roger waters wall tour dates

• Most popular artists worldwide
• Trending artists worldwide

• Tourbox for artists

Search for events or artists

• Sign up Log in

• Get the app
• Moscow concerts
• Change location
• Popular Artists
• Live streams
• Deutsch Português
• Popular artists

Roger Waters  

• On tour: no
• Upcoming 2024 concerts: none

253,717 fans get concert alerts for this artist.

Join Songkick to track Roger Waters and get concert alerts when they play near you.

Find your next concert

Join 253,717 fans getting concert alerts for this artist

Similar artists with upcoming concerts

Tours most with, past concerts.

Coliseo Live

Estadio River Plate

Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti

View all past concerts

Roger Waters (born September 6, 1944) is a world-renowned, seminal British musician who rose to recognition as the conceptual leader of the progressive rock outfit Pink Floyd, hailing from Great Bookham, Surrey, England.

Born in Great Bookham, Surrey, Roger Waters’ father was a conscientious objector for the early part of WW2, however later changed this stance and was killed in action at Aprilia when Roger was five months old. Following his fathers death, Roger moved with his mother to Cambridge, which is where he met future band mates Syd Barrett and David Gilmour. Upon subsequently enrolling at Regent Street Polytechnic, Waters met Pink Floyd founding members Nick Mason and Richard Wright. The three members went on to play music together for the first time in the autumn of 1963, dubbing themselves Stigma 6 and occasionally the Meggadeaths.

By 1966 the moniker Pink Floyd had been settled on with a lineup consisting of Roger Waters, Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright. Together Pink Floyd would prove to be one of the most influential, open-minded and ultimately successful rock bands of all time. In 1968 Barrett left the group and was replaced by David Gilmour, as a result Waters took the band’s conceptual reigns and began honing the distinctive Punk Floyd sound. This included the second best-selling record of all time “The Dark Side of the Moon” (1973), “Wish You Were Here” (1975), “Animals” (1977), “The Wall” (1979), and “The Final Cut” (1983), culminating in over 250 million copies sold worldwide.

Waters departed Pink Floyd in 1985 and following a legal dispute regarding the rights to the name and material, the musician began crafting solo material. The esteemed singer-songwriter’s debut solo album, “The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking”, arrived in 1984, featuring Eric Clapton and David Sanborn. Following the release and disappointing supporting tour, Waters scored the soundtrack to the animated film “When the Wind Blows” in 1986, after which he released his second full-length album “Radio K.A.O.S.”. Issued in 1987, the record is a concept album based on a Welsh mute who can physically tune his mind into radio waves, and earned more popular reviews than its predecessor.

In November 1989, the world’s most polarising symbol, the Berlin Wall, fell. In 1990 Waters staged arguably the largest and most impressive rock concert in history, The Wall Live. Playing to in excess of 200,000 people, alongside fellow musicians Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Cyndi Lauper, and the Scorpions, a double live album “The Wall - Live in Berlin” was subsequently released to platinum sales. After a move to Columbia Records, Waters released his third studio album, “Amused to Death”, in 1992. Drawing greater comparisons to his Pink Floyd output, the record was his best-received to date, spawning the single “What God Wants, Pt. 1”.

In 1999 the extolled musician began touring again after a seven-year hiatus, playing a combination of solo and Pink Floyd material. The tour proved a huge success, constantly expanding to play larger venues and more dates, including a final show at 2002’s Glastonbury Festival. Following a reunion with Mason, Wright, and Gilmour in 2005 for Live 8 in London’s Hyde Park, Waters released the operatic album “Ça Ira”, based on the French Revolution. In 2010 Waters’ The Wall Live tour began, which by 2013 became the highest-grossing tour by a solo artist of all time.

Live reviews

Roger Waters: Us + Them

This was one of the most spectacular concert experiences of my life, and I have seen hundreds of shows. I was blown away a few years ago by Roger's The Wall tour and really did not know what to expect from Us + Them.

When I saw the tour was kicking off close to my home I immediately got online to buy a ticket, took the day off from work, and drove to Kansas City to see the opening show of the tour. It was unbelievable and exceeded my expectations. I thought it would just be a singular concert limited to Roger's new album, "Is This the Life We Really Want?", which would have been just fine with me, but it was so much more. If you loved or even just liked The Wall tour you will be equally impressed by Us + Them. I do not make that comparison lightly. The Wall is the gold standard of rock shows in my opinion.

There was so much going on as far as music, videos, and props it is hard to believe that any one person could possibly take it all in. The images were so vivid and carefully constructed it was almost impossible to keep from being overwhelmed by the impact on the audience.

As with much of Pink Floyd music there was a multitude of political statements, mostly critical of Trump and the shameful things going on in the United States today.

The music was a mixture of Roger's solo and Pink Floyd tunes, borrowing heavily from Darkside of the Moon, The Wall, and Animals. You don't have to be a Pink Floyd fan or a Roger Waters fan to love this show. It comes easily if you go by nothing more than spectacle. If you are a Pink Floyd fan you will look at the music in a whole new way. If that's even possible over all these years.

I highly recommend this show to anyone who loves rock 'n' roll, statement theatre, and high production values. The use of stadium sized HD video screens, and the pig and moon drones, followed by the laser pyramid at the end..., you have no idea what you are in for.

The Sprint Center was filled to near capacity with absolutely thrilled fans. There was no barring of video or photography, and there is no way that any one person could take all of the imagery in.

I think if you review setlist.com and look at YouTube videos of the show it will make you want to see the show more and not feel like you've already seen it. Video and photographs do not do justice to everything that was going on nor do they capture the scope and scale.

While watching, I thought of all my friends and family who would enjoy the show, and wish they could've been there with me to experience the sheer joy of this production.

I must also point out how genuinely appreciative and blown away Roger was by the positive response from the audience during his stage interactions. He was clearly pleased with his creation and it's effect on everyone present. As usual he delivers his message in a spot-on manner and clearly connects with what people are feeling in the age of Trump. It is impossible to comment on all the messages and imagery employed during Roger's commentary. Suffice to say that Roger is a master wordsmith and musician and proves it again with Us + Them. He is truly a treasure to be savored. I cannot wait to see him again. His polish, professionalism, and production values blow 99% of other rock acts completely out of the water. What an experience! I highly recommend this show.

Report as inappropriate

I saw the man, (the "legend"!), on his 2010 "The Wall" tour, at the Staples Center here in Los Angeles. I also went to see the "Pros and Cons.." & "Radio Kaos" tours, years back. I expected a lot from "Roger Waters' - The Wall", I have to admit; for I'd read & heard reviews, & knew that Roger was quite proud of the show. I've listened to the original "The Wall" album maybe a thousand or more times since it came out in 1980,(no exaggeration, either), for I truly do love the album. I know it word for word, & note for note. What I got to witness at this concert, though, even exceeded my expectations! It was far and away the best rock concert I've ever experienced 'in my life' - & I say this, after going to maybe 70 major rock concerts over the last 40 years. The sound was amazing, the visuals were mind-boggling, & Roger still sings and plays so incredibly well. Outside of his music, I see Mr. Waters (the man) as a pretty awesome person, too. A creative genius, a true humanitarian who 'cares' about others, & I very much relate to his political views. Just,.. if there is any 'one person' that I consider a "hero" of mine, I suppose it would have to be Roger Waters. In concert, there just is no better, (well, except for maybe Led Zeppelin)LoL; so, in a word, "GO!" (You won't be sorry.)

