ROGER WATERS // OVO HYDRO, GLASGOW
It was a beautiful evening on the banks of the Clyde when the behemoth that is a night with Roger Waters, landed.
★★★★★ (5/5)
ROGER WATERS PEFORMING AT GLASGOW’S OVO HYDRO
PHOTOCREDIT: CALUM BUCHAN
The band were to perform in the round, surrounded by the audience who seemed puzzled to see the cruciform stage encased in tall screens with some of the bands instruments on the outside. A rumble of thunder stopped the audience buzz, then a flash of lightning illuminated the silhouette of a dystopian cityscape. The opening chords of a darkly ethereal version of Comfortably Numb was accompanied by graphic novel style images projected onto the huge screens surrounding the stage which gradually lifted to show the layout. This set the theme for the evening, music, cinematography, politics and theatre creating a hugely immersive experience for the passionate Glasgow crowd.
At 79, Waters’ voice is gruff and mellow. As he marches across the stage, his stage, it seems amazing that he has been performing since the mid-sixties. Always political, his beliefs are front and centre in the concert. In the lyrics, of course, but also in the imagery and in the text projected on the screen.
The band of multi-instrumentalists is as tight and together as you would expect after over 80 gigs together on this marathon tour. And it’s the thundering bass from Gus Seyffret, the drumming of Joey Waronker accompanied by searchlights and sounds of a helicopter that usher in three tracks from The Wall, The Best Days of Our Lives, The Wall (Part 2) and The Wall (part 3), to the delight of the crowd. The multi-media immersion is incredible.
The Powers That Be from Waters’ 1987 Radio K.A.O.S album is announced by the voices of Amanda Belair and Shanay Johnson as the screens above the stage show a further graphic movie. Roger’s vocal is chant like as the imagery runs through those killed by the state from George Floyd to Breona Taylor.
Black and White footage of ex-President Ronald Reagan opens The Bravery of Being Out of Range. Sat at the piano there is something of Tom Waites about the song’s vibe. The screen scrolls through the Presidents of the USA from the last 25 years, listing the deadly impact of their overseas wars.
Waters invites us to join him at The Bar, a lockdown track which recounts a tale of care and love for strangers. He has said in the past that The Bar is a place in his imagination and a place in his head.
Waters’ next three tunes come from the Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here album. Have a Cigar is ushered in with thundering bass and Jonathan Wilson’s throaty guitar sound which was joined by Robert Walter on the Hammond. The song is accompanied by early Pink Floyd images and black and white film of the band in concert.
Roger introduces Wish You Were Here with the memories of writing with his friend Syd Barret before Pink Floyd was created. The performance is a high point as the audience sings every word of this anthemic classic. It was spine tingling.
The last of the trio is the band’s tribute to Barret, Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI – IX) which starts with the almost orchestral Part VI with all the instrumentalists involved in the intricate interplay between guitars and keys, moves through to Dave Kilminster’s funky Strat in Part VIII to the soaring, ethereal Hammond organ close. Beautiful!
Sheep from Pink Floyd’s Animals album, is much darker reflecting on Animal Farm by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley’s dystopian Brave New World. The song begins with the bucolic sounds of the countryside and a churchlike organ, with Roger bleating at the audience in all four corners of the Hydro. A flying sheep appears rotating as it flies around the stage. The song, and the first half closes with images of an army of karate sheep fighting capitalism. With a clap of thunder and a cheering crowd, the band leaves the stage.
ROGER WATERS PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S OVO HYDRO
PHOTOCREDIT: CALUM BUCHAN
The second half kicked off with two tracks from the rock opera The Wall - In the Flesh and Run Like Hell. The graphics, which feature the crossed hammers from the movie, create a stark background. Red banners unfurl from the ceiling and helmet wearing heavies accompany Roger, cosplaying the fascist dictator from the movie. The audience was on their feet. ‘So ya thought ya might like to go to the show. To feel the warm thrill of confusion, that space cadet glow?’ Power chords crash out, providing a flying start to part two. Run Like Hell continued with the same energy. As the song progresses a radio controlled pig, reflecting the one used at the launch of the Animals album, where it flew over the Battersea Power Station, tumbled over the audience creating a buzz of excitement as it went.
Déjà Vu, his 2017 single, was a total change of tone. Dylan like, with Roger on acoustic guitar and throaty vocal, the song is a 21st Century protest song mourning missed opportunities. Déjà Vu is from his Is This the Life We Really Want? And the crunchy opening guitar chords open the title track. The guitar sound gets more discordant as the song slowly progresses reflecting the angry, frustrated lyrics railing against unfairness and the impact of politics on human rights.
The walking bass groove of Money, instantly recognisable, had the crowd on its feet again. Waters concentrated on the bass whilst Johnathan Wilson took over vocal duties and jazz saxophonist Seamus Blake took centre stage for the classic solo.
No-one sat down for Us and Them, Any Colour You Like and Brain Damage from The Dark Side of the Moon one of the bestselling albums of all time from 1973. The crowd belted out every word and at the end, as the full throated crowed yelled out their approval, Waters commented ‘Well, that went quite well!”
Anti-nuclear story song, Two Suns at the Sunset was accompanied by a striking orange, yellow and red graphic movie depicting the world ending in a nuclear attack. Roger’s guitar tone is a delight but the lyrics chilling. ‘Finally, I understand the feelings of the few. Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend, we were all equal in the end.’
Roger invites the crowd back into the bar for The Bar (Reprise). The band sits around the grand piano with hand held instruments whilst Waters pours shots of Tequila. Roger gives credit to Bab Dylan for a few of the words and there is something Dylanesque about the arrangement and vocals too. He dedicates the song to his recently deceased brother and the song is made more poignant by images of the Waters family. The band moves imperceptibly into Outside the Wall. Everyone on stage has a hand held instrument, tambourine, zither, dobro, and the band begins to walk around the stage, bidding farewell to the Glasgow audience like an itinerant group of musicians off to the next city.
This was a unique evening, an assault to the senses. An immersive experience which will live on in the memories of all who were there.
