Project Description

ROGER WATERS

Perth Arena

20/02/18

(Live Review)

Photos and Words by Pete Gardner

.

ROGER WATERS

.

.

Ending a run of 12 concerts across Australia and New Zealand, and just over half way through a 149 date world tour, Roger Waters is still at the top of his game after over 50 years in the business, not missing a beat or a note in front of a mesmerised Perth audience.

A Roger Waters show is an immersive experience. The massive video screen projecting a never ending stream of visionary and confronting images, with a set list drawing heavily from Pink Floyd’s most creative period in the 1970’s from Dark Side of the Moon to The Wall, interspersed with material from his first new album in 20 years, Waters hung the set together in a loose narrative and commentary on the state of our world and our place in it.

The attack on the senses begins immediately as the house lights go down with Speak to Me, the opening of Dark Side of the moon blending into Breathe. Waters takes centre stage with singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig showing they have the raw vocal talent required for the material from the first note. Waters himself is the antithesis of the showy rock star, dressed simply in black jeans and T-shirt, he allows the music to speak for itself as he leads his group of superlative musicians from the front.

.

ROGER WATERS

.

The intro bass rhythm of One of These Days heralds a change in the mood of the backdrop, changing to far darker, sinister imagery. Guitarist Dave Kilminster, playing the screaming assault of the guitar solo, may not be Dave Gilmour, but you could only hear the difference if like me you have been listening to Floyd for a lifetime. The slightly harder edge to the Kilminster’s sound only benefits this current incarnation of the repertoire.

.

ROGER WATERS

.

There is only a second to come up for air before the charge continues with the clarion intro to Time, with guitarist Jonathan Wilson taking Gilmour’s vocal duties. This bleeds seamlessly into Great Gig in the Sky. I have had the joy of seeing both Pink Floyd and Waters a number of times over the last three decades, and the vocal section of this song is a challenge for even the greatest of singers (for a case in point see the disappointing rendition on Gilmour’s live at Pompeii release). Wolfe and Laessig’s delivery is faultless, possibly the best live version I have heard to date.

.

ROGER WATERS

.

The Gerald Scarf animation for Welcome to the Machine gives way to a floating sphere as Waters delivers a selection of songs from his new album, culminating in the Last Refugee with images evoking heartbreaking memories of the death of Alan Kurdi the 3 year old boy found washed up on the beach in Turkey in 2015. Waters anger is continued in Picture This, before calming proceedings down with a heartfelt Wish You Were Here, visualized by a pair of hands reaching for one another across an ocean, only to crumble away before they meet. Set one finishes with Happiest Days of our Lives and Another Brick in the Wall, with obligatory Scarf imagery interspersed with graphic commentary on school gun violence in the US, even more poignant with the events in Florida in the last week. The band are joined on stage by a choir of local schoolkids for Another Brick, obviously having the time of their lives, Stripping off hooded, orange Guantanamo Bay jumpsuits to reveal T-Shirts with RESIST emblazoned across the front.

.

ROGER WATERS

.

After a short interval to allow some recovery time and a breath of fresh air, the relief is short lived as a siren sounds to warn of screens dropping from the ceiling along the centre of the auditorium.

Battersea Power Station rises up from the ground as the intro to Dogs plays, Wilson’s softer voice again taking vocal duties to counterpoint Waters’ harsher edge.

.

ROGER WATERS

.

Kilminster’s guitar solo is incredible as images of snarling dogs play across the giant central screen, before a surreal vignette as band members drink champagne whilst wearing pig masks during the central break in the song. More confronting imagery leads into Pigs (3 different ones) as far from flattering images of Donald Trump are projected onto the screen. Waters’ anti-Trump stance caused a deal of controversy during the US leg of the tour, with people storming out of the venue, complaining he should keep away from politics. Waters himself has said he finds it surprising people could listen to his songs without understanding where he is coming from, and perhaps these people should go and see Katy Perry instead. No Waters concert is complete without the obligatory flying pig, this time labelled “Piggy bank of War” and Trump’s face declaring “I Won”. Gone are the days of launching the pig across the arena on a zip wire, the 21st century flying pig is a threatening independent drone, flying as if by its own will. The song builds to a crescendo as Trump tweets and quotes are exhibited twenty feet high in all their vulgar glory. The political satire continues into Money as more images of Trump, Putin and other world leaders and politicians pour across the screens.

The Title track for the tour brought some calm back to the room, with Ian Ritchie’s saxophone taking centre stage duties. The use of Us and Them was also drawn from a quote by Obama, during a speech on immigration where he stated “Nationalism should not be established on an ‘us and them’ basis”. The accompanying imagery of refugees, poverty, war and protest hammered home the Us and Them theme. Waters returns to the new album with Smell the Roses, an alarm call to our current situation, before switching back again to Dark Side of the Moon for Brain Damage and Eclipse. An ominous hovering black sphere glides silently above the crowd, before a three dimensional laser prism and spectrum fill the arena recreating the classic album cover, the sensory overload is complete.

.

ROGER WATERS

.

Roger takes the time to thank the audience for their love, which he tells us is what the world needs right now, and after giving tribute to a couple of members of the crew who are leaving the tour, he introduces the band.

With a more acoustic feel, Wait for Her, segues into Oceans Apart and Part of me Died, the closing tracks from the new album, deviating from the regular set list of the tour, these tracks have been played only once before in Vancouver on the final night of the North American/Canadian leg of the tour.

.

Without a pause, the band delivered the finale of Comfortably Numb to a cheering Perth Arena. The imagery on the screen placing new meaning on the song with images of the best and the worst of our world, whilst the hands from earlier in the night reach across the screen to finally embrace. David Kilminster again gives a virtuoso performance as the arena explodes in a dazzling show of light and laser, again taking the senses to the farthest limit. As the band take their bows, the poignant final image left on the screen, is of a mother, alone, looking out to sea.

Waters’ music and politics are inseparable, never evidenced more than by tonight’s performance, the imagery and emotion of which will resonate with those in attendance for a long time to come.

.

ROGER WATERS

.

Follow ROGER WATERS

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

.

AMNPLIFY – DB