Roger Waters - Us+Them @ Circo Massimo

Spring 2018 had come and I had yet to decide on my summer concerts in Italy. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to see Little Steven And The Disciples Of Soul who I had missed last year. I was sure they were going to play Italy in the summer because they had made a promise when they cancelled one of their winter shows. Meanwhile, I was thinking about Roger Waters and his Us+Them show. I had seen him several times but only playing his Wall show. But would it be worth a trip just for this? And secretly, I was hoping for a gig in Athens, in fact I was almost certain of a gig in Athens, since he has a house in Greece and he had played 4 gigs here on The Wall Live tour. The popularity of the first three however was overestimated by the promoters who invited him back for a fourth one two years later for an open air concert in which the stadium ended up being only half full. And this was perhaps what made them decide not to risk an appearance on his latest tour

Well, luck was on my side and Little Steven announced a Rome gig 4 days after Roger's Circo Massimo show. The decision was made for me and I bought tickets for both gigs and I was off on a 5-day trip to Rome. I had been to Circo Massimo once before, to see The Rolling Stones four years ago and to save myself from worrying about public transport I had booked a room that was at a guest house that was within walking distance of Circo Massimo and in the heart of Trastevere. I booked a room at the same place once again, and I was good to go.

Ads about the concert greeted me as far back as the airport as I got off the plane.

So after I went to my room and got a bit of a rest, I made my way to Circo Massimo. I managed to find a "place" or a "space" if you prefer, higher up, but close to the stage so I would be able to see and waited for the show to start. There were already projections on the big stage screen before the concert began.

Once the show started, it was evident that it was going to follow The Wall Live format, meaning that the projections on the screen would be used to accompany and enhance the songs played. Only this time, there would be songs from all the Roger Waters era Pink Floyd catalogue and not just from The Wall. As far as Roger's solo work was concerned though, only songs from his latest album "Is This The Life We Really Want" were played.

There was even a break in the middle of the concert but it was only a break from the music because projections were still being shown on the screen. Exactly the same thing that had happened on The Wall Live tour. This time the projections had a "resist" theme and for the duration of the break it was explained to us what exactly we should resist.

Roger and his band came back after the break with songs from Animals while the Battersea Power Plant from the cover of the aforementioned album featured heavily on the screen.

And then of course, there were the usual flying pigs.

All in all, it was not only just another brick in the wall, but it was also nice to hear songs from my other favourite Pink Floyd albums: "The Dark Side Of The Moon", "Wish You Were Here" and "Animals". The only drawback was that the fans near me could not decide if they wanted to watch the concert standing up or sitting down. I would be very happy to sit down, especially after my morning trip, but when I and others did so, there were others in front of us who stood back up. And then others behind us would ask us to sit back down again. Oh well...

In the end, there was also an encore of two songs where a laser and fireworks show predominated.

And so, I left Circo Massimo to go back to my room. The following day the World Cup Final was taking place and two days after that it would be time for Little Steven And The Disciples Of Soul.

SETLIST:
Intro: Speak to Me
Set 1:
01. Breathe
02. One Of These Days
03. Time
04. Breathe (Reprise)
05. The Great Gig In The Sky
06. Welcome To The Machine
07. Déjà Vu
08. The Last Refugee
09. Picture That
10. Wish You Were Here
11. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
12. Another Brick In The Wall Part 2
13. Another Brick In The Wall Part 3
Set 2:
14. Dogs
15. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
16. Money
17. Us And Them
18. Smell The Roses
19. Brain Damage
20. Eclipse
Encore:
21. Mother
22. Comfortably Numb

Italia 2014 - 3 gigs in 3 days - Day 1 - The Rolling Stones in Rome

My yearly trip to Italy was originally planned for this concert. (I have already given a brief review here). But, as I do every time I go to a concert abroad, I looked at the listings around that date, to check if there was anything else I'd like to see nearby. And there was. In fact two of them, Arcade Fire and Motorhead in the two days following The Rolling Stones. But more about these later, in my next posts...

So, it seems that the Rolling Stones concert was the big event for Rome this year. It was taking place on a historic site (Circo Massimo) and although I've been to several Bruce Springsteen concerts in Italy (one of them in Rome) which normally attract huge crowds, I've never seen road closures to such an extent. I was able to walk from the Colosseum to the Circo Massimo in the middle of the road. It's like the historic centre of Rome was brought to a standstill.

