Roger Waters performing “Comfortably Numb” at the Meadowlands Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ, May 22, 2017
It couldn’t have been more obvious who the “Us” and “Them” are that Roger Waters has chosen to call his 2017-18 tour. Waters didn’t speak directly about his disdain for the 45th President of the United States, instead using the on-screen visuals on the giant screens at the May 22, 2017 final dress rehearsal for his massive “Us + Them” tour, which began May 26.
And with well-known Pink Floyd song titles like “Money” and “Pigs (Three Different Ones),” Waters was able to let the group’s music do the talking. He wrote those songs after all. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
The tour is described as “performing songs from the albums of Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Animals and Wish You Were Here.” While promoting “Us + Them” on his Facebook page in February 2017, Waters had promised fans that the tour’s songs would be “probably 75% old material and 25% will be new, but it will be all connected by a general theme.”
And as the lights dimmed, at the Meadowlands Arena in E. Rutherford, NJ, the spectacular screen backdrop guided the audience through that theme with graphic images and phrases throughout the night. Waters and his superb band began with three songs from Dark Side of the Moon, including show opener “Breathe” and “Time,” interrupted only by an instrumental from Floyd’s Meddle.
The wordless vocals on “The Great Gig in the Sky,” so familiar from Clare Torry’s performance on DSOTM, were more than capably recreated by Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of the indie pop group Lucius. The duo have served as Waters’ female backup singers for a while; their severe expressions and short, blonde wigs add to the no-nonsense atmosphere.
Next came the austere “Welcome to the Machine” and when it was finished Waters finally addressed the audience with an exuberant “Thank you!” and spread his arms wide.
Three songs from Waters’ album Is This the Life We Really Want?–his first studio effort in roughly 25 years–followed. (The album’s standout track, “Smell the Roses,” was performed after intermission.)
Waters wasn’t quite 30 when he recorded Dark Side of the Moon in 1972 and still just in his mid-30s for 1979’s The Wall. At 73, at the time of this performance, his voice is fuller on the new album, though it was a bit scratchy from time-to-time at this performance.
The first set ended with an excellent “Wish You Were Here” (with David Gilmour’s familiar guitar solos performed more than capably by Dave Kilminster and Jonathan Wilson).
It was followed by an outstanding “Another Brick in the Wall” (Parts 2 and 3) and the evening’s first obvious sign of politics with huge letters spelling “RESIST” on the screen. On cue, seven children (“from Trenton, NJ,” Waters later told us) who had been dancing in unison at the front of the stage, shed their orange jumpsuits to reveal black t-shirts emblazoned with “Resist.” Pink Floyd’s unlikely #1 pop single was the first half’s highlight.
“I won”
Politics was the second set’s clear topic. With the house lights still on, the speakers filled with sounds of helicopters and then an air raid alarm. The lights dimmed and the Animals portion of the show began. Photos of President Trump with various words–“Charade,” “Joker,” and more–appeared on the screens. A motor-controlled, giant inflatable pig whirred overhead with “Piggy Bank of War” and “Bombs + Death come out here” on one side and “Welcome to the Machine – I Won” (with a picture of #45) on the other.
The screens filled with unseemly quotes that the President has made in recent years (“If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I would be dating her.”)
“Money” at the Meadowlands Arena (Photo: Greg Brodsky)
The band performed “Money” with photos depicting various political figures, as well as images of wealth and poverty. Sax player Ian Ritchie did the solo as well as on the follow-up, “Us and Them,” with Waters taking a back seat to his band.
The second set closed with an epic seven-and-a-half-minute “Brain Damage” / “Eclipse,” which together close DSOTM. The gals from Lucius began with harmonies, followed by the familiar guitar intro. As “Brain Damage” progressed, an inflatable moon flew overhead. At the precise moment in “Eclipse,” where Waters beginning singing “All that you touch, And all that you see,” a triangle replicating the DSOTM album cover prism appeared above the floor seats via lasers and smoke machines.
Of the dress rehearsal before roughly 3500 lucky fans in an arena built for 19,000, Waters said, “It’s been so wonderful for us to be here with family and friends, and their friends and their families.”
After band introductions came three more songs from The Wall, closing with a terrific “Comfortably Numb.” Waters let Wilson and his lovely voice sing the melancholy chorus (“There is no pain, you are receding”).
“Us + Them” audiences–and we suspect they will be left-leaning–are in for a treat.
