Roger Waters
PPG Arena, Pittsburgh, 7/6/22
F##k Sloganeering.
F##k taking potshots at easy targets.
F##k railing against mind-control tactics by employing those same tactics.
F##k the use of the word f##k as though it adds weight to the slogan.
F##k people conditioned to applaud when their beloved performer invokes the word, F##k.
Is it time for the two-minute hate yet?
All in all….
He performed “in the round” with a massive projection screen through the middle of the stage. The filmwork and imagery were powerful, full of gravitas, reminiscent of propaganda films and the kind of stuff you see in film-adaptations of Orwell’s 1984 and other dystopian films. Some of the imagery came directly from the film-version of THE WALL. Slogans projected included US GOOD THEM EVIL, F@CK ISLAMOPHOBIA, BLACK LIVES MATTER, numerous anti-gun, anti-police, anti-war, anti-violence, anti-Christianity, and anti-greed f##ks, as well. All done in grandiose propaganda-style. A feast for the eyes and ears, though, and unquestionably a work of tremendous care and passion.
Roger Waters and his team presented a f##fing incredible concert, a production of excellence, built around music that would have been phenomenal without any show at all.
Maybe by embracing the tactics of his targets, Roger Waters is being ironic. Maybe he wants his audience to see the parallels between his imagery and the imagery of Leni Riefenstahl.
I once saw Iggy and The Stooges with NO light show and the house-lights up for the duration of the show.
The unity of opposites. The eye of the beholder. Oh, f##k it.