I’m getting rid of some old t-shirts and they hold enough meaning for me to have survived a few moves and a couple decades.
In 1999, I got the chance to see Roger Waters at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.
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I was never the biggest Pink Floyd fan, but Waters’s performance at the fallen Berlin Wall in 1990 was a huge deal in my house. That and The Wall motion picture were influential in developing my views on government, education, and power.
The show was outside, on the back side of Hersheypark Stadium, a somewhat hidden-in-plain-sight venue called Star Pavilion. I saw one of Bowie’s last shows there a few years later.
It was a long night with a ton of classic Pink Floyd tunes and an energy that I wasn’t expecting. I thought this was a crass sort of money grab of a tour, but it was a memorable show.
The coolest effect was when the speakers at the back of the venue were used to simulate an incoming helicopter. Everyone turned around and looked into the night sky, squinting for the black chopper that was clearly descending on us.
It was a long drive back to West Chester from Hershey, but my companion was about to leave for the Peace Corps and the amazing performance and time together fueled the journey.
This shirt is blessing me again as my girlfriend’s daughter in a big Floyd fan. An actually 23-year-old concert tee is a pretty cool thing to her. I’m excited to share these stories and this shirt with her.