Roger Waters Us + Them May 21, 2017 Setlist
Breathe
One of These Days
Time
The Great Gig in the Sky
Welcome to the Machine
Deja Vu
The Last Refugee
Picture That
Wish You Were Here
Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2, 3
Intermission
Dogs
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Money
Us and Them
Smell the Roses
Brain Damage
Eclipse
Encores
Vera
Bring the Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb
Waters turned 78 on September 6, 2021. His next tour, “This is Not a Drill,” was postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic. Tickets are available here and here. A concert film of the “Us + Them” tour was released in October 2020.
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20 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationI saw the concert in San Jose, California. I was turned off by the graphic political messaging that ran throughout the show. I was hoping to escape the realities of the real world with good music. Don’t get me wrong, the music was good but the escape from the day to world of politics did not happen. It was too over the tip. Ticket prices were high for this show and I expected more special effects. To say the least the special effects were notably lacking. Also, there were some moveable roll up screens at my dhow with one malfunctioning the proved to be distracting and made the show look amateurish. Bottom line…leave the politics outside the venue, get the dpecial effects back into the show and make sure it all works before charging fans such a huge amount of money.
I couldn’t agree more! I am a huge fan of Pink Floyd and of course Roger Waters and the show I watched last night just let me down. Way too over the top politically, that was not the entertainment that I paid for. For such a musical genius, he really let me down this tour.
I have enjoyed his prior tours with the last one being the last Wall tour. I love his music but he is a big phony! While claiming to be against greedy rich people he enjoys living in a mansion in Long Island (next to Howard Stern) so he can avoid British taxes and tell all of us to share!
STOP WITH THE POLITICAL VIEW! I PAID ALOT OF MONEY TO HEAR MUSIC, WHO CARES WHAT YOUR VIEW IS. I CAME TO HEAR MUSIC. I WILL NEVER ATTEND YOUR SHOW AGAIN!!!!
So I just saw the show last night! All I can say is FREAKING AMAZING!!! you did it one more time Roger Waters, and left us all with a whole lot to think about, which exceeds normal every day life and which goes to the WORLD AS A WHOLE. I am in awe of his artistic abilities as a musician, and as someone who has ALWAYS taken a political and CONTROVERSIAL stance. Lets face it, the world is hating and killing each other. . . . and we sit back while people are starving and dying, wars, prisoners. WAKE UP WORLD. As for the show . . . I cannot praise him enough. I had no idea what to expect and watched as a whole lot of people got up and left when he talked about President Trump. So this is the thing. Why is it ok for him to talk about the other world controversies yet when he talks about this, right here, under everyone noses, people freak out? I mean, are we really that ignorant as a nation to not see the potential here and I am not talking about good potential . . . . EYES WIDE SHUT! I stated this in reply to someone who wanted to say, it was not appropriate for “a concert” . . . . what does everyone thing the movie “The Wall” was about, or any of his other stances? the new songs . . . . .? does anyone listen???? how do you go to a show and NOT KNOW what you are going to see???? Does everyone think Roger Waters is just a COOL TRIPPY MUSIC LIGHT SHOW????? Unfortunately, the lewdness started with the president, and the ignorance remains in the people who CHOOSE to keep their eyes closed to what is going on in the world around us, and RIGHT HERE IN OUR COUNTRY!!!. His show did nothing but speak the TRUTH. Yes, it is not what anyone wants to see when they pay lots of money for a night out. re:money. . . . make the connection . . . You either are in or your out, and if you are in agreement to the TRUTH that was shown last night, you would support. Sadly . . . . . Roger Waters did not make trump do and say the things he did, nor is he responsible for the World as a whole’s actions, which now is subject to FREEDOM OF SPEECH. . . .Lets face it, this has nothing to do with whether he is an American citizen or not, this has everything to do with the WORLD AS A WHOLE. Wake up people. Didn’t we learn from the sins of the past????
Sounds like the left is fine with this juxtaposition of entertainment and politics, while the right could do without the commentary. Me, I want to absorb the full musical experience that is the hallmark of Pink Floyd. Current political editorializing is beneath the band’s underlying foundation of general societal messaging. I’m disappointed it has come to this.
