gail and Joe had kindly offered Matt and i a place to stay tonight at their house, Gail cooked pasta and meatballs and after a 20 minute walk up to the pool we were all back at the house watching TV. Gail and Joe had been telling Matt earlier on about the wild animals that are around here, Snakes, Coyotes Scorpions etc etc Gail then noticed her cat “Jackie Chan” had spotted something on the floor in the living room. Gail jumped up and went to see what it was, she then squealed to Joe to come over and “get it” I then heard the words “its a Scorpion and its a huge one” i instantly jumped up stood on the top of the chair i was sitting on, much to the amusement of Gail.  Matt jumped up and squealed and stood on the sofa chair. Joe was left with the job of catching/killing it and getting it out of the house!

Dead scorpion

I was in bed by 9pm! i had felt my flu coming back as we were driving over in the car and I’d picked something up at the store to take before i went to sleep. Gail and Joe were working tomorrow so Matt and i would be up and getting a taxi to our hotels in downtown Phoenix for the night of the show.

San Diego show review…

A few people had tickets to pick up before the show but most had their already in hand. I made my way in with Thomas and he got to experience a little of the pre show hospitality with the band. I went onto the floor and found Chris Kirby for a chat. I then wandered around taking in the pre show atmosphere. Id seen Marky outside briefly and said hi and Pat spotted me on the floor and came over to introduce his guests to me, we had a chat for a few minutes before he headed off and i wandered over to see Gail and Joe.

The venue was the smallest I’ve seen the show in and probably the smallest Arena they have played.! it seemed like it was going to be such an intimate show. Everyone was spread out for this show, Gail, Joe and Matt were the front row on the lower bowl to the rear, James, Jackie and Dave were the first row in front of the soundboard and Frank and others were spread around the arena.

Around 8pm the pre show music started and i headed down to my seat, 11th row on the aisle. i was next to Victoria (Robbie's wife)and her brother tonight, she introduced him to me and Victoria and i chatted for the 15 minute build up like a couple of girls,lol She is such good fun to be at a show with, last time we’d hung out was in Buenos Aires so it was great to see her again and great to be seeing the show with someone who is so much fun.

Just like the San Fran show i decided not to take any pictures tonight as i wanted to really enjoy the show and see everything that was going on. i couldn't resist taking a picture of the venue though due to how small and intimate it was.

From the moment the lights went down the crowd remained on their feet, Victoria and i looked at each other and high fived, its just not the same seeing the show seated.

Obviously due to the show being indoors there were no pyros fired out of the top of the stage and the plane seemed to travel what was like 10 feet before it it the wall! The Arena and Stadium shows really are two totally different shows now, there's so much going on on the sides of the wall at the stadium shows but the Arena shows are just like they were back in 2010, however with a lot of updated graphics! Gail and Joe had seen the opening show in Toronto and then seen the two shows in San Jose, they hadn't seen anything since and were totally blown away by the amount of changes, especially the images and projections during Run Like Hell.

I don't think the band can get any tighter than they are now, they've been doing this for 2 years, use click tracks and just have the whole performance down to a fine art. Roger is still having as much fun onstage as he did in 2010 and you could tell that after doing a lot of larger shows he was back at home being only feet away from the crowds at the sides of the stage when he waves to them and he’s able to actually see the faces of the people waving back!

It was pretty much a sell out crowd tonight and there was hardly a free seat in the house, so much sow that there was only two rows of seats right next to the wall on either side, there's usually a full section held back from being sold so as the bricks don't fall on the crowd who could be (and were tonight) sat there!

A full row of vets were taken backstage just before intermission to meet Roger and returned with pictures and autographs and VERY happy faces! I decided go further back for some of the second half and sat with Gail and Joe up until Waiting for The Worms when i made my way back to the floor again.

It was the first time id seen the remote control pig for a while, the last few shows have had the huge 60ft pig walked around the venue by two crew and just tethered with ropes. They have the remote pig off to a fine art now, i guess controlling it indoors is a breeze compared to the outdoor elements!

I didn't notice any mistakes in the performance but Matt noticed a couple of mistakes in GE’s solo. The crowd were stood up for the whole show and were very enthusiastic compared to some of the 2010 US shows i saw. the band have changed the way the sing Outside The Wall and are still changing it, kind of hard to explain but they are just pausing and singing at different points. All in all it was a fantastic show in a great old 1970 venue that also made the show pretty unique.

