Fans of the outspoken, opinionated, and controversial royal rock and roll icon, Roger Waters, descended upon the TD Garden in Boston this past Tuesday, July 12. The close-to-sold-out show proved Waters can still draw quite a crowd despite a pandemic-maligned delay for his “This Is Not A Drill Tour”. It didn’t matter that there wasn’t a new record to promote, fans ate up the well-orchestrated two-act set that included material from Waters’ solo efforts as well as the vast catalog from Pink Floyd. The set was equally chock full of Waters’ political perspective as it was brilliant with lush musical treasure.
Despite the absence of the traditional “Comfortably Numb” (and its guitar solo), there were plenty of musical highlights and heavy nods to Syd Barrett in the first act, including “The Powers That Be”, “Have a Cigar”, “Wish You Were Here”, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)”, and “Sheep”. As always, Roger and Co. were musically tight and ultimately hypnotizing with glorious vocal harmonies and instrumental orchestration. An intermission was offered for both the band and the audience to “freshen-up” before Act Two.
As most theatrical performances do, the second set came out with guns blazing. As the light show and music commenced, an inflatable, radio-controlled pig with menacing red eyes hovered above the crowd. “In the Flesh”, complete with Waters donning his iconic trench coat and wearing sunglasses brought the intensity to another level. “Run Like Hell” The anthemic nod to “the paranoids” in the arena, was magnificent. “Money” truly stood out on its own, not only with entertaining graphics displayed on the omnipresent video screen but because of Jonathan Wilson’s contribution to lead vocals and lead guitar. He handled both with top-notch skill. The Dark Side Of The Moon’s, “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse” were majestic and much appreciated by the legions of Floyd fans, as the show soldiered on before wrapping on the same somber note as it began with “Outside the Wall”.
Waters succeeded two-fold. First, by plastering awareness on the atrocities that the human race has continued to endure – most of which could be avoided without greed, gluttony and warmongering. And secondly with a well-curated display of his, often-dubbed, musical genius. Waters and his band strategically and artistically gave the audience just enough of his multi-faceted musical career as well as insight into his train of thought. One can never be disappointed by a Roger Waters production and this show was no exception.
One Response
No guitar solo on Comfortably Numb!!
Roger is a old petty man that can’t honor David Gilmours epic guitar solo