Facts:
Pink Floyd and Roger Waters have been openly and passionately progressive and anti-fascist in their politics as represented by their music since DSOTM, Wish You Were Here and Animals not to mention The Wall & The Final Cut, yet you present a false narrative in which you are “disappointed that it’s come to this” as though Pink Floyd’s music suddenly became offensively political when in fact Waters is performing the same songs he & PF have been performing for 50 years.
The exact same songs with the same messages along with reiterations of the same overtly political stage show themes. Sure, much of their catalog is not political or only covertly so. But even the beautiful, epoch-making DSOTM had a strongly-worded political song mixed in with all the lovely existential stuff. On the other hand, entire albums including Animals and The Wall are strongly or completely political.
And it’s got nothing to do with the left being ok with the politicization of music and the right not being ok with the politicization of music. That’s completely and ridiculously false. The right has more than its fair share of highly politically-charged musical artists including high-profile performers in a variety of genres from modern country to hip-hop to Christian “rock” and choral groups to white-supremacist death metal bands to you name it.
So it’s not at all a matter of one side or the other being agreeable with political expressions via music.
Your actual criteria is whether or not a given artist presents a political philosophy in agreement with your own beliefs. While we all enjoy and most of the time prefer non-political music by which to enhance desirable physio-cognitive-emotional states from relaxation to focus to happiness to a sense of feeling energized to whatever, in this instance you knew very well going into the concert or prior to watching it on video what Roger Waters and PF are all about musically & you knew they have many politically-oriented songs in their catalog.
Point being, like several other readers of this article you feign offense at politics in music when what you really hate is music containing philosophies other than your own. So kindly desist speaking ironically and using deceptive rhetoric and switch to expressing yourself honestly. Because the false narrative you present via your post here is shameful, weak and even predatory to an extreme point one sees primarily in zealots.
It’s a shame. So much money. Lost in his own world. The show is of quality. It’s as it he thinks that his fans don’t get what’s going on? That’s his issue. It’s back again. Wishing him the best…But at some point he needs to write some strong tunes not just ideas about tunes.
Your post is extremely vague. Perhaps you could take the time to create a post using specifics and enough detail to make your thesis or main point clear? As it stands, readers are forced to make assumptions as you offer zero discrete facts and rely on nebulous and in at least one instance seemingly contradictory statements. So, if you’d care to use clearer language, that would be appreciated by readers.
Whomever believed they are the purveyor(s) of the “TRUTH”, should look to history – Never forget 1930s Germany (Hitler/ Goebbels) the early 1940s Italy (Mussolini) and Russia (Stalin), and Mao Zedong in the 1950s-early 1970s.
All had “Ministers of Enlightenment” – Sound familiar, recently,……?
To the people complaining about the politics, what do you think these songs are about? RW has always been controversial. He’s always spoke the truth. Sometimes that’s not so pretty. When you go to a concert, you go to get some kind of visual to go with the songs, an interpretation, by the artist, of the music. Some artists are more aggressive in their presentation than others. RW doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination, in that, he blatantly shoves the interpretation in your face. If you have followed him and his music for 40+ years and you don’t know what he’s about, you’ve been listening with audio blinders on. If all you want is the music, stay home and listen to the albums. But if you want the full experience and meaning of the music, don’t shake him with your interpretation of what you think the music is about.
Like Wagner, his repulsive anti-Semitism makes it difficult to appreciate his work. Waters is either culpably ignorant or just plain malevolent.
RW is not antisemetic, He simple wants for the Palestinians what the Jewish population has, a homeland. He has never preached violence against the Jews, nor does he want to deprive them of anything any other person strives for in life. Perhaps you don’t agree with his idea of what any person, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, or religious belief has a right to in this world, you’re free to believe what you want. However, to paint someone negatively because of his views requires an extremely full and complete understanding of his views, not the superficial examination you have given them.
A few facts:
Palestinians are Semitic, too.
Waters is not anti-Semitic or more specifically, anti-Jew or anti-Israeli. He is simply in favor of the Palestinians being granted statehood after being intentionally left out to dry by Saudi Arabia & other Arab nations so that they would always have a reason to hate & fund violence against Israel.
Being of Jewish descent myself, I still cannot ignore the inhumane manner in which the Israelis frequently treat Palestinians via illegal real property seizures & treating Palestinians as second-rate human beings. I wonder at this behavior because Jews should know quite well what it’s like to be treated in a vile manner past & present. They know the Palestinians are poor pawns used by terrorist-funding anti-Israeli actors but cut them no slack, engaging in a number of misdeeds which don’t reflect well on their well-developed morality and democracy.
