Roger Waters
This is not a Drill

I inaugurate the new pleasant format of our beloved site for once with the review, or rather the story, of the farewell concert, an overused and distorted term to which we are becoming accustomed for that generation of great artists who belong to the musical Renaissance of the late '60s and early '70s, to which Roger Waters rightfully belongs at the forefront.

It is worth noting that the concert date I attended is a "make-up" or if you will the rescheduling of the one that should have been held in Krakow, Poland, canceled for reasons that easily emerge from the overall message the author wished to convey to the audience and which Waters himself made clear before the music began: "If you’re one of those people who say they love Pink Floyd, but can’t stand Waters’ political positions, you’d better fuck off and head to the bar immediately"..........The political position in question is the pro-Russian support for the invasion of Ukraine, oops "special operation" of Tsar Vladimir, hence the Poles, deeply inimical to the Russian Bear (see treacherous occupation of 1939) and decidedly concerned about its new expansionist aims, evidently disliked this kind of message and sent its bearer to us.

But let's move on, pretending not to have paid the extremely expensive entrance ticket to the Unipol Arena in Casalecchio, something that would deserve a bit more respect from those who lavishly throw out anti-capitalist messages, yet live in a luxurious penthouse in Manhattan (New York, not Moscow), and immerse ourselves in the Music that begins by literally knocking the spectator out with the notes of "Comfortably Numb," but especially with its representation on an extraordinary cross screen about 3 meters high, hung somehow: to the trusses of the arena; thus emerges then a humanity "Comfortably Numb," reduced to zombies bent over cell phones walking the streets of metropolises full of rubble and shrouded in a ghostly light. It thus becomes immediately clear that: "This is not a Drill," and the anguish of the first track is certainly not eased by the hammering rhythm and helicopter roar that introduce "Another Brick in the Wall" accompanied by the message at the time in big letters: "Propaganda," that is, those who control information rule the world, and it is with propaganda that we are anesthetized. And just to broaden the topic, Waters moves on to one of his tracks from Radio Kaos: "The Powers that Be," that is "The powers that be": the ruling oligarchies, and then the transition to the projection of the last American presidents starting with Reagan with the amiable caption "War Criminal" clarifies the good Roger's message further, forgetting the very wealthy oligarchic class behind the curtain, which at the moment is somewhat against the ropes.

Putting political messaging aside, at least for now, it moves to the archive of memories hinged on that of Syd Barrett, Roger's schoolmate, with whom he promised eternal musical love and the intent to reunite a successful band (the anecdote reported by Waters himself is that: returning by subway from a concert, at about fifteen years old, the two exchanged this strong will); naturally on the notes of "Wish You Were Here" and images of the band at the end of the '60s, strictly without that bad boy David Gilmour, himself and his wife Polly, subjects of a fierce controversy over the creative merits of "The Dark Side of the Moon" and its half-century of enormous success.

Luckily we move forward, but still without peace because "Animals" and the reference to Orwell's "Animal Farm" are easy grounds to renew the denouncement of a world totalized by strong powers and a dominated and weak humanity as denounced in "Sheep," should the musical track not suffice, we are presented with an enormous inflatable (new!) that rotates over the packed stands, piloted who knows how. It is then that our prophet invites us to do as indicated by the powerful images of battalions of sheep engaged in martial arts poses, not to surrender or rather: "Resist"!

Just to not let go of the theme of opposition and resistance, the images on the screens then propose footage of civilians killed in 2007 during the Iraq war by the American army, thus supporting the campaign for the release of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks' patron, accompanied by the famous flight of the giant pig with flaming eyes that had already enchanted us some years ago in the same venue. Naturally, we move on to "Money" and the denunciation of the capitalistic system, admittedly now quite predictable given what precedes, accompanied by unforgettable images, colors, and the recreation of a triangular pyramid like a three-dimensional light prism containing a huge pink monolith with photos of the martyrs of the System, similar to the Memorial in Piazza Maggiore of the victims of Nazi-fascism.

The final part of the concert reserves an innovation to evoke the possible final outcome of all that was denounced before, namely a nuclear conflict, and materializes in: "The Final Cut," most suitable backdrop to descriptive images, decidedly very effective though schematic. Another nostalgic recall, this time to his family that was, projecting the only photo depicting him (he was only 5 months old) with his father Fletcher leaving for the front, from which he will not return, and naturally with his mother and older brother John: it is the moment of (real) emotion of the great artist who recently lost John after a long illness, described by a long monologue from Roger himself.

I’ll skip over the tracks from: "Is This the Life We Really Want?," "Amused to Death," the new track "The Bar" written in support of Steven Donziger (honestly rather dull), and the wonderful full performance of "Us and Them" that strayed a bit from the scheme and thread of the concert, which concluded after a good 2 and a half hours, with the final parade of the musicians and Waters himself, who end up swallowed by the pharaonic central stage, yet capable of rendering the protagonists visible from every side of the stands and together with the aforementioned screen making the show accompanying Roger's music, almost all of which now belongs to the History of Music, unforgettable.

A review worthy of respect, however, cannot omit a critique toward the extreme politicization of the concert, some incomprehensible condemnations such as that of the Roman Empire and not that of the British or Russian Empire to name two obviously "dear" to Waters, i.e., the incredible partiality of the protagonist, the dullness of monologues in rather tight slang made more for self-satisfaction or pity than to truly engage the audience; intermissions that end up breaking the continuity of the concert and lowering the tension and emotion created by it; the hiding of Gilmour as if he never existed and who, on the contrary, is missed in the almost never worthy lyrics of his performances, something Waters certainly cannot fail to understand given his undeniable musical abilities, same for the guitar "management" certainly not up to David's, albeit in the hands of quality musicians. The rest will be up to you to dispute, but anyhow: it would be great to have more shows at this level!