Roger Waters is an English musician, singer, songwriter and composer best known as the bassist and vocalist with Pink Floyd. However, as a solo artist, he still puts on great concerts. Waters has had a solo career for about thirty years and has come to recent prominence with his anti-war sentiment. During the United States invasion of Iraq led to two new tracks on the Internet: "To Kill the Child", inspired by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and "Leaving Beirut", an anti-war song inspired by his travels in the Middle East.

Waters puts on a good show that is pretty simple in nature. The focus is on him on the stage as he generally is in skinny tattered jeans and a grungy t-shirt with just him, his guitar, and a microphone. He is still an amazing performer and fills the room with his powerful voice and lyrics. I've seen him play a stadium and he still managed to wow the whole place and it was impossible to stay seated. I wasn't the only one - everyone was standing up and singing along. The epic guitar riffs backed up by drums, keys and a light show and set that was just as epic, making it one scorcher of a concert.

You would be hard pressed to find another show that captures an amazing sound, displays some of the most cutting-edge theatrics, and packs a more powerful message all in one show.

If you are a fan of Pink Floyd, DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!!! If you are a casual fan, I suspect you would still enjoy this show immensely, though anyone who is an actual fan of the band/Roger knows he wears his political views on his sleeves. If you are completely oblivious to this you are either not a huge fan, or just don't care about politics anyway. It would be like me going to see Ted Nugent and expecting him to say something I wouldn't find repellent- that would be on me.

So, to summarize, if you love the work of Pink Floyd & specifically much of what Roger wrote, plus you are either left-leaning politically (or couldn't be bothered), them go. Otherwise, stay home so actual fans don't have to hear inane chit-chat behind us while trying to enjoy the show.

The music was excellent.

Every Pink Floyd song was spot on.

The sound system sounded great even in the cheap seats. The show was nearly, if not completely sold out and I saw no empty seats. The crowd was well behaved while security was thorough they were not obnoxious.

The only negative was the overbearing Anti-Trump rhetoric with a continuous "F" Trump message splashed across the big screen during many songs. The obligatory flying pig even had Anti-Trump slogans! It was sad that musical performances and artist feel they need to push a political agenda! I felt the whole time this was displayed that if identical slurs had been made against our previous President, the media would have a melt down! CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC would have been proud!

WOW! That is all one can truly say about this performance! The theatrics were incredible, the band was top-notch, and Waters himself, hasn't lost a thing, and obviously was deeply moved-by, and appreciative-of his fans. I was pleased to see a sold-out arena for the evening, composed of all age-groups and backgrounds. Personally, my favorite portion, or aspect, of the experience was the political critiques being cast through the imagery and music, with a nice-touch of synchronized youth from the Philadelphia area during 'Another Brick Part 2'. Very dark and thought provoking, as Floyd has been for me through my life. Please return next year! I can-not wait to see The Wall! Thank you for your work to assist in raising awareness! RESIST.

The show was spectacular a real treat for the ears and eyes, I have seen Pink Floyd live (1980, The Wall) David Gilmour live (2016, Royal Albert Hall) and now Roger Waters. All were superb.

What was amazing was the near 10 minute standing ovation near the end of the show - even Roger was somewhat taken aback.

A big age range was in the audience I saw one woman must be near 80 right down to kids around the 10 year old mark.

Sitting beside me was a girl around the 20 mark, who clearly knew all the lyrics and had never seen any Pink Floyd stuff done live before - she was in tears for about half the show, she enjoyed it that much.

Excellent show, pass it on to Roger and his superb band.

Most recent time I have seen Roger Waters was in Birmingham as part of the Us & Them tour. I expected something spectacular and it certainly was visually amazing, and musically excellent with some very good musicians and singers aswell. There was quite a lot of politics, most of which was very relevant, and the audience was very supportive.

If you are expecting more from Roger Waters than merely going through Pink Floyd songs then I definitely recommend seeing him. This show was excellent and definitely not boring - in fact on the 3 occasions I have seen him he has held my interest throughout.

Absolutely stunning! Roger once again managed to completely blow my mind. It was not the show I was expecting but in fact it surpassed my expectations - just the right balance of Floyd with his new material although I would have welcomed a track or two from his first three albums.

I discovered new meaning in all of the Floyd material which is a true testament to the magnitude of their greatness. Was wonderful hearing Roger call out Trump, Putin, et al but also hold the audience accountable - he owned us in the best way possible.

Worth every penny!

All I can say is AWESOME!!! Just what I expected! I can't get one of the new songs he played out of my head and I dreamed about it that night. VERY powerful! David Kilminster played all the Pink Floyd stuff spot on!!! The singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig helped make it an amazing show as well but all the people on stage did! Out show was in Vancouver and he got local kids up and singing for "Another Brick in the Wall" which also was spot on. Loved and agreed with all his comments to the audience.

Videos (25)

Photos (114)

Posters (48)

Find out more about Roger Waters tour dates & tickets 2024-2025

Want to see Roger Waters in concert? Find information on all of Roger Waters’s upcoming concerts, tour dates and ticket information for 2024-2025.

Unfortunately there are no concert dates for Roger Waters scheduled in 2024.

Songkick is the first to know of new tour announcements and concert information, so if your favorite artists are not currently on tour, join Songkick to track Roger Waters and get concert alerts when they play near you, like 253717 other Roger Waters fans.

Last concert:

Last concert near you:

Popularity ranking:

• Mount Kimbie (1749)
• Roger Waters (1750)
• The Breeders (1751)

Concerts played in 2024:

Touring history

Most played:

• London (27)
• New York (NYC) (21)
• Los Angeles (LA) (20)
• Mexico City (17)
• Toronto (16)

Appears most with:

• Eric Clapton (21)
• Starsailor (5)
• The Who (5)
• Bob Dylan (4)
• John Digweed (3)

Distance travelled:

Similar artists

• Most popular charts
• Campaigns for promoters
• API information
• Brand guidelines
• Community guidelines
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Cookies settings
• Cookies policy

Get your tour dates seen everywhere.

Roger Waters Adds Dates to ‘The Wall’ Anniversary Tour

• By Daniel Kreps

Daniel Kreps

Pink Floyd fans’ demand to see Roger Waters’ The Wall 30th anniversary tour in the flesh has led the rocker to add 12 more dates to his trek, which kicks off at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on September 15th. The new shows include three more gigs in the New York tri-state area, including a second concert at Madison Square Garden on October 6th, as well as additional nights in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. It appears as though the controversial “street art” tour promotion — which inadvertently defaced a mural associated with Elliott Smith in Los Angeles — worked out: With the added dates, and the probability that Waters will take the massive stage show overseas, The Wall trek is shaping up to be among the biggest concert events of the new decade.

