Roger Waters – The Moon Over Santiago (Godfather GF 204/205)

The Moon Over Santiago (Godfather GF 204/205)

Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile – March 14th, 2007

Disc 1:  In The Flesh, Mother, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I-V, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Southampton Dock, The Fletcher Memorial Home, Perfect Sense (I-II), Leaving Beirut, Sheep

Disc 2:  Speak To Me, Breathe, On The Run, Time/Breathe (reprise), The Great Gig In The Sky, Money, Us And Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage, Eclipse, The Happiest Days Of Our Lives, Another Brick In The Wall Part 2, Vera, Bring The Boys Back Home, Comfortably Numb

The Moon Over Santiago documents the complete Roger Waters performance at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, Chili on March 14, 2007 on the Dark Side Of The Moon Tour.  There are two audience recordings in circulation and the Godfather label use the better of the two, where the recorder was positioned in the VIP Platinum section in the twenty-third row.  The tape is in excellent, well-balanced stereo with some audience noises interfering with the music, most notably during “Mother” and “Wish You Were Here.” 

It captures all the dynamics of the performance and is worthy to be immortalized on a silver release.  The countries in South America are hotbeds for Roger Waters fanaticism and every concert he performs there is a huge event including this concert before 50,000 spectators in Chile’s capital city.  The set list is almost all Pink Floyd with only two songs from Waters’ solo career.  The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking and Radio K.A.O.S. are completely passed over; one song from Amused To Death, and a recent single are the only nods to his work outside of his famous band. 

This tour is notable for containing a complete performance of Dark Side Of The Moon including all the pyrotechnics, films, and a giant pig in the auditorium.  The graffiti on the pig changed with each concert and in Santiago was written with the following messages:  “Socialismo al servicio de las S.A.”(Socialism in service of the corporations), “Libre al fin” (Free at last), “Sin TAG” (Without TAG), “Va a nevar en el espacio, la NASA no lo sabe” (It’s going to snow in space, NASA doesn’t know), “Sorpresas de la democracia, la basura sale a flote” (Surprises of democracy, trash floats), “Push Bush contra la muralla” (Push Bush up against the wall), “¿Fey? ¿Iñ chiñ? ¿El? ¿Nosotros? Tristes metáforas” (He? We all? in Mapudungun He? We all? Sad metaphors in Spanish), “Victor Jara no calla” (Victor Jara won’t be silenced), and “E=Mcool.”

The tape begins right before Waters’ count in for “In The Flesh” and segues directly into “Mother.”  The latter features Katie Kissoon taking the lead on the second verse.  “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” is played in the full band, up beat arrangement with features guitar breaks for both Andy Fairweather Low and Snowy White and the saxophone carrying the melody during the improvisations.  “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I-V” is seven minutes long and runs into “Have A Cigar” in the same arrangement from Pink Floyd’s 1975 shows.  The pre-recorded radio bit is played a a bridge to “Wish You Were Here” with no attempt to tune into the local radio stations.  It was fun in the past to see what would be picked up, but this tour is tightly choreographed and has no room for that.  The audience sing along to “Wish You Were Here” creating audible  magic. 

“Southampton Dock” and “The Fletcher Memorial Home” are two of the more compelling numbers from The Final Cut, but I do wish more from that album were played.  “Perfect Sense (I-II)” begins with the 2001:  A Space Odyssey sound clip, the part of the film when Bowman disconnects HAL.  Waters wanted to use it on the LP but Stanley Kubrick refused permission, but Waters has included it in live performance since Kubrick’s death beginning with the In The Flesh tour in 1999.  Afterwards he greets the band and explains the story behind the next song “Beirut,” about when he was seventeen he drove the Lebanon, broke down, and was welcomed by an Arab family.  The first half ends with a ten-minute version of “Sheep,” the only song from Animals in the set list.

The second half of the show is devoted to the complete Dark Side Of The Moon, an idea which came to Waters during the Live 8 appearance several years ago.  And although Waters include several songs from the album in his set lists, never before had he attempted the whole work.  And since all of the songs except for “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse” were sung by Gilmour and Wright concerns were raised about whether or not he could handle the range and whether it would change the songs too much. 

It is obvious that he tries to sing like Gilmour on many of the songs, but is helped out by the backing vocalists as well.  There may be some evidence that he lip synced to a backing tape.  On the whole the performance is very well done with the only difficult part being his vocals on “Us & Them.”  Thankfully he has his backing choir handle the bridge.  The concert closes with two of the more powerful narrative moments from The Wall.  “Another Brick In The Wall Part 2” is augmented with extended guitar solos in the middle and a chorus of thousands singing along. 

The “Vera,” “Bring The Boys Back Home” and “Comfortably Numb” trio form the dramatic turning point and all three songs flow seamlessly into one another.  The middle song includes loud explosions while Waters is pleading for the boys to be brought home.  “Comfortably Numb” is the final number of the night and White flawlessly performs the famous guitar solo.  Godfather package this release is a gorgeous tri-fold cardboard gatefold sleeve with relevant photos from the tour.  The Moon Over Santiago contains an excellent sounding tape of a magic show in a nice package which makes this worth having.