Waters plays with passion, purpose

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Roger Waters put together a powerful, seamless blend of Pink Floyd classics and his own solo work during a concert Wednesday at the Pepsi Center, then drove the crowd into a frenzy by playing the entirety of the classic Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon.

Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Roger Waters

Roger Waters' solo tours have always brought everything to the table - visuals, politics, passion and, of course, his classic Pink Floyd catalog.

But in his first Denver appearance in nearly eight years, he found a crowd hungry for a connection. Waters himself acknowledges a greater bond with the music after the one-off Pink Floyd reunion at Live 8.

Waters' work, solo and with Pink Floyd, has always carried a strong anti-war streak, from the classic Us and Them to his latter-day protest song Leaving Beirut.

It all came together at the Pepsi Center Wednesday night. With the promise of the entirety of the Dark Side of the Moon album, the crowd was expectant. That, however, was for the second half of the show.

For the first half Waters put together a powerful, seamless blend of Floyd classics and his own solo work, making political and societal statements that have been his ongoing lyrical theme for decades.

The effects were stunning, with films running in the background, confetti, pyro, strobes, a pristine surround- sound system that Waters' people used to stunning effect, and, of course, the flying pig.

The first set started a little slowly, with a version of Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun that didn't catch fire. But Waters and his band (with Jon Carin handling many of the vocals for the absent Dave Gilmour, and Dave Kilminster the guitar parts) then reeled off a stunning run of songs, including Floyd's Have a Cigar, Wish You Were Here and The Fletcher Memorial Home, followed by Waters' Perfect Sense and Leaving Beirut. The anti-Bush politics of those songs (and the strong images flashed on the screen) were sharp and pointed, but what once got Waters booed drew loud cheers.

Ending the first set with Sheep made, well, perfect sense. It was then that the pig made its appearance, scrawled with slogans such as "Torture shames us all."

That blast of music, however, was just the warm-up. From the first drum heartbeats of Dark Side, the crowd lost it. The surround sound was used again to stunning effect with perhaps the cleanest sound ever at the arena.

Even the best full albums can be a bit daunting, but not this time. Despite being recreated in a note-perfect arrangement, Dark Side sounded like anything but a recital, with the band feeding off the crowd's insanity (and an explosive, rapturous applause for the burst of alarm clocks in Time).

As Waters has noted, Dark Side's themes of alienation, the individual's role in society, war, madness and redemption remain touching and timeless. Fans sang, cheered, remembered and looked forward. Few pieces of work have that power.

Roger Waters

* When: Wednesday night

* Where: Pepsi Center

* Grade: A