One calls him an anti-Semite or Putin supporter, the other praises his razor-sharp cynicism and impressive music. Roger Waters will play three times with his band in a sold-out Ziggo Dome next week. Why is there so much commotion about the 79-year-old English rock hero? Music connoisseur Wouter Bessels answers his own questions.
Who? Roger Waters? Isn’t that from Pink Floyd?
That’s right, he is co-founder, singer, bassist and main lyricist of the influential English rock band that he leaves at the end of 1985. Thanks to him, people are still singing along loudly every day with ‘Money, get away. You get a good job with more pay and you’re okay’, ‘How I wish you were here, we’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year’ or ‘We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control’. Those songs brought him commercial success and artistic acclaim.
So this Roger has made millions with socially critical texts?
Anyway, just like his great examples John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Waters doesn’t turn his heart into a murder pit either. From his magnum opus The Wall (1979) themes such as power and abuse of power, war and the influence of the (mass) media run through all his albums – with or without Pink Floyd. The Falklands War, the Gulf War, TV ministers, the danger of nuclear weapons, major social differences, corrupt politicians, loss and loneliness due to war violence, we hear and read them all in Waters’ work.
Did he have such a bad childhood?
Not that, but he has a backpack that you say you to. Roger was five months old when his father was killed on February 18, 1944 during an Allied landing off the coast of Anzio in Italy. His mother rewards Roger with a strict but protective upbringing, so that he develops a rebellious and contrary character. That he never knew his father is Roger’s childhood trauma. In fact it leitmotif of his entire work. The lack of a father figure controls his life and that makes Roger a fairly closed, cynical, but also narcissistic man who likes to take the lead within a group. In short: fodder for psychologists.
No still waters, but deep soils. Why has there been so much fuss about him lately?
That commotion really erupted in 2013. In a interview in The Guardian he compared Israelis to Nazis because of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. He was not thanked for that. Since then he has been seen as a supporter of anti-Semitism, although he strongly denies this. Waters consistently argues that, based on the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights against Palestinians have been violated. And after the Jews and Palestinians, Waters now also has the turn of the Russians and Ukrainians.
Oh, I was afraid of it… is he pro-Putin?
No, he hasn’t said that in those terms to date. But he also did not disapprove of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and recently even addressed the UN Council via a video link. He puts the blame for the war between Russia and Ukraine on Joe Biden and American power politicians, not on Putin.
What do his former colleagues think of his political jabs?
Drummer Nick Mason keeps to himself because of ‘family business’. After all, he is godfather to Waters’ son Harry. Mason invited Waters to join a concert in New York a few years ago. Did he let Waters hit the gong, just like he did in the Live in Pompeii Pink Floyd concert film. But guitarist David Gilmour can shoot Roger Waters with his criticism of Ukraine.
Why is Gilmour so pissed off at Roger Waters?
Gilmour released a single under the name Pink Floyd last year ( Hey Hey Rise Up ) in which he collaborates with a Ukrainian singer. Not exactly an artistic high-flyer and in fact just as politically charged as Waters’ statements. And here too ‘family business’ plays a role: one of Gilmours’ eight children is married to a Ukrainian. Then of course the criticism from your former colleague comes in extra hard. The real mudslinging started earlier this year, when Gilmours’ wife – author and journalist Polly Samson – got involved. Through social media, too. In other words: two arguing musical rascals, a meddling wife, Twitter, retweets, emoticons. So that will never be good.
Deadly sin actually. They were once responsible for all those beautiful songs and albums by Pink Floyd, weren’t they?
Piece by piece. Which Waters also plays on his current tour entitled This Is Not A Drill. In mostly new arrangements. Gilmour has not performed with his own band since 2016 and Mason has been focusing on the old, psychedelic work of Pink Floyd with a ‘hobby band’ in recent years. So who classics like Money , Another Brick In The Wall , Comfortably Number and Wish You Were Here wants to hear, has only one option: to attend a Roger Waters concert.
But then those concerts of his must continue. Things don’t look good in Poland and Germany, right?
That’s right, two concerts in Krakow were canceled last September, after Waters had a controversial open letter had sent to the wife of Ukrainian President Zelensky. While in Frankfurt and Munich the question is whether he will play there in mid-May. In Frankfurt he performs in the Festhalle, from where Jews were deported during World War II. Based on Waters’ statements, the city council considers it inappropriate to let him perform there. To date, those two concerts in Germany have not yet been cancelled.
And what about the concerts in Amsterdam?
They just keep going. Concert organizer Mojo has so far not commented on Waters’ statements, or on the content of his current tour that premiered in North America last year. Incidentally, he played there to half-full houses in the states where the Republicans are popular. The Center for Information and Documentation Israel (Cidi) in the Netherlands has called on Mojo to “keep a close eye” on the concerts. Director Naomi Mestrum said recently opposite AD that boycotting Waters’ performances is going too far. Oh, and then there are some protesters in front of the entrance to the Ziggo Dome, isn’t it great? Freedom of expression is and will remain our greatest asset.
But Wouter, let’s be honest, are you, as a lover and author of a Pink Floyd biography, awakened by all that commotion?
Not at all. But it does bother me that Waters has been taking the concept of ‘free speech’ very broadly lately. His statements are increasingly provocative. As a fan of his music, you sometimes almost have to apologize that you like his records or that you visit his concerts.
But the media can also do something about it. While newspaper after newspaper is talking about the cancellation of the concert in Frankfurt – even Johan Derksen recently gave a whole lecture about it in Today Inside – I can still buy a ticket. Let’s stick to the facts.
Is Roger Waters really a necessary evil in this world?
Not at all! Premise: he is an artist. And just like other artists who are socially critical, you get the political messages for free during concerts. Waters knows that all too well. In fact, he does nothing else than he has been doing since the start of his solo career. Coquettish with the public and the media, provoke, push boundaries. Just listen to his album Amused To Death from 1992. And don’t forget that Waters has been inviting war veterans to his concerts for years. He has a very big mouth, but also a small heart.
Incidentally, there is a good chance that our royal couple will be there in the Ziggo Dome. I saw Willem-Alexander and Máxima in 2011 at Waters’ concert of The Wall walk into the Gelredome in Arnhem. They also met him then, there is a photo of it. Willem-Alexander is known to be a Pink Floyd fan anyway; in 1994 he attended one of the three concerts in the Rotterdamse Kuip. He was just standing between the audience watching, while enjoying a beer.
Coquettish and possible royal visit. So you don’t put your card on Ticketswap and will therefore also look next week?
In fact, I’m at all three concerts in Amsterdam. The stage is in the middle of the room, so I’m going to experience every show from a different angle. And in May I will also go to Hamburg and Antwerp. So five times in total. With a different atmosphere every night, different talks by Waters, some anecdotes (in the category ‘I remember playing the Paradiso in 1968’) and audience reactions.
And it may just be the last time he is on tour and in our country. When you are almost 80 years old, you no longer make long-term plans. At least, that’s what I’m assuming. So I’ll take Roger’s political messages into the bargain. His music is top of mind for me. Political opinions go in one ear and out the other.
Do you wear earplugs at concerts?
Yes, over 20 years now.
The epitome of irony: the sale of earplugs at Roger Waters concerts
As long as no blinkers are sold.
Roger Waters will play at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on April 4, 6 and 7.
Pink Floyd connoisseurs Charles Beterams and Bert van Kalker, who live in Groningen, discuss the current affairs surrounding the music of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters in their podcast Pink Floyd In De Polder: