Concert experience #1

As I mentioned in an earlier post here, C and I attended a concert last night. It was a perfect night for it (in the 70's, light breeze) and we joined 13,000 others at an outdoor venue in Fair Park to see Roger Waters (ex-bassist of Pink Floyd). We didn't feel out of place age-wise (lots of aging hippies; bikers; parents with kids in tow; tons of old, faded and too-small for the expanded stomachs Pink Floyd t-shirts), but did feel a bit out of place with the obviously fried-brain dopers that somehow figured out how to get out of whatever medical facility they are in for the night. And while the tickets were expensive (we had seats in the back middle section), you definitely got your moneys worth. I've seen many a show where the band played maybe an hour and were done. Waters and band played a first set that was about 1 hour, 20 minutes, which included PF stuff spanning from very early ("Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun") through to their last release with Waters ("The Wall"), with some Waters solo stuff thrown in. After a short break, they came back to play the entire "Dark Side of the Moon" album, then a 4 song encore. Total time about 2 hours, 30 minutes or so. The sound quality was awesome (quadraphonic audio system) and the visuals were certainly up to PF standards. A few more observations:

• Not nearly as much pot around as I had expected. But, as soon as the opening strains of DSOTM started, you could certainly tell consumption picked up.
• I had a father/daughter combo sitting next to me. Father was into the whole thing. Daughter spent 85% of her time sending/receiving text messages. She only responded to 3 things - (1) when they played "Another Brick in the Wall"; (2) when Dad bought her a beer (she was certainly of age); (3) when Dad offered her a cigarette (normal type).
• Near the end of the 1st set, they played a series of obvious anti-war songs. Lot's of anti-Bush, anti-USA, anti-Tony Blair; anti-Reagan; anti-Thatcher imagery. One song in particular (a Water's solo song which I believe was titled "Leaving from Beirut") had lyrics (which were flashed on the video wall behind the band) about the Bush and the educational system in Texas; the religious right; smart bombs, etc. When the song was over, there were obvious pockets of booing, which I've never heard at a concert before.
• They had the famous PF inflatable pig (which they let go into the sky at the end of "Sheep") that had pro-Obama slogans on one side, anti-Bush and Cheney stuff on the rear end, and anti-religious right comments on the other side. The pig got big cheers.

All-in-all a very nice experience. Didn't need earplugs and I really enjoyed it. C isn't as much of PF fan as I am, but she liked the visual effects. Our next outing is in a couple of weeks - Radiohead. She will not like it as much, and we will be, at least age-wise, in a vast minority. We will be taking ear-plugs to that one.