Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill Tour – Toronto 2022

July 8 2022 – Mr. Waters can you tell us what this tour is about?

“This Is Not A Drill’ is a groundbreaking new rock and roll/cinematic extravaganza, performed in the round, it is a stunning indictment of the corporate dystopia in which we all struggle to survive, and a call to action to LOVE, PROTECT and SHARE our precious and precarious planet home. The show includes a dozen great songs from PINK FLOYD’S GOLDEN ERA alongside several new ones, words and music, same writer, same heart, same soul, same man. Could be his last hurrah. Wow! My first farewell tour! Don’t miss it. Love R.”

Our massive love for Roger Waters and his music was finally rewarded after 4 years. The last time we witnessed the creative genius of Pink Floyd was in London’s Hyde Park in a massive outdoor show. While the intent was for This Is Not A Drill to have commenced in 2020 that did not occur for the obvious reason of a global pandemic. Waters is now 78 and we wonder how much reality is in the statement “my first farewell tour” – can the end of the road really be starting right now for the creator of some of the most momentous pieces of music in the history of humanity?

We consider The Wall the best concert of all time and had reviewed it in multiple cities and you can check out one such review from Athens, Greece here. For the next tour we reviewed Waters’ Us + Them show in detail from the front row on its opening night and you can check that out here. As a super highly recommended additional read check out the coolest interview we ever did with Waters’ guitarist David Kilminster here.

Tonight was the second show in the brand new production entitled “This Is Not A Drill” which is billed as in the round. This means that the stage is shaped a symmetrical crucifix which places Waters and his band in the direct center of the floors of the arena. The tour started in Pittsburgh on July 6th and now stops in Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena for 2 nights July 8th and 9.

The initial press release for the tour claimed “As the clock ticks faster and faster and faster down to extinction, it seemed like a good thing to make a fuss about it, so that’s why I’m going on the road. To be blunt, we need to change the way we organize ourselves as a human race or die. This tour will be part of a global movement by people who are concerned by others to affect the change that is necessary. That’s why we’re going on the road. That’s why we speak to each other in pubs. That’s why this conversation should be on everybody’s lips, constantly, the whole time, because it’s super important. So I hope you’ll all come to the shows. This is not a drill.”

Then came covid, the world stopped and when things cautiously resumed the updated release claimed “This is Not a Drill will be a rock ’n’ roll show that’s about the fact that this is our lives ending. We’re standing on the precipice, and it needs just the slightest little nudge and we’ll all be yesterday’s news. This is Not a Drill is me shouting it from my rooftop and hoping that you will all shout from your rooftops, and we’ll start acting as one and put an end to all this madness.”

While The Wall tour (2010-2013) had slight political overtones built into the show, it wasn’t until the Us + Them tour (2017-2018) that Waters really took off the gloves and features a full on assault on the orange asshole that somehow became a president of a country. Having seen that show multiple times (including in the USA), it was great seeing old white guys (usually with beards) get up and walk out during the show. The show’s message of RESIST resonated strongly and there were signs that This Is Not A Drill would be even more hardcore in its political assault of the right, corporate greed, consumerism and the modern day mental oppression “Them” create for “Us”. A few seconds before the show the large screens light up with a message of “If you’re one of those “I love Pink Floyd, but I can’t stand Roger’s politics” people, you might do well to fuck off to the bar right now“, the audience gives a thunderous yell of approval and we have lift off!

Warning: If you don’t want spoilers and full details about the concert stop reading right now. This review is intended to be the first in depth Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill tour review.

The formula for tonight’s show seemed fairly consistent between the 2 sets. Start off with a couple of massive songs from The Wall, intersperse a couple of solo Waters songs (from Radio KAOS and Amused to Death in Set 1 and from Is This The Life We Really Want? in Set 2), continue with side 2 of a classic Pink Floyd album (Wish You Where Here in Set 1 and Dark Side Of The Moon in Set 2) and close it off with a song from the other 2 unrepresented Pink Floyd albums (Animals in Set 1 and The Final Cut in Set 2). Waters also introduced a new song named The Bar and wrapped it all off with Outside The Wall.

Toronto and much of Canada was suffering from a telecommunications outage as Rogers had an internet outage. Questions lingered whether the show would have to be delayed but even though the lines were massive to enter, the show did commence at 8:45pm (20 minutes delayed from schedule). We had front row seats tonight directly facing Jon Carin and he was the only band member in our sights the whole night. The front row experience is usually the holy grail of concerts as you are head on with the band, but it was not very good in this “in the round” setup where you could hardly see anyone most of the night.

The Us + Them tour relied heavily on the message of “RESIST” throughout the show but ended with Comfortably Numb as the ultimate encore. Tonight Comfortably Numb began the night with the cross shaped stage in the middle of the arena split up in quadrants with the massive screens lowered to sector off the musicians. The version of Comfortably Numb was very stripped and unlike any rendition of it ever presented before. The visuals were of a post apocalyptic city in shatters with eerie zombie like humans emerging. The bleak future that Waters wants to warn us about is in full display from the first minute. My initial reaction is “why are you butchering this masterpiece?”, but the hypnotic presentation quickly reminded me that I am very comfortable in giving Waters permission to guide me on this journey. The flying pig makes its first appearance on the onscreen animation flying aimlessly over the debris of the bombed out city while the familiar helicopter sounds of The Happiest Days Of Our Lives signal for the screens to start lifting up and showing the audience the first view of the full stage. Another Brick In The Wall (part 2 and 3) is presented in its traditional arrangement while the screens blast us with Orwellian messages such as ” Us Good, Them Evil” and “Control The Narrative, Rule The World”. Interesting that Pink Floyd’s 2 biggest songs kick off the night.

