Roger Waters brought his “Us and Them”, show three times to the Air Canada Centre. The theme revolves around the injustice between the rich and the poor, the peacekeepers and the war mongers, well you get the idea. What I loved about this show was the way he kept the theme running smoothly with each song played.
Rogers teased his audience with a picture of a woman sitting on the beach with her back turned, so she could be any woman. Then you noticed things beginning to move in this picture, which indicated the show was about to start, but this went on for some time to get the audience to salivate for the beginning of the show. With that said, the lights went down and he wanted everyone to” Breathe” in the air. An indication that we should prepare ourselves for what we are about to experience. He quickly opened us up to the horrific,” One of these days” I am going to cut you into little pieces. He continued to treat us with more of the Dark side of the moon, with, “Time” and “Great gig in the sky”. The two female singers, Jesse Wolfe and Holly Laessig did an unbelievable job sharing this vocal ballet of runs and melodies.
Rogers switched gears and began showcasing his new CD, “Is this the life we really want?” His opening line is, “If I had been God”. With that said you knew this was not going to be a Pop experience, but an in depth look at humanity today. He makes us look at The last refugee, and then takes his first great attack on Donald Trump, by stating, “Picture a leader with no fucking brains”…
Roger goes back to a classic Pink Floyd tune, “Wish you were here”, where the congregation had its first chance to have a little sing along. He continued that energy by playing all three of the “Another brick in the wall” songs. Part two was poignant with the help of a dozen children looking like helpless prisoners of war. The song got stronger when they removed their shrouds to show some defiance. It got even better when they took off their prisoner clothes to reveal T-shirts that read RESIST. This was only the first half of the show.
The second half began with the riser lowering itself across the entire Air Canada Centre. Curtains were lowered and gave birth to the infamous Battersea Power Plant from Pink Floyd Animal cover, including a flying pig. The opening song, “Dogs” revealed the darker side of humanity with the power to rip you apart. The audience had a chance to feel they entered a comedy club with the “Pigs (Three different ones)”. The screen was lit up with really embarrassing images of Donald Trump. We are talking poses as a baby in diapers, the Donald with a pig’s body, and we got a quick view of Donald’s very tiny manhood.
We got to witness the greed of, “Money”, and got the true lesson of what, “Us and them” really meant. Roger went back to his new CD to tell us to wake up and, “Smell the roses”. He went and treated his audience with the classic ending from Dark side of the moon, with, “Brain damage/Eclipse”. During this a laser projected pyramid sat in the first third of the floor audience. Then came the moment where a myriad of laser beams slowly came down and washed the entire crowd with Roger’s essence. You could feel the audience’s energy reinvigorated. There was at least a five minute standing ovation screaming at the top of everyone’s lungs to show we stood behind every word Roger had presented us on this outstanding occasion. Everyone watched as he took it all in and even try to quiet things down, but everyone just got louder. Then, there it was, Roger actually began to tear up. I have never seen him do that before. He got to the mike and jokingly said, “I am supposed to be the villain here, you are not supposed to make me cry”. When he went into his encore he walk down the stairs and greeted his fans. You could feel the entire gathering giving him a giant group hug.
His encore was a true treat as he went into “Mother”. Again the audience had a chance to sing and cheer, “Mother do you think they’ll break my balls”, and “Mother should I run for President”. After taking the piss out of Trump, I think you know how everyone reacted. He finished the night with the all time classic, “Comfortably numb”. It was a celebration that will resonate with everyone who witnessed this show and realizes the injustices we live in and we must do something to change it to become a better place. Oh by the way, the screen with that lonely woman sitting on the beach all by herself at the opening part of the show is reunited with her daughter. There is still hope in this world.
In conclusion, thank you Roger Waters.