It was late summer of 1994, or let’s rather admit it was early September of that year and I was hanging around in Prague with no particular agenda after holiday work nearby. Being recently introduced to new indulgences and a legendary (and now extinct) underground joint TAZ, I was feeling incredible. And I was incredibly stupid.

David Gilmour and company, minus Roger Waters, were in town. They were playing the Strahov stadium, the largest concert venue in the world. And I thought to myself: well, they’ve been around for such years, they’re gonna be around for some more. I don’t have to go. I’ll see them next time.

Well, as hippie as I was, I didn’t foresee there wouldn’t be any next time. The tour of 1994 turned out to be their very last. As a matter of fact, they only made it back to England and by the end of October, there was no more Pink Floyd. Finito. Until, of course, all of them, meaning incl. Roger Waters (minus the Crazy Diamond Syd Barret) stormed Hyde Park during Live8. While I was in Prague again at the time, I couldn’t make it to London. I felt so sorry!

But I was given one last chance. It was sort of a consolation prize, however it was still worth it. Roger Waters (minus the others) came over and knocked on the door in Sydney. It was the opening gig of his 2007 summer tour appropriately named The Dark Side of the Moon. Meaning he was to deliver the album in its entirety.

Roger, who’s gonna turn mccartneyan sixty-four this year, is dividing his shows into two parts, first consisting of Pink Floyd essentials and some of his own work (like Leaving Beirut with anti-Bush rhetoric) and the second including complete DSOTM and few encores. Sydney was no exception, he even played the same list he’s carrying around since last year.

The show was carefully scripted, visually stunning and sophisticated, one could see direction of “the creative genius of Pink Floyd” behind it. However, there was something a bit unexpected (at least for these who didn’t bother to read reviews of previous gigs) – Roger didn’t sing many of the Dark Side songs! He left former Dave Gilmour’s vocal parts to guitarist Dave Kilminster, meaning that he could play bass and bludge for a larger part of the second act. Audience was surprised but understanding and rewarded the new Dave with their goodwill and sincere applause.

Though everything was more or less prepared, Sydney got a revised version of Roger’s flying pig with a new graffiti, asking for yet another David, David Hicks, Australian held in Guantanamo for five years to be sent home. It’s about time, I guess.

It all finished as planned: after Comfortably Numb, the group was gone in a flash. Lights went on and some twenty-thousand Floyd-hungry fans with different degree of greying hair dispersed to their homes, reliving a dream come true. Walking down the stairs I could feel tranquillity filling the space.

Wish there were more experiences like this one.