When I received an invite to go and see Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame at The O2 on Monday I did a double take. I am a huge fan of Pink Floyd. Moreover, The Dark Side of the Moon is my favourite album so you can imagine how I felt when I heard Waters was going to play it all the way through.
Who is best? Roger Waters or David Gilmour? Personally I think they are both as good as each other. They excel in different ways. However, with Pink Floyd more than any other band I believe the sum (not forgetting Rick Wright and Nick Mason of course) is so much greater than the parts.
I am fascinated by the way Pink Floyd's music epitomises something uniquely English (yet for me it's hard to pin down exactly what) and by the band's natural ability to have built a global sustainable brand that continues to resonate with original fans and a growing base of new fans more than a decade after the release of their last album.
The covers to The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall are instantly recognisable as Floyd and the creation of a flying inflatable pig (also instantly recognisable) that can be used in different situations is pure genius. No other band that I can think of has used imagery to enhance the appeal of its music as effectively.
This to my mind is what really sets Pink Floyd apart. Each album offers the listener a perfectly unique proposition. Floyd's albums are like journeys of almost epic proportions. They can be introspective, retrospective and thought provoking. The combination of lyrical and instrumental content can build new and unchartered constructs in the mind of the listener. The result is often a musical experience that is both provocative and highly visual.
I guess Pink Floyd's ability to constantly evolve its music into new and sometimes abstract forms is the biggest casualty resulting from the split. The Roger Waters alienation theme gained increasing momentum and became more political as the first half of Monday evening's concert went on. Unsurprisingly much criticism was directed at the world's leaders, particularly the American government for its policies in the Middle East but also at humanity in general. The content was, however pitched in a wide and intelligent context and I was reminded of the timeless qualities inherent in Pink Floyd; of the often poignant relevance contained within the music and the longevity of the Pink Floyd brand. More importantly I was reminded of the brilliance of the artists and of Roger Waters' contribution to some of Pink Floyd's best work.
The Dark Side of the Moon was, as can be expected from its author, brilliant. During Comfortably Numb (the last song of the evening) despite most of the other guests and I having not met before we stood up, threw our arms in the air and sang out loud or danced and played air guitar.
I asked the guy - probably in his mid-twenties - standing next to me whether he was a Pink Floyd fan. "I've been getting into them a lot, but only recently" he replied. I turned around to watch Waters perform again and continued to enjoy one of my most memorable experiences whilst watching and listening to the music my father used to rant about when I was a child, which was quite a long time ago.
