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Rating: A unique emotion, a three-hour experience so intense that it remains, without rhetorical turns of phrase, forever imprinted in the many fans, including the one writing this, who experienced everything and was present there.
No more words, here is the story of the incredible day: the first thing you see once you enter is the stage itself, very large but not enormous, already equipped with all the instruments, and a massive screen with a typical Pink Floyd style. The peculiarity was that the stage was positioned right in front of the Curva Sud (I was in the central, unnumbered section of the Curva Sud), leaving the rest of the stadium empty, but those relatively few fans were enough to create an indescribable show.
Around seven, a sound technician climbs onto the stage to start testing the guitar, and the crowd, thinking it's Waters (due to the resemblance), begins to shout his name... bah!
Suddenly, right at 9:30 PM, as indicated on the strict ticket torn by a staff member at the entrance, all the lights go out, and a wine bottle with an old radio, of the kind that took up a meter of space, appears on the screen: people start screaming, and we all stand to witness the arrival of Roger, it's him! His musicians and the beautiful backing singers also take the stage. Roger approaches the microphone and, with his usual calm, says: "Good evening," then counts with his fingers, "Ain, swain, train, go," and a fantastic "In the flesh" starts, which was more than just a song—it was an explosion of life, with a real explosion of fireworks on stage, blue and red lights following the theme of the hammers crossing on the screen, the audience all standing, and a highly inspired Waters singing and getting the audience to sing along. Moreover, the rhythm was decidedly more determined compared to the already beautiful studio version. A great finale with new fireworks, from above and below.
Waters thanks the audience in Italian and then moves on to the beautiful "Mother", and this was one of the very few moments in the show where the audience didn't scream but sang along... even here, beautiful images on the screen elaborately reenact scenes from the 1983 musical film The Wall relating to this song. Then it's time for "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun", where the cover's voice becomes warmer and more intense. The beautiful "Wish you were here" is the perfect prelude to "Shine on you crazy diamond", and believe me, it was the most touching moment of the evening, and with each new musical or visual element that appeared, there was a new roar from the audience; when the image of Barrett and the band appeared (there they were, the Pink Floyd!), everyone stood up; the chorus was truly shouted by everyone, and it was the first time during the concert that we drowned out the microphones of Waters & Co. (I say the first time because there would be others later).
We move on to a daring "Have a cigar", from the album Wish you were here, which gave everyone the impression felt in the studio version: a suffocation by the show-business, a commercial frenzy that Waters alludes to with images of instruments, casinos, and managerial men smoking cigars on the screen. Then a series of songs from the bassist's solo discography, namely "Perect Sense, The Fletcher memorial home" (actually not a solo work where he launched a hard attack on war, with images of various Mao tse tung, Lenin, Bin Laden, and the inevitable and predictable George W. Bush Junior) , "Leaving Beirut," preceded by an explanation in English, talking about when, as a child ("When I was young, very very young, and I was so.." and he gestures about his height with his hand), he was adopted by another family after his father died in the battle of Anzio (the event that changed his professional life the most - "that's the story that changed my life, thank you"). On the screen, exquisite drawings relating to the story appear, and finally "Southampton dock". After all this, a new explosion: "Sheep", straight from the album 'Animals', gifting us the great leader of the past and especially giving us a finale, as they say, 'with a bang', with fireworks, drums at maximum, and everyone standing to applaud Waters exiting the stage, giving us “<<15 minutes of break>>” well-deserved by both the audience and the artists.
Punctual as at the start, Waters returns and begins 'The dark side of the Moon', fulfilling his promise to perform the entire album set innovatively: what we have here is a continuous emotion, thanks to the fantastic and psychedelic screen images and the hallucinogenic light system. We are talking about the most famous album in Pink Floyd's history, and therefore the audio is astonishing: the speakers are all around the curve, and sounds come swiftly and decisively from all directions, creating a splendid effect. The first roar from the audience occurs at the beginning of "Time", where everyone is amazed by the spectacular percussion performance of the brilliant drummer, and at the moment of starting the lyrics, the whole audience once again drowns Roger's microphone, but afterwards, everyone sits to listen in religious silence to the vocal performance, as it was at past concerts for this song.
But the most genuine roar of the evening (second only to the beginning and end of the concert) was for "Money" when, precisely at the sound of cash registers, everyone screamed, and even I made the show: throughout the song, the audience shouted the famous words in a frenzy of excitement and mental absence from the surrounding world. Following a spectacular "Us and Them", is the grand finale, with an exuberant theatrical use of lights and fireworks.
At the end of the performance, the 9 musicians plus Roger (in the center) approach the end of the stage, holding hands, and bow, thanking the audience, who gives the legendary Waters more than three minutes of applause. With a wave, the audience awaits the return of the artists on stage: indeed, after the screen round, everyone returns to their places, Roger talks and jokes with his fans partly in Italian and partly in English and introduces the supporting band, up to the most determined and amused roar of the evening, that of "The happiest days of our lives": at the sound of helicopter blades turning, those seated stand up abruptly, and those standing (the entire audience will remain standing until the end of the show) raise their arms, screaming and preempting Waters, "You, yes you-stand still laddie!" - thus begins the song, and at the final chorus (naturally yelled by all the fans), legs tremble, arms rise, everyone shouts and makes the wave for the transition to "Another brick in the wall" (part II), the most fun, witty, true moment of the evening, and despite the effort I am trying to make, remains indescribable: everyone shouts the infamous words of what is one of the most known songs on earth: everyone strains their voices more from the larynx than from deep in their heart, and more than ever cover Waters and the others: an exciting karaoke, and the text is sung not two but three times, the image on the screen remains fixed on the drawing, a bit altered, of the wall and the writing The Wall, and for the last: "All in all you're just another brick in the wall" the music stops to let the audience sing, making them the real protagonists of the evening.
Then thirty seconds of "Vera Lynn", with images of said Vera appearing on the screen, the triumphant and entertaining military march "Bring the boys back home", naturally shouted by all spectators (especially two people in front of me), up to the final crash, the rumble closing the evening, the memorable bang preceding the indescribable final song, which could only be "Comfortably Numb": it's the ultimate orgy, the perfect pleasure, the exceptional closure, and at the moment of singing (shouting for the audience) the chorus "I have become Comfortably Numb," fire flares rise high, illuminating everything, audience, stage, artists, sound technicians, literally everything; furthermore, seeing how every single person was shouting the lyrics, Waters decides to stop singing, approaches the end of the stage and offers us his ear, as if to say: "let's hear what you can do," and everyone responds by raising their voice so much that they drown out the sound from the side speakers. Personally, by the end of the show, I didn't have a shred of voice.
Long applause, everyone standing, and Waters saying: "Thank you," he waves goodbye and leaves, accompanied by our ovation, just before the lights turn on.
Despite everything said over the years, and despite all the court disputes between Mr. Waters and various Gilmour, Wright, and Mason, the legendary Roger has been able to demonstrate once again, and as if there was ever a need for it, that his genius always manages to renew itself and keep up with current times, flaunting it on ‘the field’: eliminating musically dead moments, adding effects that only a Pink Floyd fan could imagine, such as fireworks and real explosions at the sides of the stage, plus an exceptional choice of musicians who were to help him (the drummer was too good, the lead guitarist exquisite).
In conclusion, we are left with just one expression to say:
Roger Waters, his genius, his art, his impressionability: these things have been, are, and will always be. This is his Dark Side of the Moon
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