As Rolling Stone previously reported , Waters recently made a rare television appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to share a few details about the new Wall show. “We have the pig. We have the teacher. We have all that stuff. We have a bunch of new projections we’ve been working on for the last few months. The piece has changed a bit since 30 years ago,” Waters said. “I’ve broadened it. I’ve made it more political. Hopefully it will have more universal message.”

'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT': Trump Is Big Mad That Star Endorsed Harris

Cher ends conservatorship battle with son elijah blue allman, scooter braun hijacks trump's 'i hate taylor swift' post to endorse harris, threats against haitians in ohio heighten as trump claims ignorance.

Roger Waters Tour Dates:

Sept. 15 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre Sept. 16 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre Sept. 18 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre Sept. 20 – Chicago, IL @ United Center Sept. 21 – Chicago, IL @ United Center Sept. 23 – Chicago, IL @ United Center Sept. 26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Consol Energy Center Sept. 28 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena Sept. 30 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden Oct. 1 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden Oct. 5 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden Oct. 6 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden Oct. 8 – Buffalo, NY @ HSBC Arena Oct. 10 – Washington DC @ Verizon Center Oct. 12 – Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum Oct. 13 – Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum Oct. 15 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center Oct. 17 – Ottawa, ON @ ScotiaBank Place Oct. 19 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre Oct. 20 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre Oct. 22 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center Oct. 24 – Detroit, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills Oct. 26 – Omaha, NE @ Qwest Center Oct. 27 – St Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center Oct. 29 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center Oct. 30 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center Nov. 3 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ Izod Center Nov. 4 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ Izod Center Nov. 8 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center Nov. 9 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center Nov. 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center Nov. 13 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Bank Atlantic Center Nov. 14 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Bank Atlantic Center Nov. 16 – Tampa, FL @ St. Pete Times Forum Nov. 18 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena Nov. 20 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center Nov. 21 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center Nov. 23 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center Nov. 26 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena Nov. 27 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center Nov. 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center Nov. 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center Dec. 6 – San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion Dec. 8 – San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion Dec. 10 – Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place Dec. 11 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome Dec. 13 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center Dec. 14 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center

Editor’s picks

The 100 best tv episodes of all time, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, 25 most influential creators of 2024, bruce springsteen joins trey anastasio, the gaslight anthem at sea.hear.now fest.

• By Althea Legaspi

All the Things Donald Trump Has Said About Taylor Swift

• By Tomás Mier

Maná Pulls Nicky Jam Collab After He Endorses Trump: Band 'Doesn't Work With Racists'

• Latino Vote

Why A ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ Video Probably Isn't Coming Soon — And More Things We Learned Hanging With Chappell Roan

• Bonus Chappell
• By Brittany Spanos

See Billy Joel and Rod Stewart Perform 'Stay With Me' Together at Cleveland Concert

• one night only

Most Popular

Jane's addiction concert ends abruptly after perry farrell throws a punch at dave navarro, is forced offstage by crew, "it's a cult, and walt's the messiah": meet the couple who sued disney over secretive club 33, prince harry & meghan markle made this announcement mere hours after kate middleton’s cancer update video, jay-z explains why kendrick lamar was chosen to perform at super bowl halftime show, you might also like, what madrid market iberseries & platino industria says about the tv business, red dresses are trending on the emmy awards 2024 red carpet: sofia vergara, anna sawai and more, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, ‘shogun’ wins emmy for best drama series, capping a record-smashing run for the fx epic, ufc 306 at sphere pulls in record $22m for ufc, sphere.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

All Songs Considered

• All Songs Considered Playlist
• New Music Friday

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

Roger Waters Revisits 'The Wall' For Final Anniversary Tour

Will Butler

Roger Waters Courtesy the Artist hide caption

Pink Floyd's monumental ninth album, The Wall , is celebrating its 30th birthday, and to mark the occasion, creator Roger Waters has decided to take the album on the road again. "Thirty years ago when I was kind of an angry and not very young lad, I found myself driven into defensive positions because I was scared of stuff," Waters tells the Associated Press. "I've come to realize that in that personal story, maybe somewhere hidden in there, exists an allegory for more general and universal themes, political and social themes. It's really for that reason that I decided that I'd try and create a new performance of this piece using a lot of the same things that we did all those years ago."

At this point, the new tour won't include any of the other original members of Pink Floyd. The full band (minus founding member Syd Barrett) last played together in 2005 in an incredibly rare performance for Live 8. Keyboardist Richard Wright has since died while guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason have continued working on their own projects.

Waters' new Wall tour will start Sep. 15 in Toronto and end in Anaheim, Calif. Dec. 15. While the staging will updated to make use of advances in projection systems and other technology, Waters tells the AP the album's themes are still relative. "When we did it (30 years ago), we were after the end of the Vietnam War, and we're right now in the middle of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so there's a very powerful anti-war message in The Wall. There was then and there still is now."

Waters also tells the AP that this will likely be his last major tour. "I'm not as young as I used to be. I'm not like B.B. King, or Muddy Waters. I'm not a great vocalist or a great instrumentalist or whatever, but I still have the fire in my belly, and I have something to say. I have a swan song in me and I think this will probably be it."

David Gilmour to join Roger Waters on The Wall tour date

Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Roger Waters just can't keep away from each other, no matter how much they try. After years of discord, the duo, who played a short set together last weekend at a benefit for the Hoping Foundation in Oxfordshire, England, plan to reunite once again, performing Comfortably Numb at a to-be-determined stop on Waters' upcoming tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Wall.

Posting the news on Facebook , Waters describes how he initially received an e-mail from Gilmour, who had performed for the Hoping Foundation in 2009, proposing that the two do a version of The Teddy Bears' classic To Know Him Is To Love Him for the gig just past.

At first, Waters, fearing Gilmour's "superior vocal skills," balked at the idea. Then he got another e-mail from Gilmour that sealed the deal: "If you do 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' for The Hoping Foundation Gig, I'll come and do 'C. Numb' on one of your Wall shows." According to Waters, "You could have knocked me down with a feather. How fucking cool! I was blown away. How could I refuse such an offer. I couldn't, there was no way. Generosity trumped fear. And so explaining that I would probably be shite, but if he didn't mind I didn't, I agreed and the rest is history. We did it, and it was fucking great. End of story. Or possibly beginning."

The show at which Gilmour will join Waters is being kept a secret. In the meantime, check out the song that made it all possible (with a then 17-year-old Phil Spector, no less!).

Get the MusicRadar Newsletter

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here.

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for  Guitar World ,  Guitar Player ,  MusicRadar  and  Classic Rock . He is also a former editor of  Guitar World , contributing writer for  Guitar Aficionado  and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.

