Roger Waters drills down on 'Not a Drill' tour opener in Pittsburgh

To hear Roger Waters expound on the state of things in the world today, one is challenged to come away feeling hopeful about the future.

“The ruling class are murdering you. They are destroying the Earth and everything that lives on it to make a few (bucks),” he says in an online video. “This is not a drill. It’s happening and it’s happening now.”

And thus the seeds were sown for Waters’ Wednesday kickoff of his “This is Not a Drill” tour at PPG Paints Arena and from the start he made it clear to the less than capacity crowd he meant business.

Just before the start of the concert, Waters — a singer-songwriter known mainly for his work as a founding member of progressive rock band Pink Floyd — displayed an audiovisual message on the 30 foot high video wall for anyone who says “I love Pink Floyd but I can’t stand Roger’s politics,” something he’s undoubtedly heard many times before.

“You might do well to (expletive) off to the bar right now,” the message read.

Like the character of crazed anchorman Howard Beale from the movie “Network,” Waters wants to provoke people.

The gargantuan video wall, stretching across almost the entire length of the arena floor, dominated the proceedings much like the black monolith in the scenes from the Stanley Kubrick movie “2001.”

In the minutes leading up to the beginning of the concert, which got underway 20 minutes past its scheduled 8 p.m. start time, the piped in sound of rumbling thunder could be heard in the background as the fans filed in. After the lights went down, the crowd was jolted by searing bright white lights that simulated lightning and Waters and his band appeared on stage – live in the round.

Waters, 78, looked fit and trim in a black T-shirt and slacks that set off his shock of thick gray hair. The rest of his band all wore black as well.

The video wall, which started out on the floor and then rose just above the stage, displayed a constant stream of often disturbing images that remained an integral part of the show. They began with the battered buildings, silhouetted bodies and wet pavement of a dystopian cityscape that Waters envisions as part of mankind’s fate on this Earth.

With this scene as the backdrop, Waters appropriately eased into an acoustic version of “Comfortably Numb” as the opening number.

Roger Waters and his band perform "Another Brick in the Wall" at PPG Paints Arena Wednesday night. pic.twitter.com/DP1OBIXVbY

— Paul Guggenheimer (@PGuggenheimer) July 7, 2022

This technically wasn’t a Pink Floyd concert - Rogers famously announced his departure from the band in 1985 - and yet that’s really what it was. And the first four songs were from “The Wall,” a seminal album for the group largely influenced by Waters, who wrote and sang most of its songs. They included “The Happiest Days of Our Lives,” and “Another Brick in the Wall,” Parts 2 and 3.

Many of the songs that followed were accompanied by scenes of man’s inhumanity to man on the giant screen. Clearly Waters has historical issues with the state of the world in general and U.S. foreign policy in particular. As he played his tune “The Bravery of Being Out of Range,” he displayed images of U.S. presidents.

An image of Ronald Reagan included the caption “War criminal – killed 30,000 innocents in Guatemala.” An image of Barack Obama was captioned “War criminal – normalized the use of drone strikes.” Then came Joe Biden with the caption “War criminal – just getting started.”

The crowd cheered. They were with Waters and he was taking full advantage of the chance to finally release the thoughts and emotions that had no doubt been bubbling up during the pandemic. This concert was originally scheduled for 2020, just as covid-19 was postponing everything.

“It’s been two (expletive) years and here we are,” Waters told the crowd. “Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to every man and woman in this arena. Thank you so much for coming tonight.”

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Waters told his fans about the new songs he wrote while in lockdown and then he sat down at the piano and played part of one of them called “The Bar.” It was a nice little ditty about being together in a place where everyone can flourish. “The song may seem a little sad, but I think we can all agree that the situation we find ourselves in is completely (expletive) up.”

That message artistically dominated the evening much like the video wall which was bombarding people with so many messages and so much imagery that, at times, it obscured the fact there were actual human beings performing brilliantly underneath it.

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Waters’ amazing band included guitarists Dave Kilminster and Jonathan Wilson, bassist Gus Seyffert, keyboard player and guitarist Jon Carin, sax player Seamus Blake and backup singers Amanda Belair and Shanay Johnson. They were a tight unit that brought all the musical colors necessary to make such personal songs work in an arena setting.

And there was enough to satisfy Pink Floyd fans of every vintage going back to its formation in the psychedelic mid 1960s.

There were especially satisfying versions of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (Parts VI-IX) and “Sheep,” released on the somewhat underrated 1977 album “Animals.”

After a 20 minute intermission, Waters came back out on stage looking like a Gestapo member in a long black leather coat, with a red arm band. Adorned in this costume, at one point he brandished a fake machine gun that looked and sounded a lot like the real thing, and fired it toward the crowd. It seemed an odd thing to do given recent events, but was obviously part of Waters’ intended shock tactics.

There were more messages flashed on the video board, as the band played “Is This the Life We Really Want,” advocating things like “Human Rights,” “Equal Rights,” and “Reproductive Rights.” The latter proving to be a big applause line. It was all part of a grand collage of ideas inspired by Waters’ thoughts on the state of things.

He rewarded his audience later in the show with superb versions of “Money,” “Us and Them,” on which Blake’s rich saxophone flourished, “Any Colour You Like,” “Brain Damage,” and “Eclipse,” which melted together in an extra luscious beauty jam session from “The Dark Side of the Moon.”

By this point, the disturbing imagery gave way to scenes of tribal dancing and celebration of the human spirit.

When it was over, Waters thanked his crew for mounting the massive video wall and the stage in less than a day at PPG Paints Arena. And he thanked Pittsburgh.

“Thank you for coming to the first show of this tour,” he said. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. We came here with love in our hearts and we found love in your hearts.”

The concert, which had no opening act, ended at 10:52 p.m.

Setlist

Roger Waters Setlist for July 6, 2022 at PPG Paints Arena

1. Comfortably Numb

2. The Happiest Days of Our Lives

3. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2

4. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3

5. The Powers That Be

6. The Bravery of Being Out of Range

7. The Bar

8. Have a Cigar

9. Wish You Were Here

10. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)

11. Sheep

12. In the Flesh

13. Run Like Hell

14. Deja Vu

15. Is This the Life We Really Want?

16. Money

17. Us and Them

18. Any Colour You Like

19. Brain Damage

20. Eclipse

21. Two Suns in the Sunset

22. The Bar (Reprise)

23. Outside the Wall