Roger Waters recently posted an Instagram video showing him answering some fan questions. One of his fans asked the former Pink Floyd member about the most difficult concert he had ever played, so he shared:
“I don’t know, again, the one that popped into my head just because of logistics was doing ‘The Wall.’ After I’d left Pink Floyd in 1990, I did ‘The Wall’ in Berlin in the Potsdamer Platz, and that was fraught with difficulty just because it was a huge endeavor and undertaking.”
He then recalled an incident during the ‘K.A.O.S. On The Road’ tour, where an accident with a microphone led to him splitting his lip. Giving an insight into his and Pink Floyd’s audience after his departure from the band, the singer said:
“I don’t remember where I was playing, but it was in 1987, and the remains of the band were on tour as Pink Floyd, and they were playing in Cincinnati to about 70,000 people in the football stadium. And I was playing in a 4,000-seat arena to about a thousand people.”
His Early Shows After Pink Floyd Shaped Him With Pain
Waters’s first show without his ex-bandmates was not only physically painful but also a moment of reflection for him:
“And I remember thinking, ‘This is character forming. They’re out there playing my songs to 70,000 people and my show because they were still copying my theatrical show. And here I am, and I’m thinking all this.’ And then I went bang, and I hit the microphone, and I started bleeding copiously, and I was wearing a white t-shirt, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is f**king cool.’”
The artist thanked his then-audience for the experience, adding:
“And I felt my character being formed in that moment because I was in pain and some humiliation, and whatever. So, thank you, those thousand people who came to that show that night, it was not easy.”
The Singer Remained Connected To The Band’s Music
While Roger Waters never reunited with Pink Floyd, except for a performance in 2005, he kept some of the band’s songs as part of his solo shows.
Following his departure from the lineup, the singer continued his solo career, releasing albums like ‘Radio K.A.O.S.’ in 1987, ‘Amused To Death’ in 1992, and ‘Is This The Life We Really Want?’ in 2017. In recent years, he turned his attention to reimagining old Pink Floyd records like ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon.’
Waters’ version of the 1973 album, ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux,’ came out on October 6, 2023, to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