“He hasn't learned a lot in prison... I'm just seeing a lot of red flags. And I feel bad. It saddens me”: Fyre festival investor warns punters to be wary of proposed Fyre II

Always crashing in the same car: Man attempts to gain entry to Berlin club by driving his Audi into it

“It’s rare that we’ve heard such flexible results made so quickly and easily”: Tracktion Dawesome Myth review

Most Popular

• Manage Account

Roger Waters Details ‘The Wall’ World Tour Plans

Roger Waters hopes to put a global spin on Pink Floyd's "The Wall" when he tours to celebrate the multi-platinum conceptual work's 30th anniversary beginning this fall in North America.

By Gary Graff

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Share on Pinterest
• + additional share options added
• Share on Reddit
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Whats App
• Send an Email
• Print this article
• Post a Comment
• Share on Tumblr

R oger Waters hopes to put a global spin on Pink Floyd ‘s “The Wall” when he tours to celebrate the multi-platinum conceptual work’s 30th anniversary beginning this fall in North America.

“I started to think that maybe there is something in the story of ‘The Wall,’ which is about this one guy…that could be seen as an allegory for the way nations behave towards one another, or religions behave towards one another,” Waters, who last toured to play “The Dark Side of the Moon” in 2007-08, tells Billboard.com. “In other words, could the piece be developed to describe a broader, more universal condition than we did in 1980 and I did in 1990 in Berlin?

Madrid's Bernabéu Stadium Unexpectedly Cancels Concerts Until 2025

“So I started to think about it more and more, and I suddenly had a few more ideas and I thought, ‘Maybe if we did this with this song and that with that song, we could achieve that.’ And so I started jotting a few things down on paper, and eventually I said, ‘Y’know what? I’m gonna do this…’ ”

Trending on Billboard

Waters and his band begin “The Wall” tour on Sept. 15 in Toronto. The show, which has only been performed 31 times before, will play 36 dates in North America — including two-night stands in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles — then move on to Europe for another 57 dates beginning in March. Waters says he’d like to take the show to other territories, including South America.

Waters’ “The Wall” will be a theatrical opus like Pink Floyd’s performances in 1980 and Waters’ all-star presentation to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall in July 1990. The centerpiece will be an actual wall — 240 feet wide and 35 feet tall — that’s constructed during the first half of the show and knocked over towards the end. The shows will also feature Gerald Scarfe-designed puppets that “will articulate more than they did in the last show,” according to Waters, as well as extensive projections and other special effects.

“The engineering and technology has gotten better, especially the projection techniques,” Waters notes. “We can make a very bright image across the width of the arena, which we couldn’t do before.”

On the musical end, Waters says this version of “The Wall” will be closer to the Pink Floyd performances than to the 1990 exposition at Berlin’s Potsdamer Pltaz, which had to be arranged to accommodate his special guests. “Because it’s so visual, it means playing to clicks a lot,” Waters explains. “I personally don’t mind that. I’m happy to sacrifice the freedom of guitar players flailing about, doing anythign they want, on the altar of creating a show that moves people and that’s political and so on. It’s a piece of theater, so it has to be controlled…The lighting and the visual content has to be in sync with the music that we’re making. That doesn’t worry me at all.”

Despite the more “universal” focus of the piece, Waters does not anticipate changing “The Wall’s” songs very much; he’s considered with the idea of swapping out a reference to Britannia in “Waiting For the Worms” for a more inclusive “us” but is leaning against it. Otherwise he’s confident the work will hold up as well now as it did when it was releaed in November of 1979.

“I thought it was a great piece of work,” Waters says of “The Wall,” which spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and has been certified 23-times platinum. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording — Non-Classical. “I was a bit surprised it was so successful, but I was really proud of it. I was proud of everythign we did on it. It was ridiculously successful.”

Waters adds that he hasn’t thought about filming or recording during the tour but says that “it’s very unlikely we won’t film it at some point.” Pink Floyd’s production was documented aurally on “Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81,” which was released in 2000.

Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox

Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about?

Get in the know on.

Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

optional screen reader

Charts expand charts menu.

• Billboard Hot 100™
• Billboard 200™
• Hits Of The World™
• TikTok Billboard Top 50
• Songs Of The Summer
• Song Breaker
• Year-End Charts
• Decade-End Charts

Music Expand music menu

• R&B/Hip-Hop

Videos Expand videos menu

Culture expand culture menu, media expand media menu, business expand business menu.

• Business News
• Record Labels
• View All Pro

Pro Tools Expand pro-tools menu

• Songwriters & Producers
• Artist Index
• Royalty Calculator
• Market Watch
• Industry Events Calendar

Billboard Español Expand billboard-espanol menu

• Cultura y Entretenimiento

Get Up Anthems by Tres Expand get-up-anthems-by-tres menu

Honda music expand honda-music menu.

David Gilmour to Join Roger Waters on "The Wall" Tour Date

David Gilmour and Roger Waters: Back together again?

In a statement issued on his Facebook page, Roger Waters revealed the surprising news that his former Pink Floyd bandmate, David Gilmour, will be joining him for one date on Waters upcoming The Wall 30th Anniversary Tour to play the Pink Floyd classic, "Comfortably Numb." After years of acrimonious separation, it seems the pair have finally buried the hatchet.

Here's what Waters had to say:

"So here's what happened. Last year, 'The Hoping Foundation' a charity that supports Palestinian refugee kids, ( www.hopingfoundation.org ) put on a fund raiser at Ronnie Scott's Club in London, the idea of which was to raise money by auctioning karaoke performances by various celebrities. David was there as a supporter and was moved to perform an impromptu rendition of George Gershwin's 'Summertime?' which he performed aided and abetted by supermodel Kate Moss.

"In the wake of that evening, someone, I think it was David himself, came up with this 'Wouldn't it be funny', idea. What if he (David that is) were to sing the old Teddy Bears song 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' with me (Roger that is), what with us having been so famously at each other's throats for years and years. Get it!!!! Anyway he E-mailed me with this suggestion and I loved it, so then it was just a question of juggling dates and deciding to do 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Comfortably Numb' to round out our little set.

"Or so I thought, until he sent me a number of very musical and eloquent demos of how we could do the song in two-part harmony. I listened with a sinking heart, knowing that David, with his superior vocal skills, could sing either part standing on his head, whilst I would have to search for a different key and then struggle through hours and hours of routining a performance that lay way outside my vocal comfort zone. To my eternal shame I bottled out and told Dave I would happily do 'Wish You Were Here' and 'C. Numb', but that 'To Know him is to Love him' was beyond me.

"Some weeks passed with David cajoling me from time to time, telling me how easy it would be, but I clung resolutely to my fear of failure until one day he made one final entreaty. I quote "If you do 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' for The Hoping Foundation Gig, I'll come and do 'C. Numb' on one of your Wall shows". Well! You could have knocked me down with a feather. How fucking cool! I was blown away. How could I refuse such an offer. I couldn't, there was no way. Generosity trumped fear. And so explaining that I would probably be shite, but if he didn't mind I didn't, I agreed and the rest is history. We did it, and it was fucking great.

