ROGER WATERS | Us + Them Tour 2018 - Qudos Arena, 3rd Feb
Roger Waters - former singer/songwriter/bass player of the band Pink Floyd is currently performing in Australia as part of his Us + Them world tour.
Forming in 1967, Pink Floyd quickly became famous for spectacular stage shows and dark and brooding rock music dominated by themes of alienation, loneliness and oppression. Pink Floyd’s most famous album, the 1973 classic, 'Dark Side of the Moon' remained in the album charts from 1973-1988, selling 45 million copies worldwide, and is considered a rock classic today. And the band's most famous song, the anthemic 'Another Brick in the Wall – Part 2', from the 1979 album 'The Wall' was incidentally their only number one single.
Roger Waters went on to enjoy a successful solo career after leaving the band in the 1980s, but continued to acknowledge the importance of his work with Pink Floyd in every show he performed.
Waters landed in Australia this month, kicking off his national leg of the tour playing two shows in Sydney before jetting off to Brisbane. On his last visit to Sydney back in 2012, he played the classic Pink Floyd double album 'The Wall' in its entirety. This time, aged 74, it would seem that the Us + Them tour is a possible Farewell tour of sorts, playing many of the classic songs from his time with Pink Floyd as well as some of his own solo works.
This show was widely anticipated, with fans expecting the famous staging of a truly spectacular show that only Roger Waters and Pink Floyd understand how to construct.
Although Waters is getting on in years, even by rock star standards he spent the entire show onstage, singing most songs, while those not suited to his vocal style were sung by other members of the band. He moved consistently on stage, paying attention to the different seated sections so as to include everyone in the area.
The band did an awesome job of playing faithful renditions of the many Pink Floyd classics that were showcased in the performance. While many songs were quite dark in tone, the band's performance made them genuinely enjoyable - a true celebration of the songs made famous by Roger Waters and Pink Floyd for the last fifty-one years. The show continued for three hours, but this time was absolutely needed to do justice to the wide back-catalogue of music.
At first inspection, the stage appears quite ordinary, with a large number of guitars and other instruments set up ready to go and what was obviously a rear-projected screen behind the stage. Within minutes of the band entering the stage however, the set was transformed into a multimedia extravaganza. Bright lights, lasers, a massive representation of the Battersea Power Station from Pink Floyd’s 'Animals' album descending from the ceiling, and the trademark “flying pig” transformed the show into a truly spectacular event.
There was no support act for Waters, so it was straight into the main event. First up were 'Speak to Me' and 'Breathe' - both classic tracks from 'Dark Side of the Moon'. A great way to start the show.
Then came the instrumental track 'One of These Days', from the 1971 album 'Meddle', which was the oldest song played in the set. Following on was one of the highlights from the 'DSOTM', 'Time', followed by the amazing wordless female vocals of 'The Great Gig in the Sky'.
Next came 'Wish you Were Here' called 'Welcome to the Machine'. Up until this point, the visuals on the rear projected screen were spectacular, but the visuals for this next song were truly sublime, demonstrating the power of the images to reinforce the music.
Then came three new songs from Rogers' latest album 'Is This the Life You Really Want'. While not as instantly recognisable as the Pink Floyd songs, tha band still did a great job in fitting it in with the overall theme of the setlist.
Four Pink Floyd classics, starting with the legendary 'Wish You Were Here' from the album of the same name followed, and then 'The Happiest Days of Our Lives', and 'Another Brick in the Wall Part Two and Three' to finish off the first set of the night. For the last two songs in the set, the band was joined onstage by children from a local dance school, playing the role of the youth vocalists in 'Another Brick in the Wall Part Two'. Lovely.
After a twenty-minute interval, the second set kicked off. Beginning with the two most surprising songs of the set, 'Dogs' and 'Pigs' from Pink Floyd's often forgotten 1977 album 'Animals', at 17-minutes long, 'Dogs' proved to be a highlight, with a massive light and prop extravaganza bringing the epic song to life. 'Pigs' also proved to be a crowd pleaser, with an inflatable pig flying around the arena and the visuals and lyrics making a very strong political point about Donald Trump.
'Money' and 'Us and Them' from 'DSOTM' - both written in the 1970’s about the futility of war and human greed, reminded fans that the message still ring true today. It seems little has changed since 1973.
Waters played one more new track, 'Smell the Roses', fitting in well with the rest of the setlist, before the band worked up to the finale with 'Brain Damage' and 'Eclipse' - the final tracks from 'DSOTM', during which a massive laser light show recreated the light diffracting prism from the cover of the album.
Final songs were aptly selected from 'The Wall'. 'Mother' is a personal story about Roger growing up in post-war Britain, dealing with the loss of his father who died in World War Two, and 'Comfortably Numb', the epic track taken from 'The Wall' is about a rock star battling with drug addiction - and this was his final song of the evening.
Roger thanked his band and the audience, before leaving his satisfied and loyal fans.
Older fans who have likely followed Waters and Pink Floyd since the 1960/70s left with smiles on their faces, matching those of the 'younger' generation also there to experience the exceptional music and social message, highlighted by the simple slogan that had rained down on the audience with streamers at the climax, 'RESIST', encouraging fans to resist bigotry, fascism and any form of oppression - a message that was loud and clear throughout the show.
The audience was undoubtedly left wanting more, and seeing as Waters put on such an energetic show, even as he approaches his mid-70’s, fans were left believing that this might not be his final tour after all.
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