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A review of Roger Waters' Coachella performance

6:23 AM Mon, Apr 28, 2008 | | Comments (4)
Posted by: Vanessa Franko

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is known for its moments--those fleeting periods of magic that last for mere minutes shared by only those who make the musical pilgrimage to the Empire Polo Field in Indio.

While one of the most talked about moments came on Saturday night when Prince covered Radiohead's "Creep," perhaps the most appropriate one was when a giant inflatable pig floated above the crowd and drifted into the air over the Coachella Valley, signaling the end of the first half of Roger Waters' set and the beginning of the end of this year's edition of Coachella.

Waters, a driving force behind psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, delivered the most visually stunning set ever in Coachella's history. A shower of pyrotechnics engaged when Waters opened his set with "The Show" off the epic "The Wall."

He and his full band, complete with powerful female backup singers,played some of Pink Floyd's best, such as "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," "Wish You Were Here" and "Mother."

To cap the Pink Floyd retrospective set, he ended with "Pigs," as an inflatable porcine, spray-painted with a cartoon of Uncle Sam and the words "Don't be led to the slaughter" hovered over the crowd before being cut loose.

After an intermission, Waters and his band came back to perform "Dark Side of the Moon" in its entirety, with stellar sound throughout the entire show.

Green lights flooded the stage when the unforgettable bass line for "Money" began and with every crescendo in "Us and Them, bright white lights pierced through the crowd.

However that set's crowning moment came at the end, when was a three-dimensional triangular prism hung over the stage, slowly pirouetting as lights projected a clear rainbow of color on the smoky haze, bringing the icon album cover for "Dark Side of the Moon" to life and turning the crowd into a living part of it.

Waters wasn't even finished. He and the band came back onstage to rile the crowd into a fist-pumping frenzy for "Another Brick in the Wall Part II" and an ultimate finale of "Comfortably Numb."



4 Comments

The pig goes flying to the Roger Water's song entitled "Sheep," not "Pig." I made the same easy mistake the first time that I posted my video capture on You Tube of his concert performance of this song about the unthinking masses who become in Waters' view, like sheep, the victims of ruthless power brokers the likes of Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Reagan, Thatcher, Bush I, Bush II, Blair, etc., and was duly corrected on the song title by other users and viewers in no time. :)


Thanks for the review.
As for the comments by Dave, I am saddened that one would think the Blair, Reagan and Bush could even be compared to Hitler, Mao or Pol Pot.
Don't be a sheep, learn your history I know its fashionable and cool to hate Western leaders but I think it's rather sheepish, if you studied history (and not just from some freakish underground Internet site but real history from those who lived it like perhaps some elderly British citizens you would never again equate Hitler to Blair,Reagan or Bush, and frankly you would be rather ashamed that you did. Its pretty sad if you ask me. And as far as Roger Waters anti-capitalisim rants and displays, I have got to say that guy is a bigger capitalist then all of us at Coachella put together. How many millions did he make that night? While displaying the images of Syd Barret and playing older Floyd Songs and other ways of capitalizing on the Floyd "enterprise" for his benefits (capitalistic) benefits mind you. He made millions that night. He should just play his music and stop pretending to be holier then thou. His is a pure capitalist no matter how many flying pigs with spray paint he released into the sky and flyers he drops from airplanes. Frankly I find it bad taste to travel to another country, make millions off them and then disrespect the people the government and the culture of America while on stage making millions, its poor taste and would not be respected by musicians traveling to the UK.


In reply to JohnD on Roger Waters political statements. I've seen Rogers show in the UK. The show is superb with some very powerful visual statements. Roger, I don't believe, has ever made direct comparison of Bush or Blair to Hitler. However, the actions of Bush and the US (and Blair) have a major impact on the whole world, so I think it quite right for anyone in the free world to voice their opinions of the USA & UK foriegn policy. I think one of the points Roger makes is that we and especially the US only see war from our own side and don't appreciate that it is someones mother father or sibling being killed irrespective if hindu, muslim christian or jew. Those innocent civilians in Iraq suffering "colatoral" damage or being buzzed by F16s probably would make that comparison
No doubt JohnD thinks the war on terror is going well, we shouldn't mention the loss of 1000+ US+UK servicemen (and probably hundreds of thousands of civilians) a worthwhile sacrifice- one of Bushes better crusades ?
History, well, Roger Waters lost his father in World War II and indeed never had the chance to know him. Roger also personally funded The Wall in Berlin concert at massive expense, all the profits from the concert and DVDs etc., went to the Leonard Cheshire Homes for injured war veterans. I think RW has every right to voice his opinions, just as johnD is entitled to voice his, but a bit more research would help.


I am a life long 57 year old Floyd fan. I went to the Houston Show and loved the music. How ever he crossed the line when it felt to me that he was giving me hell for the state of the world. He talked of a fine Lebonese man that helped him out of a bad situation in 1968. Then said he never seen again. If he was the compasionant man he says he is don't you think he would take some his wealth and help a very poor man for his trouble? Everyone knows how many innocent die in war but how many hundreds of thousands die from thugs every year because nobody wants to get involved? Maybe 20% of the sheep liked the political message but the rest of us were deeply disturbed of the content. He thinks the USA sucks but nowhere in the Middle East could he talk like that about their country and get away with it. If he does the same show overseas he will only fuel more hatred. He ruined the show for me. He ruined my memories of the Floyd.



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