Get The Pick Newsletter

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!

• End of story. Or possibly beginning."

"PS. Just heard from David, he will decide in due course which gig he wants to do, it will be a surprise!"

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**

Join now for unlimited access

US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year

UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year 

Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Prices from £2.99/$3.99/€3.49

Since 1980, Guitar World has brought guitarists the best in-depth interviews with great players, along with exclusive lessons, informative gear reviews and insightful columns that help guitarists grow and excel on their instrument. Whether you want to learn the techniques employed by your guitar heroes, read about their latest projects or simply need to know which guitar is the right one to buy, Guitar World is your guide.

“A truly outrageous Superstrat”: Justin Hawkins channels the spirit of Eddie Van Halen’s legendary Frankenstein with his new ridiculously relic’d Atkin signature guitar

“They’ve basically solved all of the problems that existed here”: Line 6’s $179 POD Express just became a pedalboard must-have after “game-changing” new update

“When Rihanna's team reached out to me, I said, ‘Why would you want to use me? Like, I do what I do’”: Nuno Bettencourt explains why he accepted the role of Rihanna's go-to guitarist

Most Popular

Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

Home › Live Sound

Roger Waters The Wall Tour Profile

RESURRECTING THE ALBUM WITH A LIVE TWIST

By Sarah Benzuly

Roger Waters (far right) performing with the rest of “The Wall” band

Photos: Steve Jennings

It’s been 30 years since Roger Waters penned Pink Floyd’s mind-blowing album The Wall . Fast-forward to today, and the same political issues, fear and stress on global matters that formed the basis of that album are still quite relevant—and Waters demonstrates this in his jaw-dropping, two-hour (with half-hour intermission) show. The double-disc album—played in its entirety on this tour—concentrates on the walls people build around themselves for survival. While this may seem like a purely philosophical topic, Waters also brings it into physical reality: By the time the first-half of his performance is complete, a 36-foot wall made of cardboard boxes has been erected onstage. Of course, the wall comes crashing down at the end of the second-half. As each box is put into its place, the audience’s view of the band and Waters is slowly blurred out. Each box also displays occasionally chaotic video images, some of which include pictures of armed forces casualties, snippets from the original The Wall video, and B-52 bombers dropping crosses, stars of David, Islamic crescents and logos of Shell Oil and Mercedes Benz.

It’s a visually stunning experience with top-notch sound, helped out by the incredible backing band: guitarists Dave Kilminster, G.E. Smith and Snowy White; background vocalists Mark Lennon, Michael Lennon, Kipp Lennon and Jon Joyce; keyboardists Harry Waters—Waters’ son—and Jon Carin; drummer Graham Broad; and, of course, Waters on bass. Taking care of David Gilmour’s vocal parts is second lead singer Robbie Wyckoff.

FOH engineer/tour manager Trip Khalaf (right) with crew chief/system engineer Robert Wiebel

Tour manager/front-of-house engineer Trip Khalaf has been mixing for Waters since 1999, watching the artist become more comfortable in the limelight. “In 1999, he hadn’t done a show in 10 years and nobody knew what to do with it,” Khalaf recalls. “It was odd because Pink Floyd always tried to avoid the spotlight, so no one really knew who was in the band, except for the real diehards. It has been interesting watching it grow to what it is now.”

ANALOG RULES AT FOH For this run of 94 dates, Khalaf is manning three boards: a Midas XL4 to handle the stereo P.A. (more on that later), another XL4 to cover the band and the end of the second-half, and a Yamaha PM5D for surrounds and effects. “For the analog side of it, it’s because of the number of inputs,” Khalaf says. “There are two bands, really. The front XL4 does all of the main stage—which is behind the wall—and the one on the left [another XL4] does all of the surrogate band, the forestage.” Inside the effects rack are Lexicon 480s and PCM91s, TC Electronic D-Twos, an H3000, a Helicon vocal double, Aphex gates on drums, Crane Song STC8 on basses, TLA100s on vocals and dbx 900 on background vocals. Why XL4s? Khalaf replies: “Because I’m tired of pretending that digital audio sounds as good as analog. It doesn’t. This record was made when people cared deeply about sound quality. These days, that is not as important as the size of the video screen on your console. If it comes at me analog, it will stay analog.”

Those surround speakers are Clair R4s clustered in three configurations—left, right and rear—that handle the playback and sound effects, provided by playback engineer Mike McKnight. “They’re there so that there’s something happening for everybody,” says crew chief/system engineer Robert Wiebel. “We’ve had quite good luck with them; they sound good.” Adds Khalaf, “The Yamaha takes care of all the surround stuff, which comes from a hard disk operator [Mike McKnight]. We tried carrying around live pigeons to make pigeon noises but it didn’t work, so we put them on hard disk. [Laughs] It also gives me the opportunity because all of the effects are digital anyway; I just bring them back into the Yamaha and leave them all there. All of the surround effects need to be controlled all the time, mostly because the height of those surround clusters varies from building to building. I have the VCAs linked between the two XL4s so that I can more or less control that left-hand board from the main board.

Monitor tech/RF tech Kevin Kapler

“I actually have snapshots in the analog board using the VCAs and the mutes,” he continues. “But you have to turn up the guitar solos and maybe the drummer’s laying out a little bit. It’s mixing the show; things aren’t always the same every night. I always change my approach a little bit. ‘Okay, I mixed it this way last night and it was pretty good, but let’s feature this a little bit and pull it out.’ It’s a constant rethink where you are and reacting to different buildings. I’m trying to maintain the balance of the chaos that is with mixing any band. This one’s a bit less chaotic than most; actually, not that chaotic—they’re a great band.”

The forward-thrusting P.A. is a prototype Clair i5D. Explains Khalaf, who has been a senior engineer at Clair for the past 37 years: “We’re the guinea pig. I like it a lot; it’s a bit more coherent. The original i4 was one 18, four 10s and a couple of horns. There’s two philosophies to this. You can either put a lot of low end into the air, which really pisses off lighting designers, or you stack a bunch of sub-lows on the floor and beat the people in the first 10 rows half to death. Clair’s philosophy has always been to put as much of the low end in the air as you can and use the sub-lows simply as an add-on to move a bit of the air and couple more effectively with the floor. Putting all that stuff into one box gave us the opportunity to smooth out a lot of the anomalies with the original cabinets. The problem with it is that it’s big. We were a bit worried about it when we first started, but we found it’s smaller than a staging dolly, so no one really cared. I wouldn’t want to push one of those across a field in Montenegro…actually, keep me out of Montenegro.” In addition, there are eight i5s for side coverage, 12 B218 subs under the stage and eight FF2s as front-fills. All of this is powered by Crown analog amps.

