Roger Waters – September 6th – Ball Arena

I was introduced to the music of Pink Floyd in middle-school and while I have to admit that I don’t listen to them at home often these days, that music played an integral part in my coming of age. From the playful absurdity of songs like “Bike” to the post-apocalyptic psychedelia of “Sorrow,” the band vastly broadened my musical horizons and the education culminated when I was lucky enough to get to see The Division Bell tour in Philadelphia in 1994. To this day it was one of the single greatest concert experiences of my lifetime and while I’m aware that Roger Waters wasn’t in Pink Floyd at that point, I’ve jumped at every chance I’ve had to see Waters perform his music and the music of Pink Floyd since he staged The Dark Side of The Moon back in 2008. The production of that Division Bell tour was stunning and Waters has ensured that Floyd fans aren’t let down by his production by setting an incredibly high bar for himself. The thing is, with each tour, he seems to clear that high bar easily and set it considerably higher. This was certainly the case at Ball Arena this week when his This Is Not A Drill tour finally made it’s stop in Denver.

In a departure from previous tours like Dark Side, The Wall, and Us & Them, Waters chose not to base the theme of this tour on the music of Pink Floyd and instead presented his most overtly political presentation yet. Yes, it was originally scheduled to take place in 2020 during the leadup to the Presidential election, but the content is unfortunately, still highly relevant today.

Upon entering the arena we were greeted by a stage that occupied a huge portion of the center of the floor with a massive, cross shaped wall of screens dividing it into four quarters. Just before the show started a voice came over the PA and said “If you’re one of those ‘I love Pink Floyd, but I can’t stand Roger’s politics’ people, then you might do well to fuck off the bar right now.” The disclaimer was met by thunderous cheers as the opening notes to “Comfortably Numb” rang out. While Waters voice was clearly singing the song, he was nowhere to be seen and, as the song climaxed with the iconic guitar solo, the array of screens slowly rose into position about 20 feet above the stage where they would remain for the duration of the show.

The first set featured Floyd classics “The Happiest Days of Our Lives,” “Another Brick in the Wall (Parts 2 & 3),” “Have A Cigar,” alongside a trio of songs from Waters solo catalog: “The Powers That Be,” “The Bravery of Being Out of Range,” and the newest addition “The Bar.” The epic ballad finds Waters seated behind a piano and telling a story of a communal place where “you can exchange opinions with strangers and friends with no fear or favor, and it’s somewhere where you are welcome and where you can exchange your love for your fellow man without fear whatsoever.” The message is powerful and fits with the theme of the rest of the show.

Throughout the night the screens were used to tremendous effect not only to immerse us in psychedelic imagery (including the legendary marching hammers), but also to assault our senses with the political messages that the opening announcement alluded to. Phrases like “Fuck The Supreme Court,” “We All Need Rights…Equal Rights…Reproductive Rights…Human Rights,” “Free Julian Assange,” “Fuck The Patriarchy,” and an acknowledgement that “the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the Cheyenne and Arapaho” were projected in HD glory. Coupled with the music, it made for a very powerful experience.

Waters paid an emotional tribute to his late bandmate Syd Barrett with “Wish You Were Here” before the band launched into the multi-part masterpiece that is “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” The first set closed with Waters “homage to George Orwell” in the form of “Sheep” and we were treated to the first of the flying animals when a floating sheep appeared on the far side of the arena.

As a pig emblazoned with “Fuck The Poor” and “Steal from the Poor and Give to the Rich” floated around, the intermission gave us a chance to catch our collective breath and mentally prepare for another hour of sensory overload. That overload began with the steady chant of “Hammer” being pumped into the arena at an increasing volume and pulling people back to their seats until the lights went down and banners with that unmistakable crossed hammer logo fell from the celing as “In The Flesh” filled the room and Roger emerged in a floor length leather coat and dark glasses. The words of the song rang terrifyingly true and when Waters feigned spraying the crowd with machine gun fire at the end of the song, the reports rang from speakers in all corners of the room surrounding us in nightmare educing horror.

In addition to the visual production elements of a Waters show, the other thing that keeps me coming back is the way that he and his team manage to bring absolutely stellar sound quality to these vast hockey arenas. Typically, the sound is nothing short of amazing, and this tour is no exception. Sound swirled causing heads to swivel to see where the laughter was coming from, all the instruments were crisp and fully audible in the mix, and Waters’ voice was in as fine form as I’ve heard it recently. They really did an incredible job of making the Ball Arena feel like and sound like either intimate space or a cavernous hall when they wanted to. It was magical.

“Run Like Hell” found Waters ordering us to clap louder before he showcased two more very appropriate songs from his solo catalog, “Deja Vu” and “Is This the Life We Really Want?” Then the master storyteller took us deep into space and we visited The Dark Side of The Moon for a while. “Money,” “Us and Them,” “Any Colour You Like,” “Brain Damage,” and “Eclipse” made up the meat of the set and featured images of tuxedo clad cartoon pigs juxtaposed against men in suits, drones, explosions, and riot police at a Black Lives Matter protest. As we neared the end of the sequence, lasers fired into triangles surrounding the screens in a surreal interpretation of the Dark Side’s iconic cover.

As we recovered, Waters soaked in the standing ovation and allowed the crowd to sing a portion of “Happy Birthday” to him in honor of the 79th birthday he was celebrating in Denver. He then played us out with “Two Suns in the Sunset,” a reprise of “The Bar,” and finally “Outside The Wall,” the closing track on his opus The Wall.

We may have waited more than two years for this performance, but in my mind I’d have to say that it was worth it. If I never see Waters again, this show will stick with me as it set the bar higher yet again and may well live to be the litmus test against which all other arena shows are judged. What a incredible experience.