Roger Waters Reflects On Playing Pink Floyd Songs Without David Gilmour

In a recent interview, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters spoke to The Globe and Mail and stated that he feels comfortable playing the band’s songs without David Gilmour.

The remarkable creative partnership between Roger Waters and David Gilmour stood out among the first factors that rose Pink Floyd to incredible fame and popularity starting from the band’s early days. Their different understandings of music richened the group’s perspective on creating songs. While Waters came to the front with exceptional songwriting abilities, Gilmour represented the band’s musical side.

However, their personal and creative disagreements were so apparent that they didn’t leave them a chance other than to separate their ways. Roger Waters eventually left Pink Floyd, but the feud between them continues up to this day. Following his departure from the band, the bassist resumed his music career as a solo artist. He has been still performing Pink Floyd songs in his solo shows.

During a new interview, Waters explained that he has been under immense pressure to perform some Pink Floyd classics from ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ in his live shows. Yet, he enjoys singing those songs because he wrote and still likes them. The bassist revealed that he has no problem performing some of Pink Floyd’s iconic pieces with his current touring band. So, it doesn’t make such a difference for him to play those tracks without David Gilmour.

Roger Waters speaking on playing Pink Floyd songs:

“You were there, so you know I played a lot of ‘The Dark Side of the Moon,’ to some extent against my better judgment. I am under pressure from all those people to deliver some of that to them. And I enjoy it because I wrote the songs, and I still like them and stand by what I said in ‘Us and Them’ and ‘Money’ and ‘Eclipse.’ I have no problem performing those songs and ‘Comfortably Numb’ and ‘Wish You Were Here’ with this band.”

The bassist is currently touring North America for his highly-anticipated in-the-round style ‘This Is Not a Drill’ tour. The arena show kicked off in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on July 6. His tour will also continue in the following months, ending with a final performance on October 15 in Mexico City.