A day after visiting the Rio de Janeiro City Council and receiving the Pedro Ernesto Medal of Honor, which recognizes highlights of Brazilian or international society, Roger Waters presented its new show in the city this Saturday (28) at the Nilton Santos Stadium.
Five years after his time at Maracana, the former bassist of Pink Floyd returned to the same venue where he performed in 2012, then under the name Engenhão.
This time on the This Is Not a Drill tour, Roger has maintained a balance between songs from his old band and songs from his solo career, such as the unreleased ones “The bar”which has already been played at shows on the tour.
The show started as always with an important message from Roger:
If you’re one of those Pink Floyd fans who can’t stand Roger’s politics, go to the bar!
At that moment, as expected, the audience exploded in screams and applause, largely due to the confusion that reigned during the musician’s tour here in 2018, on the eve of the election of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Unlike back then, the majority of the audience seemed to agree with Waters’ political orientation, increasingly aligned with the leftwing movement and inclined to defend human rights.
20 minutes late, as there were still many people outside the stadium at the scheduled start time of the performance, Roger appeared on stage and lit a cigarette as the clock approached 9:30 p.m.
The 80yearold musician entered the crime scene next to a dejected man sitting in a wheelchair as if he were the seriously ill patient’s nurse. The intention, of course, was to point this out “Pleasantly deaf”Track from the classic album The wall (1979), which opens the setlist of the current tour the same song closed the repertoire on the 2018 tour.
Roger Waters in Rio de Janeiro
The version featured on this tour is the 2022 version, rerecorded from a new perspective. Once again with a mega structure that impresses every fan, the English singer then thrilled the audience with the combination “The happiest days of our lives” and parts 2 and 3 of “Another brick in the wall”.
The excitement died down a bit “The Powers That Will Be”Song that is part of the solo album KAOS Radioreleased by Roger in 1987. The show continued to focus on Waters’ career outside of Pink Floyd and the bassist made appearances “The courage to be out of reach”Title that appears on the Amused to death1992.
Before the aforementioned “The Bar,” the veteran artist asked how to say “welcome” in Portuguese and encouraged everyone to answer together. The audience, of course, responded in unison as Roger opened his arms to acknowledge the crowd’s cheers. “Angry! Thank you very much,” he concluded.
The musician then gave a relaxed speech about what the new song represents:
We’re going to play a new song now and it’s called “The Bar.” It’s a song about going to a bar, maybe ordering a drink or not, meeting friends or strangers, talking to each other, expressing your feelings about things, your opinions… Having a real conversation with other people is very important because we need to encourage our leaders to talk to each other.
Among Pink Floyd hits like “Wish you were here”that was reminiscent of the founder of Pink Floyd Syd BarrettIt is “Shine on you, crazy diamond.”as well as solo tracks like “Déjàvu” It is “Is this the life we really want?”Four giant screens helped tell the show’s narrative.
Continued after the video
Marielle Franco and political messages at the Roger Waters concert
Images and texts presented using highquality technical equipment drew strong political criticism by highlighting historically genocidal administrations of Presidents of the United States, denouncing war crimes in various parts of the world, defending the rights of minorities and celebrating the legacy of courageous personalities like the murdered city councilor Marielle Francowhose defense earned Roger the Pedro Ernesto Medal.
The performance also showcased the support of Waters’ excellent band, who took on the role of guitarist Jonathan Wilson in songs with higher melodies or those sung by David GilmourRoger’s former Pink Floyd bandmate who became a major enemy.
The lineup of musicians on stage also included background singers Shanay Johnson It is Amanda Belairthe guitarists Dave Kilminster It is Gus Seyffretthe keyboardist/guitarist Jon Carinthe organist Robert Walterthe drummer Joey Waronker and the saxophonist Seamus Blakewhich attracted great public attention due to its popularity.
In “Sheep”As the first act of the performance ended, a giant sheep flew over Niltão, forcing hundreds of fans to pull out their cell phones to record the moment.
Pink Floyd’s hit sequence in the closing stages of the show
After a 20minute break, it was the inflatable pig’s turn to walk over the audience and the performance continued “In the Flesh”which put Waters in a wheelchair under a straitjacket and accompanied by two nurses, as if he were in the place of the dying elderly man seen at the start of the show.
In the second performance of “The Bar”, after Pink Floyd hits like “Money”, “Us and Them”, “brain damage”, “Darkness” It is “Two suns in the sunset”Waters confessed to the audience that the song was inspired by the work of Bob Dylan:
For this next song, I borrowed some words from “SadEyed Lady of the Lowlands” from Bob Dylan’s album “Blonde on Blonde.”
Roger then dedicated the track to Dylan Camillahis wife and his older brother, JohnHe died last year.
Although Roger was still very willing, in one of his many interactions with the audience, he reiterated the fact that it was a farewell tour by talking about “having a lot of fun” and emphasizing that he doesn’t know if he will have the strength to continue to be on stage in the future. .
Considering that Waters will probably never tour the world again, anyone who was at Nilton Santos and saw a nearly threehour long spectacle should consider themselves extremely lucky.
Now Roger Waters, who, as we told you here, has already traveled through Brasília, is traveling to Porto Alegre (11/1), Curitiba (11/4), Belo Horizonte (11/8) and São Paulo (11/12). ). Check out the setlist and photos from the Rio de Janeiro show below!
ALSO READ: The 8 artists who changed the life of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour
Photo credit: Marcos Hermes Photo credit: Marcos Hermes Photo credit: Marcos Hermes Photo credit: Marcos Hermes Photo credit: Marcos Hermes Photo credit: Marcos Hermes
Setlist Roger Waters in Rio de Janeiro:
Set 1:
1. “Comfortably Numb” (Pink Floyd)
2. “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” (Pink Floyd)
3. “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2” (Pink Floyd)
4. “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3” (Pink Floyd)
5. “The Powerful”
6. “The Courage to Be Out of Reach”
7. “The Bar”
8. “Have a Cigar” (Pink Floyd)
9. “Wish You Were Here” (Pink Floyd)
10. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (Pink Floyd)
11. “Sheep” (Pink Floyd)
Sentence 2:
12. “In the Flesh” (Pink Floyd)
13. “Run Like Hell” (Pink Floyd)
14. “Déjà Vu”
15. “Déjà Vu (Reprise)”
16. “Is this the life we really want?”
17. “Money” (Pink Floyd)
18. “Us and Them” (Pink Floyd)
19. “Any Color You Like” (Pink Floyd)
20. “Brain Damage” (Pink Floyd)
21. “Eclipse” (Pink Floyd)
22. “Two Suns in the Sunset” (Pink Floyd)
23. “The Bar (Reprise)”
24. “Outside the Wall” (Pink Floyd)