Madison Square Garden: Night One

If you ask people to name a famous concert venue in America, the one that is most likely to come to mind is Madison Square Garden. Located in midtown Manhattan, this 18,000 capacity venue sits on top of the equally famous Pennsylvania station. During the soundcheck there was a palpable feeling of excitement that perhaps this would be one of those special ones.

When David and the band walked on the stage, the audience gave them a standing ovation and that set the tone for the night. Not since South America has Wish You Were Here been sung with such gusto. They roared, they cheered, they chanted “David” and the band responded, led by the maestro, ‘knocking it out the park’ on every track.

For the many guitar fans in the audience, Marc Brickman projects many shots of David’s ‘wide’ fingers bending and pushing the strings with bewildering accuracy. It also shows close-ups of his famous guitars to good effect, with the trusty black strat taking a lot of the electric load.

Stevie DiStanislao’s drumming is rock solid, propelling the band forward and giving David a powerful beat to play off; there is a saying that “a band is only as good as its drummer”, but perhaps a drummer said that. When there are close-ups of Stevie on the screen it is clear what a physical, as well as musical, job the drummer has … luckily Stevie is a gentle giant.

The film that accompanies the every popular High Hopes is set in David’s home city of Cambridge and features the famous university, where his father was a college lecturer. The point where the giant university scarves are released has been cheered throughout the Rattle That Lock tour.

At the end of this magnificent concert David thanked the audience and said “I hope you all had as good a time as I have”.

Last night’s setlist was…

First Set: 5 A.M.; Rattle That Lock; Faces Of Stone; Wish You Were Here; What Do You Want From Me; A Boat Lies Waiting; The Blue; Money; Us And Them; In Any Tongue; High Hopes.

Second Set: Astronomy Domine; Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5); Fat Old Sun; Coming Back To Life; The Girl In The Yellow Dress; Today; Sorrow; Run Like Hell.

Encores: Time/Breathe (reprise); Comfortably Numb.