Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters finally launched his This Is Not A Drill Tour on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. Waters and his band loaded the setlist with Pink Floyd classics, solo gems and a brand new song entitled “The Bar” along with a reprise of the tune.
The 23-song concert at PPG Paints Arena was performed in the round and split into two sets. Roger’s band featured Jonathan Wilson (guitar), Robert Walter (keyboards), Jon Carin (keyboards), Joey Waronker (drums), Gus Seyffert (bass), Seamus Blake (saxophone) and Dave Kilminster (guitar) as well as backing vocalists Amanda Belair and Shanay Johnson. The tour was originally scheduled for 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic.
Roger Waters interspersed the music and production with messages about current events. Fans were warned at the top of the evening by a message over the PA and displayed on the video screens reading, “If you’re on of those ‘I love Pink Floyd, but I can’t stand Roger’s politics’ people you might do well to fuck off to the bar right now.”
Waters opened with an acoustic “Comfortably Numb” and looked to The Wall for “The Happiest Days Of Our Lives” along with “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2” and “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 3.” Next came solo cuts “The Powers That Be” and “The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range” off 1987’s Radio K.A.O.S. and 1992’s Amused To Death respectively. Roger then sat at the piano and welcomed fans to the concert. He noted he wrote a couple of new songs recently and went on to debut one of them, “The Bar.” The end of last night’s first set saw Waters & Co. reel off beloved Pink Floyd favorites “Have A Cigar,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6 – 9)” and “Sheep.”
Last night’s second set began with “In The Flesh” and “Run Like Hell” from The Wall. Next came the evening’s only offerings from Roger’s latest studio album, 2017’s Is This The Life We Really Want?, via “Déjà Vu” and the title track. Jonathan Wilson was then showcased on lead vocals for “Money” off Pink Floyd’s iconic 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon. Waters kept the focus on Dark Side with “Us And Them,” “Any Colour You Like,” “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse.”
The complete performance of The Dark Side Of The Moon’s second side was followed by The Final Cut standout “Two Suns In The Sunset.” Roger Waters capped the tour opener with a reprise of “The Bar” and “Outside The Wall.” The This Is Not A Drill Tour continues on Friday and Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Listen to a radio broadcast featuring last night’s performances of “Have A Cigar,” “Wish You Were Here” and “Shine On Your Crazy Diamond (Parts 6 – 9)” below:
After two years of postponements from the Covid-19 Pandemic, Roger Waters finally began his This is Not a Drill tour, which made its way to the Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento, CA. Best known for his work as the iconic bassist of Pink Floyd, Waters didn’t pick up a bass until the second half of the show. The setlist is comprised of songs from The Wall, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Final Cut, and Animals. The show was broken into two sets beginning with an audio-only version of “Comfortably Numb.” Following that a massive screen rose and Waters came walking out and took the mic to begin “Happiest Days of Our Lives,” “Another Brick in the Wall Parts II and III.” Set one also included “Have a Cigar,” “Wish You Were Here,” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (Parts VI-VII, V) all from Wish You Were Here, with the final song of the first half “Sheep” from Animals. Set one also includes Waters’ newest song “The Bar.”
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Photo by Kate Izor
The second half was set with banners with the hammers from The Wall movie and the screen had a virtual wall. Out came waters in his black trench coat and sunglasses just like he wore on The Wall tour and kicked off set two with “In the Flesh,” followed by “Run Like Hell,” both from The Wall. The giant pig came flying around during “In the Flesh” with the words “F*ck the Poor.”
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Photo by Alex Kluft
Waters ended this epic show with “Outside the Wall,” the final song of The Wall, which is also the last song the three surviving members of Pink Floyd played together. From The Wall album Waters had sung lead or shared vocals on all except three songs.
Bassist Gus Seyffert (Photo by Alex Kluft)
To close out the show Waters led the band around the stage while still playing the song then each member walked down the stairs to the floor one by one and finished the show backstage which could be seen on the video screens. While still onstage each member was shown with their name as you would see in a movie or TV opening or closing credits. Waters incredible band is made up of vocalists Amanda Belair and Shanay Johnson, keyboardist/guitarist Jon Carin, guitarists Jonathan Wilson and Dave Kilminster who also sings Gilmour’s vocals, bassist/guitarist Gus Seyffert, saxophonist Seamus Blake, keyboardist Robert Walter, and drummer Joey Waronker.