Nevertheless, we arrived early and managed to get close to the stage. (No roll calls, this wasn't Bruce Springsteen!). And then came the long wait. It was quite a hot day, but it wouldn't be so bad if people were not walking back and forth trying to get to a better position within an area that was already too crowded. (So crowded, that even those people selling beer would not reach us. And this was the biggest problem of all!) On the other hand, it would not do much good to complain about that, remember, this was an open air concert (I still remember the lady from the couple sitting (actually lying) next to me who would complain each time (ie all the time!) somebody would step on the edge of her blanket and move her umbrella from its proper place!).

Anyway, the time DID pass and it was time for John Mayer to get onstage. He was quite good actually and he was clearly thrilled to be there, but when you're waiting to see the Stones, you tend to find most support bands a bit boring.

It was almost time for the Stones now. While waiting we were noticing a lot of activity in the VIP sections. Could that, for example, be Dan Akroyd in the stetson?

So the Stones where on stage and I realize it's probably the first time I'm seeing 70-year olds playing live. With no new album to promote this is going to be a "Greatest Hits" or "Best Of" show (actually a "Grrr!" one), so it looks very promising. (The "new" song "Doom And Gloom" is of course played). And there are actually a few surprises: "Streets Of Love" which I did not hear on The Bigger Bang tour is played! And since they haven't played many ballads on the shows that I have attended, the addition of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" during the encore is a bonus for me. (There was a rumour circulating in the Greek music press back in 1998 when they played Athens that Mick didn't want to play "Angie" anymore but this was probably untrue judging by the setlists that I've checked and the DVD's that I watched).

The second surprise of the night is "Out Of Control" from "Bridges To Babylon" which brings back memories of the Athens concert in 1998.

The night's request is "Respectable" which sees John Mayer coming back on stage to join them.

The songs that one always expects to hear on a Stones show are of course played (for example "Gimme Shelter" with Lisa Fischer), but in my opinion, the most important part of the night is Mick Taylor's presence, a link to the band's history, "Midnight Rambler" being his best, in my opinion at least, performance.

Keith's part consists of "You Got The Silver" and "Can't Be Seen". So no "Wanna Hold You" this time.

 There were rumours that the concert was going to be filmed for a DVD release (maybe, we'll see) and that Bruce Springsteen would make a guest appearance on "Tumbling Dice" like he did on a previous date. The latter, proves to be untrue... 

So the show is over and everyone's happy having seen a band play that have already celebrated 50 years of being together. The only thing that leaves a bad taste are the TV reports the next day showing all the rubbish left at Circo Massimo and the authorities wondering whether concerts on this site are worth the disruption they are causing on the city's life. Well, only the Romans can answer that. Would it be better at Stadio Olimpico? I think not, because it was this site, Circo Massimo that made this concert special...

Setlist

01. Jumpin' Jack Flash

02. Let's Spend the Night Together
03. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
04. Tumbling Dice
05. Streets of Love (with Mick Taylor)
06. Doom and Gloom
07. Respectable (with John Mayer by request)
08. Out of Control
09. Honky Tonk Women (band introductions)
10. You Got the Silver (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
11. Can't Be Seen (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
12. Midnight Rambler (with Mick Taylor)
13. Miss You
14. Gimme Shelter (with Lisa Fischer)
15. Start Me Up
16. Sympathy for the Devil
17. Brown Sugar
Encore:
18. You Can' t Always Get What You Want
19. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (with Mick Taylor)

The next time I saw The Rolling Stones

 

It was on the 22nd of June at Circo Massimo in Rome. Mick Taylor appeared with them, plus they sang some recent songs that probably most people did not expect like "Streets Of Love" from "A Bigger Bang" and "Out Of Control" from "Bridges To Babylon". Oh, and the venue was great. That's all for now but a full report will be coming soon on a future post...

Setlist

01. Jumpin' Jack Flash
02. Let's Spend the Night Together
03. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
04. Tumbling Dice
05. Streets of Love (with Mick Taylor))
06. Doom and Gloom
07. Respectable (with John Mayer by request)
08. Out of Control
09. Honky Tonk Women (band introductions)
10. You Got the Silver (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
11. Can't Be Seen (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
12. Midnight Rambler (with Mick Taylor)
13. Miss You
14. Gimme Shelter (with Lisa Fischer)
15. Start Me Up
16. Sympathy for the Devil
17. Brown Sugar
Encore:
18. You Can' t Always Get What You Want
19. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (with Mick Taylor)