Roger Waters is a musical artist who belongs to a very exclusive club: He started his career in the 1960s and, while a member of Pink Floyd in that decade and the 1970s, has been part of some of the most innovative, groundbreaking, influential and timeless pop/rock music ever made.
Pink Floyd has few peers in the history of rock and, arguably, all of them are British and emerged in the ’60s (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Kinks). Yet, unlike almost all of the individual living members of those groups, Waters is in a place right now that sometimes exceeds the raw, emotional power of anything he has done in decades – particularly live.
Us + Them, his new concert film and accompanying audio soundtrack release from Sony/Legacy, is a blistering, visceral, raging multi-media event. What is most exciting about this tour and movie – which was was originally released in 2019 only on streaming services – is that Waters is pointedly attacking the corruption and failure of the Trump presidency, as well as oppressive and authoritarian regimes around the world, with no apologies and no fear.
Roger Waters has never shied away from taking a stand on controversial issues, as has been the case with his support of the state of Palestine that he references from the stage at the end of the film. While almost all of his peers from the ’60s have sat on their hands and refused to take sides artistically, in many cases perhaps fearing they will alienate half their audience, Waters doesn’t care.
And this has not just been the case in music. The film community, for four years after Trump’s election, has almost completely steered clear of attacking the president in any commercially artistic way – except perhaps for Sacha Baron Cohen.
Given the rebellious nature of rock music and the fact that America stands for free speech more than any other country on the face of the earth, one would think certain people would be raising their voices loudly with their artistic expression to sound the alarm. If artists don’t speak out, not with deeds, but with the poetry of their art, then who will? Who else can eloquently elucidate injustice and maybe even open some minds?
Of course, to merely create polemics without artistry or a cogent message would achieve nothing. This concert, which very much takes its cue from Waters’ most recent studio album Is This the Life We Really Want?, may represent the only popular musical documents of the seething anger that exists against the corruption and policies of the Trump administration and other world leaders – and just in time for election day.
The themes that resonate at this time for the “resistance” are themes Roger Waters has masterfully explored for more than 50 years. He is not suddenly entering the arena: Waters has been fighting this fight for a long time.
Filmed over four nights in 2019 at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and directed by Waters and Sean Evans, Us + Them is no mere concert film. This is an emotional and moving live multi-media spectacle that transcends the average concert-going experience. Waters and Pink Floyd have always used films, extravagant props and imaginative lighting to enhance the concert experience, and there is no shortage of those effects used here.
Topical newsreel footage, photographs and video put music from Pink Floyd’s classic 1970s work in a whole new context. It’s extraordinary how the themes the group explored nearly 50 years ago resonate so chillingly today.
Some of those themes were more abstract or existential at the time – outside of Pink Floyd’s later-’70s output, which more pointedly addressed war – but the warnings their music once signaled about political corruption are now reflected in what we see every day. Tracks from Animals and The Wall in particular now seem prophetic. We’ve gone from wanting to tear down the wall to building a wall. “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” was the No. 1 single in early January 1980, and 40 years later it could be the No. 1 song again.
The rest of the music here is mostly drawn from the other two key Pink Floyd albums from the ’70s; The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. “One of these Days,” from Meddle, is the oldest song performed at this concert. There are also four tracks from Is This the Life We Really Want? which perfectly fit in musically and thematically with the older Pink Floyd material. One of the songs, “The Last Refugee,” is central to the visual narrative of one of the accompanying films that runs like a thread throughout the concert and features a young refugee girl and the struggles she experiences.
There are 23 performances on the Us + Them Blu-ray and DVD, and bonus material that contains two additional song performances and a short documentary featuring rehearsals and backstage footage. Audio is available on either a double CD with a 24-page booklet or a three-album vinyl set that includes an eight-page booklet.
The Blu-ray features Dolby Atmos sound, which is the most cutting-edge home-theater reproduction currently available. There are very few music films that have been released in this format, and Waters has been at the forefront of this new technology. Dolby Atmos music audio has come a long way, in terms of the number of releases available in this format. Also, this music begs to be listened to on vinyl and the three-LP set features a beautiful package and boasts rich, dynamic sound.
While many Pink Floyd fans would certainly embrace a reunion of the three surviving members of the group, Roger Waters’ Us + Them underscores the benefits of each one having an opportunity to shine on their own. More importantly, each musician is growing through their experiences with new collaborators, often much younger artists.
On this tour, Waters worked with drummer Joey Waronker and the hip vocal duo Lucius and Jonathan Wilson, who also handled many of the vocals that would have been performed by David Gilmour for the Pink Floyd material. Wilson, who worked with Waters on Is This the Life We Really Want?, was born the year after The Dark Side of the Moon was released, and has an impressive and far-reaching resume as an artist, producer and songwriter. He is the perfect collaborator for Waters and to see the two reach across generations and make music together is heartening. Hopefully there’s more to come.
It is also worth noting that the music is produced by Nigel Godrich, who produced Is This the Life We Really Want?, and has worked extensively with Radiohead and Beck among others.
Watching the film and listening to the music is an emotional experience. There are a number of shots of the audience in the film where people are so moved they are crying. And these aren’t older baby boomers revisiting their past. Many of the audience members shown during Us + Them were young people. Ultimately, that is what Roger Waters is trying to do with this music: unite generations and people from around the world.
It’s no coincidence that he would make this film in Amsterdam, as it is a city of tolerance. Us + Them is a project that seeks to build bridges, not walls.
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