ALL DIGITAL ON THE MONITOR FRONT Whereas FOH is a mostly-analog affair, monitor world maintains a purely digital approach. Monitor engineer Robin Fox mans a DiGiCo SD7, working with around 60 inputs for all 16 ear mixes (on JH Audio in-ears) and the 42 12AM Series 2 wedges; monitor amps are Lab.gruppen 20ks. Monitor tech/RF tech Kevin Kapler says that they are scanning for about 42 operating channels of wireless, though he calculates for about 54. Kapler uses a TTi handheld analyzer with an A04 8200 scanner. For the Sennheiser 2000 Series transmitters, he uses a Pro Wireless IE5 program to coordinate the frequencies, citing that the beauty of this system is that he can sync it.

Included in his wireless roundup are the mic models, which include a Shure U4D (though both Waters and Wyckoff will also sing through a hard-wired 58) and wireless Shure mics for background vocals. “We’ve got about a half-dozen wireless just for the acoustic instruments,” Kapler adds. “This includes all the wireless for the end of the show, where the musicians will come out with an accordion, ukulele, et cetera.”

While Waters is very involved in the sound of his show (they record a DVD each night that he’ll review for any tweaks; in fact, Khalaf says they haven’t nailed down the arrangements quite yet), the artist and FOH engineer have a great working relationship that allows Waters to do what he does best and to give Khalaf the air to mix the show as he sees fit. “He’s absolutely involved, but the great thing about being a front-of-house engineer in the final analysis is that the artist has no idea what you’re doing out there; they just have to trust you,” Khalaf says. “He lets me do what I want to do. This is one of the last great traditional rock ’n’ roll tours. I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever be able to do something this rewarding again.”

Sarah Benzuly is

’s managing editor.

February 1, 2011

Mix News for May 2004

25 years recording.

John Lennon Tour Bus Still Rolling After 25 Years

Bringing The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound Back to Life

Telefunken Elektroakustik Founder Toni Roger Fishman Passes

Keane World Tour Thinks Big with Macros

Thomas Rhett Tour Has A ‘Home Team’ Advantage

How Roger Waters rebuilt The Wall

$15 million, 424 bricks, 56 dates: How Roger Waters took Pink Floyd's The Wall and turned it into the greatest show on Earth

Is there anybody out there?

Yes. Hundreds of people, actually, milling around outside the Atlantico Pavilion in Lisbon. They’re here for the second European date of the biggest and most expensively staged tour of the year: Roger Waters ’ revival of The Wall , more than three decades after its original staging.

Tonight’s show is a sell-out, like most of the 50-plus dates on this leg. By the time tour finishes, around a million people will have watched an 11-metre high, 70-metre wide wall being built between them and the man they’ve come to see. The band on stage will continue to play a 32-year old album behind that wall until the end of the show, when the whole edifice will come tumbling down. A similar number of people have a already seen the show in North America last autumn. Now, as then, no one is likely to complain about not being able to see the band during the show.

The Wall is a legend in the annals of live rock music , partly because it was such a alien concept and partly because Pink Floyd , the band led by Waters at that time, performed the show just 29 times, in four cities – LA, New York, London and Dusseldorf – in 1980 and 1981. It would be the last time Waters and Pink Floyd played together until they reunited for Live 8 in 2005.

Pink Floyd never showed any interest in performing The Wall after Waters departed and guitarist David Gilmour took the helm. Waters embarked on a solo career, although he was tempted into staging a grandiose Wall in 1990 in Berlin with an all-star cast to celebrate the fall of another even more famous wall.

His career stalled soon afterwards, although it was revived at the turn of the millennium with the In The Flesh world tour and has prospered since. But there was no indication that he was planning to revisit The Wall . As he says: “It was incredibly difficult to stage back in 1980 and we lost a lot of money doing it.”

Then in April last year Waters announced that he was taking The Wall on a world tour.

Classic Rock Newsletter

Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!

“Well, I did a tour a couple of years back where I did the whole of Dark Side Of The Moon ,” he explains now. “I had been reluctant to take that piece and re-do it. But it worked well. So when I’d recovered from that I thought maybe I had one more in me. My fiancé said that maybe I should do The Wall . I said I couldn’t. But it wouldn’t go away…”

Mark Fisher is mildly exasperated. As the stage designer for both the original The Wall tour and this 21st-century update, he’s heard all the talk of this new show being the sort of thing they could only dream about 30 years ago.

“It’s the same bloody wall,” he says with a sigh. “Identical. It’s frustrating that people think we’re doing something that we could not have done in 1980. The engineering behind the building of the wall – the platforms that the men go up and down on to build the wall, the stabilising masts that go up inside the wall to stop it falling over, and the cardboard bricks themselves – are exactly what I designed back in 1980. The only things that are different are connected with how they are controlled. [In 1980] I sat behind the stage with a bank of switches and moved things up and down. Now we have a computer that does the same thing and a man that watches the computer.”

As a young architecture student, the original The Wall production was Fisher’s first major design for a rock show. It was the springboard for a career as a self-styled ‘event architect’ that has seen him become the in-house stage designer on globetrotting stadium tours by The Rolling Stones and U2, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics.

So when Waters started thinking of bringing back The Wall , Fisher was his first call. “He told me that it would be much easier to do now than then,” says Waters. “Technology had come a long way, and people spend a lot more money on tickets than they used to. He thought I could make the figures work, and maybe even come out of it with some gravy. So I thought, okay, let’s do it.”

Inside the empty arena the actual wall is still an imposing site – even part-built and unlit – jutting out from the upper tiers of each side and tapering down to the stage. It’s not just the height, it’s also the width: three-quarters the length of a football pitch. Behind and beneath the wall is a scaffolding warren jammed with motors, hydraulic pumps, lifts, platforms and passageways. Each piece has a diagram stuck on to show exactly where it fits. And then there are the piles of ‘bricks’ that arrived flat-packed and are assembled and waiting to be laid. (They tried making them out of plastic, but plastic cracks. So it was back to cardboard and white paint.)

The projectors have been focused, the band have sound-checked. Now there’s just an echoing, quiet calm. Everything that needed to be checked has been checked. At what used to be known as the sound desk and is now the production control centre, a couple of guys are tapping on keyboards while rows of screens flicker on standby…

The calm is broken when the venue’s doors open and groups of people run to the front of the stage and take up prime position. Unlike the American shows, the European shows are freestanding on the arena floor wherever possible. This means there’s no room for the dishevelled tramp who would wander up and down the aisles at American concerts, pushing a supermarket trolley and brandishing a placard saying ‘No thought control’, before being ushered out by a burly security guy just before the show began.

In the centre of the floor a skeleton staff are minding the control centre. Banks of screens flicker on standby, waiting to be activated. The stage is similarly quiet; there are no roadies making last-minute equipment checks or tapping microphones. Everything that needed to be checked was done earlier. The only untoward item is a tailor’s dummy placed centre stage. The PA is playing a succession of Bob Dylan songs. This is the calm before the choreographed multi-media barrage is unleashed.