In short, Waters is not anti-Semitic. He’s pro-human decency across the board.
That being said, I don’t hate Jews or Israelis and neither does Mr. Waters. He simply would like to see the Palestinians treated humanely by all affiliated parties.
“including show opener “Breathe” and “Time,” interrupted only by an instrumental from Floyd’s Meddle.” That “instrumental” has a name & it’s called “One Of These Days”. Way to keep up on your Floyd song names Greg 🙁
My specific point was focused on the material from DSOTM. The setlist appears later in the story, clearly identifying “One of These Days.”
Roger’s opinion is his opinion. His opinion has cost him my support of his work. Which has become less art and more propaganda as he rusts ever so ungracefully. His bitterness searing the inside of his mouth like a ruptured car battery in an ill timed car bombing at a peaceful wedding in Baghdad. Ever prattling on about some political event or another. Never looking into his own eyes to bare for us his artistic soul. I’d dare to say he sold it therefore, he’s left with nothing more than the dusty hole in his chest from which it was taken. Thus, we get heartless uninspired drivel and it’s corresponding spate of obligatory cash grab appearances. Please see Sir David Gilmour’s recent output for a blueprint for how an aging Rock Legend comports oneself.
As much as I relished In Pink Floyd’s music and live shows, up to the time of Roger Waters’ exit, Roger Waters’ has lost another fan.
In agreement with a number of readers above, performers such as Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, etc. – are all unquestionably multi-talented singer/songwriters, and musicians, who have written many poignant and insightful songs, all of whom I enjoyed immensely in my younger days.
Then, due to to their success, they seemingly believed they had platforms to be spokespeople for all of music enthusiasts – Wrong – there are many of us who love and care for America, and believe in just causes, but do not believe views protecting our republic, sovereignty, and free speech, are to be dismissed.
To Artists – you are of course entitled to your views and should support/donate to your concerns and causes, with your recording and touring income, but when we spend $80.00 (usually minimum) to infinity $$$ to watch you perform, don’t preach to us, and spend 1/3 of OUR concert time trying to tell us how to think – we can think on our own.
Just play what we paid for – you to perform your terrific songs, in order that we can have a memorable evening.
The aforementioned, as well as all recording artists, may want to take a lesson from Tom Petty, who was beloved by his fans from the start of his career through every album and every tour, until his untimely passing, as he and the Heartbreakers didn’t preach – they just played their sensational brand of rock.
Your blatant hypocrisy is stunningly ironic and completely self-serving. Please read my own post if you’re truly unclear re: your own dogmatic propaganda or simply appreciate critical thinking, logic, and fact-based arguments against your thinly-veiled pro-fascist anti-American and utterly baseless rhetoric. Arguing that longtime progressive artists like Waters, Springsteen, et al should keep their opinions to themselves and not use their popularity to express their ideals is blatantly hypocritical, completely empty and entirely self-serving. What you really mean is: “I don’t agree with this artist’s progressive politics which stands in sharp opposition to my own regressive (lack of) values. How dare these artists exercise free speech that reflects their longtime openly and often-expressed opposition to autocracy and fascism?” I call worse than BS. I declare the meaning behind the words of your post, IE the thoughts and ideas your words represent, to be intentionally dogmatic and a 100% false representation of the facts meant to sway the opinions of those at-risk due to lack of education, experience and/or possessing little comprehension for any number of possible reasons. In short, I call malicious shenanigans that stand in opposition to truth and liberty.
All of the people posting here decrying artists (whose music has been politically progressive since day one ) are engaging in deception. What they really mean to state is: “I don’t agree with these performers’ progressive opinions which do not match my own regressive ideals”.