View Full Album

Sunday, San Diego day 2

After a relatively early night last night, five of us headed around the block from the hotel to get breakfast at Denny’s

My friend Frank from Phoenix and his his friend Dora arrived late last night and came over to the room to say hi after breakfast. I hadn't seen Frank since the Milan show in 2011 but we had kept in touch via e mail and he’ll be seeing the Phoenix and LA shows later on in the week. His friend Dora hadn't seen the show at all and hadn't even heard of Pink Floyd! so we had to be careful when talking about the show so as not to have her hearing an spoilers!

Dora and Frank

Gail, Joe and myself decided to head out to one of the many beaches in San Diego and ended up sitting on Mission Beach for a couple of hours. When you’re travelling around seeing shows its like you’re constantly on the go, always have somewhere to be at a certain time whether it be to meet someone, to get a train or an plane or to see a show. It was nice yesterday to just sit for a few hours without having to “be somewhere” I’m really looking forward to the 3 full days off we have between the Phoenix show and the LA show.

Its well known that the weather in San Diego takes a few hours to come good in the mornings in May and June, it takes about 3 hours for the sun to burn through the clouds but when it does its hot and clear and the beach starts to busy up, especially at the weekends. We parked the car at Mission Beach around noon and relaxed in the sun for an hour, was great to spend some alone time with Gail and Joe and just chill out.

I’ve ridden the rollercoaster on the boardwalk here a few times before and i know Gails a bit of a one for a good thrill ride however until we left the beach we hadn't seen it going round the tracks. The second i pointed out to Gail it was now running we turned to each other and decided we had to do it together.

My view from the beach!                      Woodie coaster on the boardwalk        Gail and i ready to ride the coaster

  

After a slice of pizza from the store across the street we jumped back in the car and headed to the hotel. James, Matt, Eric and Lisette were out at Ocean Beach and were about to head back too in 20 minutes time. We all reconvened about an hour later around the pool and the drinks started flowing.

My view for the afternoon                      Body shots ? No, just toe snacks!

 

A few weeks before the show id looked around online for a place to have a pre show meet up and something to eat. I’d eaten at a great BBQ place called Phil’s across the street from where we were staying(which was also across the street from the venue for tonight's show) i e mailed the restaurant but heard back that they didn't take reservations and it was first come first served. What i hadn't realised until my friend Chris messaged me was that not only was it a Sunday night, not only was there a gig on but it was Mothers Day! the line at Phil's the night before was HUGE all the time so the chances of us getting a table with all the above factors was pretty slim. As we had turned into the parking lot of the hotel the day before James had seen the Phil’s BBQ sign and it turns out that James was(and still is) very good friends with Phil!

The hotel had a real nice pool area with patio tables, pool area, Jacuzzi and a great little pub attached to the building. We decided to order take out from Phil’s and James went across to see his friend over there who kindly did us a HUGE spread of food to take out for 10 people and charged us very VERY little for it! James and i picked the food up at 5pm, we took over the patio area around the pool and everyone tucked in to some great BBQ.

It was great that everyone made it to the meet up.

Jackie, James,Lisette, Dave, Eric, Matt, Thomas, Joe, Gail, Julie, Dora, Frank.

Thomas, Gail, Joe and i all met on a Roger Waters message board that started in 1999. By the mid 90’s the board had ended but most of us had stayed in touch via e mail and always met up at shows around the world. Gail, Joe and i first met in 2002 in Dublin and this year was our ten year anniversary of meeting up.Id met Thomas a fewyears later but Gail and Joe even though knowing of Thomas through the message board had only just met today!

Myself, Thomas, Gail and Joe,

It was a great atmosphere around the pool, great food, great people and a great show due in a couple of hours. I couldn't help thinking that there were some great people missing though, after hanging out with Wendy and Chris and Robert and Phil and Greg in San Francisco i was missing those guys and really wishing they were here. Wont be long before i see Wendy and Chris again though in Chicago:) Most of all i was missing my other half Kami. We’ve talked on the phone and messaged but i really wish she had been able to make it and meet all of my friends at the shows I’m seeing. She is however going to be in Chicago and I’m soooo looking forward to that leg of the tour with her

We all sat and chatted till around 6:45 before heading over to the venue.

Julie and myself                                  Frank, dora and i                               Thomas and I