The Wall famously started with a gob. During the last show of Pink Floyd’s Animals tour at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, Waters spat at a fan who was yelling drunkenly for the band to play Careful With That Axe Eugene . Afterwards Waters was so appalled by his behaviour that he sketched out the idea of a show with the band playing behind a wall to express his own feeling of alienation from the audience. He reminded the audience of the incident when the Wall tour reached Montreal’s Bell Centre last October.

“When I wrote it, it was mainly about me, a little bit about Syd Barrett, but by and large it’s about fear,” he says. “It’s about a frightened person. Fear makes you defensive, and when you’re defensive you start building defences and that could be seen as a wall.”

It has always been assumed that the original production of The Wall , which included a crashing Stuka dive bomber and giant inflatable puppets to reinforce Waters’s bleak tale of alienation, paranoia, power and war was too complex to be toured. This is another thing that irks Mark Fisher.

“The only thing that stopped it being toured in 1980 was the cost,” he says. “And it wasn’t that the show was that expensive, it was that tickets were cheap. The top price ticket at Earls Court was £8. At the O2 in May people are paying £65 to £85. That completely changes the economics of putting a touring show together.”

Fisher maintains that the ticket price reflects what the show is worth. “It allows you to spend a lot more on the hardware and the crew. We’ve spent the best part of $15 million [£9.4 million] putting this show on the road. Back in 1980 we spent about $2 million at most.”

Tour director Andrew Zweck is another veteran of the original Wall shows. He confirms that this is the biggest show Waters has put together. “There are 24 trucks parked outside,” he says backstage, with the air of someone who has spent decades keeping a close eye on the bigger picture. “There are 116 people on the road, which is more than double what we’ve had before. And that includes 14 carpenters who are just brick builders. The economics of it mean that we can now move the show overnight. The crew will be out of here by about three in the morning, and they’ll start work again around six or seven.”

While the wall itself has barely changed, other elements of the show have been greatly enhanced. The biggest advance has come with the projection. In 1980, three 35mm projectors struggled to beam Gerald Scarfe’s inimitable animations onto the wall in focus and without too much overlap. Now there are 15 HD-quality projectors pointed at the wall, with a bit-mapping grid that means that as soon as a brick is positioned on the wall it immediately becomes part of the projection. It’s a far cry from some of the early-80s shows that Mark Fisher remembers as “a mad race between the drug-crazed road crew and the band to see who could get to the intermission first”.

As Video Content Director, Sean Evans is in charge of projections. A youthful-looking, heavily tattooed American, he grew up listening to The Wall (“I know it inside-out”). Evans, Waters and editor Andy Jennison spent weeks working on ideas for the projections in an editing room.

“It was like being back at art college,” says Evans. “Right from the start Roger said: ‘I don’t want to do this as it was. I have no interest in not making this political. We have to modernise it and we have to bring a message.’”

Waters says the new show has developed from the story of one frightened man hiding behind the wall, to a more expansive look at the way nations and ideologies are divided from each other. “We are controlled by the powers that be who tell us we need to guard against the evil ones who are over there and different from us and who we must be frightened of,” he explains.

Part of the message included broadening the original album’s references to encompass other wars and acts of violence since then.

“Roger put a notice on his website asking for people to send in pictures and details of family members, civilian or military, killed in wars or terrorist acts,” says Evans. “We worked on it for months, and the first time I saw it with an audience even I welled up. During the intermission we put them all up on the wall. One night I saw a guy who’d obviously just seen a friend or relative on the wall, and he was just standing there sobbing.”

The wider message of The Wall is clear from the outset when, instead of a ‘surrogate’ Pink Floyd taking the stage and fooling the audience (the opening gambit of the original show), the PA booms out the dialogue from Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus where the Romans try to coerce the slaves into revealing the rebel leader, only to be met by a growing chorus of “I am Spartacus”.

That’s the cue for the heavy opening chords of In The Flesh? as Waters walks on and dons the long leather coat that has materialised on the tailor’s dummy. The song culminates in a bombast of old technology – lights, smoke, fireworks, and the dive-bombing plane crashing in flames – that softens you up for the barrage of images to come.

Gerald Scarfe’s remade inflatable puppets make their mark. The sylph-like wife now has a ghastly green allure (and a startling pudenda for those who are startled by that kind of thing), while the mother now cuts more of a beady, surveillance character as she scans the audience, which is reinforced by an equally inquisitive CCTV on the circular screen. Only the teacher has failed to move with the times. He may have a new jacket but he’s decidedly old-fashioned – it’s been a long time since canes were routinely swished in the classroom.

Getting Scarfe’s original animations to hold up against the new animations was another time-consuming task for Sean Evans and his team. “His stuff is legendary, you can’t mess with it. Fortunately Roger had the original film, so we were able to restore it from the best possible source, but it still took a lot of work to make it look good against the other stuff we were doing. Some of it, like the flower sequence, was actually made for the circular screen, so we extended the stems across the wall so it looked as if the flowers were coming from somewhere.”

Some of Scarfe’s other animations, such as the marching hammers, have been re-animated to fill the entire wall with a vivid brightness that borders on intimidating. Others, including the stems of the flowers, have been rendered in 3D. The projectors also make the whole edifice sway and buckle alarmingly. There are moments when you wonder if the animated trickery will upstage the climax of the show, when the wall comes crashing down.

“We’ve paced the effects so it all builds up to that point,” says Evans. “We thought about whether to add any effects to the wall as it falls. But actually it looks pretty spectacular from wherever you are in the arena, with all the smoke billowing out and stuff. But if you’re in the first five rows it feels like it’s gonna hit you. I’ve been in the pit a couple of times with a camera and gotten brained a couple of times. Those things are heavier than they look.”

Which is why, in these days of ludicrous litigation over the mildest inconvenience, a Health & Safety officer has been added to the tour payroll.

But what about the music? Waters’s current band includes guitarists Snowy White, Dave Kilminster and GE Smith, drummer Graham Broad, keyboard player John Carin and, on piano and Hammond organ, Waters’s son Harry.

Snowy White first played with Pink Floyd on their Animals tour in 1977, and he was part of the ‘surrogate’ band for the 1980 Wall shows. He has been a member of Waters’s band since 1999. And he’s happy to shed the non-committal omerta that hangs over most professional session musicians.

“This show is choreographed down to the second, because it wouldn’t work otherwise,” he explains. “The original was pretty tied down, too. People ask me if it’s boring playing exactly the same thing every night. And I thought it would be, but really it’s not. There’s a lotto think about while you’re on stage, and you’re trying to get it that little bit sweeter every night.”

• The 10 Roger Waters Tracks Every Pink Floyd Fan Should Own
• The story behind Pink Floyd’s The Wall album cover
• The Making of Pink Floyd The Wall – the movie
• Waters: Why The Wall still matters

It was White who found Dave Kilminster, who takes on the ‘poisoned chalice’ of replicating David Gilmour’s epic guitar solo on Comfortably Numb . “Roger wants it just the way it is on record, and that’s a young man’s job,” White says. “I’m happy to let Dave get up on top of the wall.”

