07.02.2007 ADELAIDE Entertainment Center

SYDNEY  ◙  PERTH

A crazy diamond shines on.

08.02.2007 Adelaide Now: WITH so many fans jumping to a standing ovation as Roger Waters walked on stage, expectations were high; and they hit pay dirt. The Pink Floyd frontman is no spendthrift when it comes to dramatic visuals, heart-stopping sound waves, pitch-perfect band and backing singers, explosive fireworks and flying props.

Unpeeling heart-felt and faithful renditions of The Wall and Dark Side of The Moon albums against a three-storey video screen, fans froze in gape-jawed raptures. Variously gritty, glamourous and punkish, Waters' music mirrors the anchoring of society by industrial revolution, corruption, war, distrust and political greed. It is a sentiment typified by Joseph Stalin, quoted on-screen - "Death solves all problems; no man, no problem''. It is music written for people pulling down hard on tight hats to prevent themselves boiling over. There were strong messages for George Bush, Tony Blair, all the world's leaders. When the giant trademark pink pig came hovering over the crowd, graffiti revealed ; "Bring David Hicks home!'' and "Fear builds walls''.

From the fiery anti-war sentiment of Mother, through the psychedlic Set the Controls, the Lennon-esque compressed vocal on Have a Cigar and the beautiful three-way acoustic guitarscapes of Wish You Were Here, goosebumps became de rigeur.

Perfect Sense and its insightful video metaphor for sport and war unleashed the first of many ground-shaking, rib-rattling fireworks. Even a new Waters song, Leaving Beiru' compounds his strong stance against world leader morals. It is a story about him hitchiking home to London from the middle-east after a car breakdown at age 17. He was taken in by an Afghan family who had virtually nothing, but shared everything. And the crowd loved it. Thus, again he questions Bush's motives in his closing; "Are these really the people we should bomb''. Breathe from the Dark Side album transported the full-house crowd with silken lap-steel guitar.  Money was replicated to exacting standards and Eclipse again saw the audience on its feet as if to cling on to the final seconds of these two hours which had passed so quickly.  Another Brick II in the encore, with Bring Boy Back and ultimately Comfortably Numb put paid to a setting where fans felt milestones had been met. Waters has lost nothing in a long career. And in his affection for Australia, he concurred: "It's a long way to get here but when you do it's so worth it''.

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