Well it's been two weeks since the Roger Waters Us + Them Tour hit Rogers Place in Edmonton, so I'm a little slow on my review. This is a show that my sweetie Janis and I have had tickets for over a year. I had bought Janis and I tickets for this on her birthday last year, and as luck would have it the show was on her birthday this year. So it was a long wait for the show but worth it. This would be my fourth time seeing Roger Waters in concert. And for the few who may not know, Rogers Waters of course formerly the bass player for the iconic band Pink Floyd. Also this was the first of two sold out shows here in Edmonton.
This time around I was thinking how the hell do you top The Wall Tour. Well, I can say, maybe not topped it, but matched it for sure. Again the concert was a big production through out the two and half hour long show. The show opened with "Breathe" from Dark Side Of The Moon then going in to the instrumental song "One Of These Days" an oldie from the 1971 Pink Floyd album Meddle. This was going to be amazing. Then of course there were the visuals and the lasers, and the political bashing of Donald Trump with all kinds of unflattering pictures of him and some of his stupid twitter quotes projected on the screens.
Roger Waters and his band did two sets with the first set closing out with "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 & 3". It was during this song that Roger brought out some kids from the Boys and Girls Club here in Edmonton on stage to lip sync and dance around during the song. When the kids first came out on stage their heads were covered in black hoods and wearing orange prison wear like they were prisoners of war, kind of creepy actually. Eventually the hoods and orange tops were gone to reveal the kids wearing t-shirts reading "Resist". It was fun watching the kids up on stage, they looked to be having fun, especially one small girl, she was really dancing and singing along. That had to be a thrill of a lifetime for them kids. They may not realize it now, but years down the road they are going to be able to say they were on stage with a rock icon. How cool is that. Nice to see Roger Waters give kids a chance like that.
After a short intermission it was time for the second half of the show. Starting with "Dogs" then in to "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" from the Animals album. So good! Then three more from the Dark Side Of The Moon album. It was during the second half of the concert that things got more political, with the Trump images and such.
For the encore we got "Mother" and "Comfortably Numb". This show was a great retrospective of Roger Waters career with Pink Floyd. The only solo songs Roger did were from his album Is This the Life We Really Want? that came out earlier this year. Roger's back up band was amazing as well, his guitar players Dave Kilminster and Jonathan Wilson did a great job on original guitarists David Gilmour's parts both on guitar and his vocal parts. The four songs he did from that album seemed to fit very well in to the show. I've have always wanted to hear a few songs from his 1987 album Radio K.A.O.S. but that has yet to happen out of all the times I have seen Roger Waters in concert. The theme of this tour seems to be resistance to authority, which is nothing new for a Roger Waters show.
This was a great way to celebrate my Sweeties birthday. One of the best shows of the year. Good times!!!
Setlist.
Roger Waters at Rogers Arena in Edmonton.
T-shirt front.
T-shirt back.
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