A large proportion of the Lisbon audience is surprisingly young (“They’ve been introduced to The Wall by their parents, who may in turn have been introduced to it by their parents,” says White). It’s something that makes the team behind it proud, although ultimately job satisfaction is almost as important as the cheque. Mark Fisher took particular pleasure in watching the US leg of The Wall running neck-and-neck with Lady Gaga in terms of revenue. “Roger is unambiguously about alienation, discrimination, anti-war. The audiences have been picking up on that. You’d be hard put to know what the fuck Lady Gaga is about.”

In fact Waters’s tour would eventually outstrip Gaga’s in terms of the money it made. “We were second only to Bon Jovi, who were playing stadiums,” says Andrew Zwick. “We were offered stadiums but Roger turned them down, even though it meant we needed to play another 16 dates in America to meet the business plan. That was fine by me, too.”

Another recurring theme among the technical and creative crews is Waters’s continual attention to detail. Changes are still being made at the start of the European tour. Costumes have been altered, and the furniture in the hotel room that appears out of the wall in the second half of the show has been changed.

“That’s Roger’s trademark,” says Zweck. “He’s never satisfied. He wants to be involved in everything, every note, every image, the choreography. His fingerprints are all over The Wall .”

They were all over the original show, and the album, for that matter. It’s not as if Waters needed to reclaim The Wall , but the recognition after so long in the shadow of the band he quit must be gratifying. Mark Fisher can still remember the ignominy of Waters’s Radio KAOS tour playing to less than 500 people at Wembley Arena in 1987, and the following year Pink Floyd packed out the stadium next door.

While the original The Wall album will always be associated with Pink Floyd, it’s Waters who is clearly identified with the extraordinary success of the Wall tour. Significantly, he reasserts his authority over Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell , the two songs with which Pink Floyd climaxed their sets in the 80s and 90s. Indeed David Gilmour’s appearance on top of the wall during Comfortably Numb was for many the high point of the original Wall production. But Waters sings the lyrics with real passion and despair and, as the guitar solo comes in, smashes his hand against the wall, which shatters, sending a collective gasp through the audience. It’s yet another gobsmacking moment.

And Waters turns the largely instrumental Run Like Hell into a dictator’s rally with waving flags, strutting feet and crossed-fist salutes. By the end of the song it’s difficult to believe that Waters didn’t orchestrate the Libyan uprising as a publicity stunt for the tour.

Almost as startling is Waters’s crowd-friendly demeanour, smiling, even making eye contact with fans down the front whenever he removes the long leather coat that he wears for his dictator’s role in the show. It’s a far cry from the remote, uncommunicative figure he cut for so long, not least in the original Wall shows.

“I’m completely different, and feel completely different about being on stage now than I did then,” he admits. “In the last 30 years I’ve come round to embracing the possibilities of that connection with the audience. Now I milk it mercilessly, just because it’s fun and it feels good. Whereas back then I was so fearful that when I was on stage I was the same as I was at a party – standing in a corner, not looking at anybody, smoking cigarettes and more or less saying: ‘Don’t come anywhere near me.’ Thank goodness I’ve grown up a bit since then. I like being on stage and enjoy the feeling of warmth – what’s not to like?”

This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 158 .

Hugh Fielder has been writing about music for 47 years. Actually 58 if you include the essay he wrote about the Rolling Stones in exchange for taking time off school to see them at the Ipswich Gaumont in 1964. He was news editor of Sounds magazine from 1975 to 1992 and editor of Tower Records Top magazine from 1992 to 2001. Since then he has been freelance. He has interviewed the great, the good and the not so good and written books about some of them. His favourite possession is a piece of columnar basalt he brought back from Iceland.

“80 per cent of the people I meet are very boring people.” In 1975, Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore named his favourite guitarist, and shared his brutally honest thoughts on the '70s music scene

"He's the king of death metal." Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt and Fredrik Akesson name the greatest death metal band of all time, and discuss their own journey through the genre

“A brilliant bloke who left you feeling better about life every time you ran into him.” Tributes paid to Rachel Stamp/Sham 69/All About Eve drummer Robin Guy following his death

Most Popular

Roger Waters Verified

Similar artists on tour, roger waters merch.

Live Photos of Roger Waters

concerts and tour dates

Fan reviews.

About Roger Waters

• Statistics Stats
• You are here:
• Waters, Roger
• Tour Statistics
• Song Statistics Stats
• Tour Statistics Stats
• Other Statistics

All Setlists

• All setlist songs  ( 833 )

Years on tour

• 2024  ( 1 )
• 2023  ( 58 )
• 2022  ( 45 )
• 2021  ( 1 )
• 2020  ( 6 )
• 2019  ( 1 )
• 2018  ( 96 )
• 2017  ( 67 )
• 2016  ( 7 )
• 2015  ( 5 )
• 2014  ( 3 )
• 2013  ( 29 )
• 2012  ( 76 )
• 2011  ( 66 )
• 2010  ( 58 )
• 2009  ( 1 )
• 2008  ( 12 )
• 2007  ( 70 )
• 2006  ( 44 )
• 2005  ( 1 )
• 2004  ( 1 )
• 2002  ( 57 )
• 2000  ( 25 )
• 1999  ( 24 )
• 1992  ( 1 )
• 1991  ( 1 )
• 1990  ( 1 )
• 1987  ( 38 )
• 1986  ( 1 )
• 1985  ( 17 )
• 1984  ( 20 )

Show all tours

• In the Flesh  ( 105 )
• Radio K.A.O.S. Tour  ( 38 )
• The Best of Pink Floyd  ( 5 )
• The Dark Side of the Moon Live  ( 121 )
• The Dark Side of the Moon Redux  ( 2 )
• The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking  ( 37 )
• The Wall Live  ( 223 )
• This Is Not a Drill  ( 99 )
• Us + Them Tour  ( 156 )
• Avg Setlist
• Concert Map

Average setlist for tour: The Wall Live

• In the Flesh? ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• The Thin Ice ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1 ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• The Happiest Days of Our Lives ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• The Ballad of Jean Charles de Menezes Play Video
• Mother ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Goodbye Blue Sky ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Empty Spaces ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• What Shall We Do Now? ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Young Lust ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• One of My Turns ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Don't Leave Me Now ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3 ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• The Last Few Bricks ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Goodbye Cruel World ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Hey You ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Is There Anybody Out There? ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Nobody Home ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Vera ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Bring the Boys Back Home ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Comfortably Numb ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• The Show Must Go On ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• In the Flesh ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Run Like Hell ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Waiting for the Worms ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Stop ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• The Trial ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video
• Outside the Wall ( Pink Floyd  song) Play Video

Show Openers

Main set closers, show closers, encores played.

This feature is not that experimental anymore. Nevertheless, please give feedback if the results don't make any sense to you.

• Sep 14, 2024
• Sep 13, 2024
• Sep 12, 2024
• Sep 11, 2024
• Sep 10, 2024
• Sep 9, 2024
• FAQ | Help | About
• Terms of Service
• Ad Choices | Privacy Policy
• Songtexte.com