Roger Waters 'Us + Them' Tour 2017

I thought the band was very good but was very disappointed with the sax playing at the Boston show. I thought the same when I saw David Gilmour in 2016. I guess the playing of Dick Parry sets the bar quite high. I've seen Roger Waters live three times. No guitarist in his band has been able to duplicate the playing and sound of David Gilmour.

 

and so ........ tour's all over now, eh ?

I missed it .... Some years ago that would've been pretty much unthinkable.

 

Yeah, I'm bummed that I missed this tour as well. I love Floyd and Roger(I've seen him a few times before) and hate a certain conman with far too much power that embodies much of what Roger hates and made the focus of this tour. But his show in my area was within days of McCartney's show and I had never seen a Beatle.

 

I enjoyed the Us + Them concert, despite Roger's overdoing the politics. I think the difference between that show and a McCartney show, though, is that with Waters you pretty much knew what you were going to hear and what it would sound like. McCartney has such a big and varied back catalogue that it would be surprising if there were no surprises - if that makes sense. For listening at home, I much prefer Waters-era Pink Floyd (which accounted for at least half of this concert), but if given the choice of seeing Waters or McCartney in concert, I'd definitely pick McCartney.

 

will there be a live dvd???

 

He recorded the show(s) in Amsterdam this year for a potential live dvd/bluray.

 

Hopefully, although I wouldn’t be surprised if the live footage was broken up with footage of Roger wandering around various locations and generally being Roger.

Roger Waters’ The Wall DVD/BluRay desperately needed a Concert for George style concert ‘film’ and just the concert on separate discs presentation. The live footage was fantastic and bears rewatching. Roger wandering around Europe got old after the first viewing.

 

After seeing Australian Pink Floyd recently, it struck me that the only thing that distinguished Roger's setlist from that of the tribute act was the inclusion of a couple of songs from his new album. Otherwise, there was a complete absence of songs from his solo albums and the Final Cut.

Scale aside, what differentiated Roger's show was that he deployed the old Floyd songs to comment on the world as it is now. Unlike those who accuse him of being too political, I think this is what gives his performances some meaning. Otherwise, he would have just been another pointless Pink Floyd tribute act.

 

Having seen the Australian Pink Floyd, I really have to disagree. While they were certainly adequate, and put together a decent show, it was nothing like Roger's tour. First of all - the sound. Maybe it's just me being a fan boy, but nobody sounds like Pink Floyd live except Pink Floyd (Gilmour or Waters). Roger's backup singers were fantastic. The sets/screens/visuals were incredible. The scale of the Battersea power station was awesome. Never seen anything like that before.

As for the setlist, he did all of Animals and Dark Side, plus a few new ones and some from the Wall. Granted it was 20 years ago now, but it's not like he's never done a tour with a lot of solo stuff on it. (In the Flesh)

 

I thought the Australian Pink Floyd were a better act and far more engaging than Roger's bizarre performance. Roger's was the worst concert I have seen in many years.

 

I did say "scale aside" and don't disagree with anything you say - the staging was truly awesome. However, I was referring to the setlist. My suggestion was that, given the focus on mid seventies Floyd songs reproduced pretty much as on the original albums, the show's saving grace was that Roger made it relevant to the present day. Therefore, I think the accusations of being overly political are misplaced.

 

Wasn't he caught lip-synching on this tour.....and didn't it appear his playing was phoney too?

 

Have you looked at Macca's set lists? It doesn't really change from year to year. Waters tours less frequently but his sets change from tour to tour. I know Macca does a great show but its essentially a greatest hits set.

 

Well, you must have only seen stellar concerts in that case, because everyone I know thought the show was excellent.

 

I've seen Roger on every tour and this was my least favorite by far.

 

It was a great 70s era Pink Floyd covershow. Bringing out kids in Resist! shirts, dropping confetti, and infantile drawings splashed on the backdrop didn't add anything for me to those tunes. When the show wasn't doing that, it was very good. I caught his pig mask at the Louisville show, sold it, and spent the funds on a rifle. Thanks, Roger!

 

I found Roger's show to be very overrated and poorly delivered. Which surprised me because I love the music and my politics are quite closely aligned with what Roger has stated in interviews but the show was something very different. If we all followed the nonsense he spread at his shows we would all be hiding under rocks, cowering at anything that moves or anybody that has an opinion. The entire message was playing to peoples fears to get knee-jerk cheers and hollering from a mostly drunk crowd.

The music was heavily engineered and at many points Roger was clearly playing to a track (I am not talking about the samples), then there was the band. The sax player was awful and couldn't fulfill the role, Dave Kilminster seemed uninspired and disinterested and the vocals from the girls were poor. Roger acted like a demented old fool jutting his chin pointedly at random lyrics and nodding to the crowd for endorsement on themes and political message that made no sense.

The entire thing was a colossal waste of my money.

 

Well, to be pedantic .... He didn't do all of those albums .... "Sheep" and "Pigs On The Wing" were absent ... "On The Run" ... "Breathe reprise" and "Any Colour You Like"...
But yeah, he certainly did the majority of both.

 

Ditto. Glad i didnt pay the outrageous ticket prices when they first went onsale, there was amassive cut for some great seats. Third time seeing him solo and have to agree it was most disappointing, i loved the new record and i thought he should have done the whole thing but obviously that would have pissed the crowd off. Sadly the machine swallowed roger and what we have is paint by numbers production. Was i entertained? Of course, but Gilmours concert the previous year was so much more memorable

 

I also enjoyed the new record and was really looking forward to the tour.

The 'paint by numbers' reference is spot on. It all felt too mechanical, too polished and in turn became a stage(d) production rather than a rock concert. And I get that PF are a little that way to start with but by the time he had preached at the crowd it was all too much. I think if one is really drunk and hearing a close enough approximation of the original song then it is all good but I go for more than a drunken night and he really underwhelmed.

But, as I said in my original review in this very thread, "nobody died in the making of a bad concert experience" and all is good. If a bad concert experience is my worst complaint then I am very well.

 

Bad concert experience, my foot. Some grumpy jilted opinions here, not very reflective of the majority

 

My experience and opinion is fair and honest. What is "jilted" about it?

 

Exactly. I was at Hyde Park and thought it was an excellent. I'd seen the set lists so knew what I was getting. Great show in my view. Sure there were a few drunks but it didn't spoil it for me.

 

Ouch ! but I take a little comfort in these negative reviews .....

.... See, as badly as I wanted to see the Us + Them show (in San Jose and/or Oakland) I would've had to fly over ocean from Hawaii at great personal expense (which was a real problem at that time) and pull huge favors with a Bay Area friend ... In my life I've seen Waters in 1987, thrice in 2000, thrice in 2006, once in 2007, and twice in 2010 ..... I had a good streak going ! .... but 2017 just wasn't in the cards for me, and it felt like the last chance .... I'm still conflicted about letting it go ....

Now that was something I would not let myself miss... got myself to L.A. for all three shows, borrowed money, pulled favors and couch-surfed to do it... No regrets whatsoever ! truly special, and the last time I flew anywhere.

 

Exactly, nothing grumpy about it either. An obvious tactic as an effort to marginalize and discredit a differing opinion.