I saw Roger Waters...

 by Benjamin Holcomb on 20. May, 2009 | No Comments

This was a significant, very important show for me.

Thanks to having two older brothers, I was practically weened on old Pink Floyd records. I spent summers at camp in Northern Michigan listening to “Dark Side of the Moon,” “Animals” and “The Final Cut.”

Roger Waters (1987)

The latter album, Pink Floyd’s last featuring founding member Roger Waters, was my favorite. I am one of those Floyd-heads who feels Waters was the creative guts of the outfit. Apparently, Waters felt the same way! I guess he and guitarist David Gilmour could never work it out (and continue to feud, sadly). So I moved onto Waters’ solo albums quite naturally.

I didn’t get to see the first Roger Waters tour, in support of his debut effort, “The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking,” (my brother did. The bastard!), and I remember being off my rocker when this tour, in support of his sophomore “Radio KAOS” album, was announced.

It was a brilliant show, but my strongest memory is this:

You know that song “In the Flesh” from “Pink Floyd’s The Wall,” the one that goes, “So ya… thought ya… might like to… go to the show,” right? The one where Pink is becoming a Nazi dictator? Yeah, the one where he calls out minorities: “And that one looks jewish… and that ones a coon… Who let all of this riff raff into the room?”

So Waters is doing this song, and stage spotlights are flying around the audience. The spotlights are hitting one place and just *staying* there while Waters sings the verse. Then it moves on. Well, during one such stop, it’s pretty clear that a whole bunch of dorks have taken the sentiments literally, and they’ve decided to flat *stomp* some poor schmuck. From my vantage, I thought it was a young black kid getting pounded by a group of illiterate, trailer trash monsters.

Whomever was the unfortunate recipient of the beat-down, Waters himself peeped the activity from the stage… and promptly walked off the stage.

As order was restored in the stands, radio DJ Jim Ladd (an integral part of the album, Radio KAOS) actually berated the crowd! Called us out for “not understanding” Roger Waters, for being “too stupid” to know what he’s talking about. That kind of thing. Ladd warned us that Waters might not come back out. That the show might be over and we should be ashamed.

Eventually, Waters did come back and finished the set. It felt abbreviated, but I will never be sure if it was truncated due to his irritation, or just the natural end. Anyway, it was a strange concert experience. And one that I cherish.

Tags: Animals, Dark Side of the Moon, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Pink Floyd, Radio KAOS, Rick Wright, Roger Waters, The Wall