And those attempting to assert a correlation between these musicians and fascism or antisemitism (and I say this as someone who, like Jesus and Einstein, was born into Judaism) are presenting arguments so diametrically opposed to reality they’re both ridiculous and a frightening testament to the intentional gradual dumbing-down of the US populace. And I mean stupefied to the point where someone as blatantly and in-your-face corrupt, unqualified, lacking of the ability to think critically, speak intelligently and access basic knowledge (like the fact that Israel is part of the Middle East, a gaping hole in his understanding which he revealed on live TV while in Israel), misogynist, xenophobic, prone to endless scandals including firing his own FBI chief to halt further investigations into his undeniable collusion with Russia to openly paying-off sex-workers in exchange for NDAs and maintaining close friendships with MANY top GOP leaders who’ve ended up resigning and/or in prison guilty of breaking State and Federal laws, felonious crimes which they often confessed to or were convicted of then pardoned (see: Roger Stone for just one example) except for his fellow Jan 6 2021 insurrectionist pals who asked for pardons but were denied as they would directly implicate the then President, known for crude public expressions like “…grab her p-ssy” & “..if she wasn’t my daughter I’d probably be dating her”, wasting our time and money with dozens of lawsuits filed in an attempt to overturn the fair election he lost only to have EVERY SINGLE LAWSUIT DISMISSED BY GOP-APPOINTED REPUBLICAN JUDGES DUE TOP ZERO MERIT (no proof of any election tampering & embarrassing BS like he, his staff, friends and entire family all voting by mail while simultaneously claiming that mail-in balloting was completely unreliable) and, in short, who embodies the very essence of fascism (by, among many other things, attempting to install himself as an autocrat) could become the GOP nominee let alone be elected in 2016 to the Presidency. Given how blatant, obvious, and proudly overt his deceptions (including refusing to share his Federal tax filings, as EVERY POTUS candidate has done, in order to hide his huge financial losses), lack of qualification and endless SNAFUs have been, the public would have to be intensely lacking in even a basic knowledge of history, law, our political system etc. to have swallowed the nonstop deceit fed to them by his former pundits, the pro-right wing propagandist “talk show hosts” (not journalists, as Hannity pointed out to excuse himself and FOX from any responsibility for misleading the public for so long including stoking the flames of un-Constitutional BS leading to the attempted Jan 6 ’21 coup), pundits who finally turned on Trump as Mr. Murdoch realized that the Select Committee testimony by so many of his staff, counselors and fellow GOP biggies was undeniable and painted such a damning portrait of the former President that to continue to toe his line would be financial suicide as well as implicating FOX as part of the POTUS’ obvious attempt at inciting the public to insurrection (and not the healthy kind that protects and restores liberty but rather, the kind that inserts autocrats into permanent positions of power – see: world history), so they finally dropped him like a hot very orange potato.
Point being: In order to believe so many damaging lies on such a grand scale, the 45% of our voting public would have to be uneducated, un-knowledgeable and misinformed to a staggering degree, the kind that allows the USA to be the ONLY modern democracy to use a for-profit healthcare model (which is why health costs are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the USA and our health status is so poor – see: obesity, diabetes, chronic preventable illness, low lifespans, high infant mortality rates and so on, ) something unheard of in our allies nations where healthcare is considered a right for all, not a privilege for the wealthy and of their common sense view that healthy nations are built from the ground up not from the top down which is why the USA has fallen from #1 in quality of living including wages, pensions/retirement, education, housing, etc tn the 70’s to #14 of the top 18 Western-style democracies today; the kind of staggering ignorance that allows us to be fleeced by our own top 2% while continuing to believe that our nation is still #1; that suffers a mass shooting every 20 days (240 so far this year) a statistic unheard of in ALL other nations including gun-loving Norway where firearms are coveted as madly as they are here but where responsible licensing and regulation ensure almost zero firearm deaths each year compared to our 64,000/year w/firearm deaths being the #1 cause of death for those aged 20 or younger here (!) and only one mass shooting in my lifetime in Norway compared to over 400 here.
Bottom line: those who’ve posted here complaining about the political content in songs and performances are being willfully obtuse and/or hypocritical in damning artists whose progressive stance opposes their own regressive position….or are we expected to believe that these former fans are so stunningly lacking in comprehension that they are just now recognizing the progressive political views espoused by said artists which has been present since the start of their careers?
Roger Waters strong, clearly progressive and anti-fascist lyrics have been part of Pink Floyd’s song catalog since the 1970’s yet these posting outrage here never noticed before attending these live shows. Really? Seriously? Sheer lack of insight/ability to recognize political songs or self-serving hypocrisy or both? And those equating progressive artists to fascist artists and regimes are presenting a narrative so false and backwards and illogical it represents a staggering level of openly ironic malicious intent approaching the same Nazi/fascist level of evil you pretend to be against but are in reality propagating. So: kindly create your own autocratic state in a vast wasteland and leave the USA to those in favor of truth, democracy, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.