Last night saw the much anticipated London live premiere of Roger Waters’ The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux. Held at the historic Palladium, which even has the ashes of performers under the stage floorboards, the 2,286 capacity venue was packed with those eager, and curious, as to what was going to occur. Tonight sees the second of the two shows there, so today, we WON’T reveal much about the event, so as not to spoil any surprises. With the experience of last night, there are a few important things we can talk about, and prepare people who are going to the second show this evening. First, a general reminder that they are very strict on phones, cameras, even smartwatches, and they are locking these in pouches so are unaccessible inside the Palladium. Therefore, please ensure you have a separate payment card for use at the bar or merchandise stand, as you won’t be able to use contactless on your phone. VERY IMPORTANT TOO – switch the phone off before going in the pouch, or at least put it on silent. Last night in quiet parts of the first half, phones could be heard, but not silenced as they were in their pouches. They will be in them for a number of hours, so best to just switch them off – save your battery! There’s merchandise on sale – the orange vinyl 2LP (also available from Roger’s online store) as well as the CD and cassette (this is again an Roger’s online store exclusive). There was a limited number of special prints, but with just 100 numbered examples they went fast – maybe there will be more tonight? Finally, there was a commemorative t-shirt and hoodie for sale. Those with a VIP package get a nice bag, with a t-shirt, standard print, guitar picks set and some badges. The show itself is in two halves. The first, “other stuff”, and the second, The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux in full. The scheduled timings were: doors 6:30pm, first half 8pm, 8:50pm interval, 9:10pm Redux, 10pm end. Unfortunately, Roger came on late (around 8:15pm) and therefore the timings all were thrown out. The first half was a lot longer than scheduled, and as Roger himself said at the end of that half, the start of the second half would be a 20 minute film BEFORE performing the Redux Dark Side. The show therefore finished just before 11pm, AND obviously it took a while to leave the venue as everyone needed to get their pouches unlocked. Please bear this in mind for this evening to avoid stress if you have trains etc to catch! For the show itself, Roger seemed in great form (although clearly suffering with a cold or allergy) and it was all very entertaining. In the first half he mentioned his forthcoming book, which he said was called “I’ll See You On The Dark Side Of The Moon: Memoirs Of A Lanky Prick”! The staging and lighting was simple but very effective, particularly in the second half. Roger was accompanied by no less than 14 musicians – a six piece string section, a few members of his current touring band (Jon Carin, Jonathan Wilson, Gus Seyffert, Robert Walter and Joey Waronker), and some others, including a theremin performer, taking the slide guitar parts into an eerie new realm! We’re just trying to get all their names for you. For all those going tonight, have a great time! We’ll elaborate more on how things unfolded tomorrow…