Next segment (and a special treat for me) is a couple of Waters solo songs. First up was The Powers That Be from the excellent Radio K.A.O.S. and then The Bravery of Being Out Of Range from the even better Amused To Death album. Both songs are slowed down and lack the adrenalin punch of the original recordings. Once again we enjoy the fact that Waters is not just presenting cookie cutter versions of these songs but gives us something new. The visuals of The Powers That Be feature the familiar nazi-like crossed hammer cops violently killing innocents while names of actual victims of police brutality are displayed including D’Andre Campbell of Toronto, a mentally ill black man who was shot by police (I believe the name here will change for every city of the tour) and the infamous “George Floyd, Crime: Being Black, Punishment: Death“. Ronnie Reagan kicks off a parade of past US presidents (both Democrats and Republicans) labeled “War Criminal” with subheadings indicating their crime, as a slowed down version of The Bravery of Being Out Of Range is played with Waters on the piano. Biden, was labelled, “War Criminal,” subtitle of “just getting started…”

A brand new 14 minute song named The Bar premiered on this tour that was written during the lockdowns as he was thinking about “how fucked up the world is right now, with all our leaders are completely out of their brains”. During the show the 14 minute version was not presented but instead snippets of it appeared through the night. Waters stays on the piano to debut 4 minutes of his new baby to Toronto. Roger claims this song is for a place that like minded people can gather those who believe in truth and liberty and human rights. “That is where we are right now in Toronto, we are in the bar”. Oddly enough Roger got a bit confused while introducing this song and claims that they only have presented this song one time before and he proceeded to present this excellent new song.

We now are treated to what would be side B of the 1975 Wish You Were Here album. Have A Cigar was a chance for guitarist David Kilminster to shine with his soul torching playing. Wish You Were Here is accompanied with visuals about how Waters and Syd Barrett formed Pink Floyd and ends with the poignant message of “When you lose someone you love, it does serve to remind you … This is not a drill“. A standard reproduction of Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX) is played and the band really gets to let loose and rock out for this one. Images of the original Pink Floyd member are flashed on the screen (and quite noticeably David Gilmour was not there at all). Considering the messaging of this tour that we are all one, brothers and sisters it really would have been a profound statement to have at least one image of all 5 members of Pink Floyd in unison, even just as a sign of respect to Gilmours contributions to the Floyd story.

To end the first set Sheep is pulled out of the Animals catalogue. Usually any song from Animals is my highlight of any Waters show as they are long, intense, and a total mind trip and today was no exception. The song includes a prayer by the sheep as they are led to slaughter. and the videos did show that prayer along with tweets about the recent US Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade situation happening down south of us.

A 20 minute intermission brought out the familiar flying pig full of fresh graffiti such as “Fuck The Poor” and “Steal From The Poor, Give To The Rich”. With that backdrop the marching hammer banners fill the venue and Waters dons his “The Wall Tour Live” outfit of The Bleeding Heart band of Pink’s alter-ego crazed rock star.

In The Flesh and Run Like Hell are presented very similarly to how it was a decade ago (including the same videos). Great trip down memory lane for those of us who had seen the previous tour and a great experience for those that missed it the first time around.

This is the traditional beer/toilet/merch break run for many people as Waters rolls out two songs from his latest album that most in the arena would not be familiar with. The first was Deja Vu which was played in the previous Us + Them Tour in which Roger tells us what he would do if he had been God. He plays acoustic guitar as he delivers this song while the videos in the first part of the song highlight “Fuck…” (insert things Waters dislikes) and the second half of the song showing “… Rights” (insert things Waters values). Is This The Life We Really Want? is an attempt to highlight our apathy about humanity while the screens show a headline reading “Billionaires see fortunes rise by 27% during the pandemic”. The song was not played live before this tour so it was very nice to get to hear new material. The unfortunate reality is that a large number of people at the show tonight will not have paid attention to the message of this song, and would simply be waiting to hear “the hits”. We really enjoyed this segment of the show.

Cue up the greatest album of all time and flip it to side B. Hard to fathom that we are so far into the show without any Dark Side Of The Moon being played. Money kicks it off with a dancing pig in a business suit and red tie is on the video. Standard delivery of the song which leads into my personal favorite song on my favorite album – Us and Them once again benefits from Jonathan Wilson’s haunting vocals and Kilminster’s insane guitar skills. Same videos as last tour by the way. The trifecta of Any Colour You Like/Brain Damage/Eclipse remind us about the magnificence of this album and the lasers appear to end the song in the pyramid/triangle motif that has become the unofficial logo of Pink Floyd. Waters threw the crowd for a bit of a loop here as he messed up the lyrics and sang the same verse twice but hey we are all human after all.

Roger has referred to Two Suns In The Sunset as a very important song in various pre tour interviews. He introduces it by talking about The Doomsday Clock. A concept introduced in 1947 which represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe from scientific and technological advances. Doomsday being midnight. Waters incorrectly states that the clock started at 20 minutes before midnight (it was actually 7 minutes). It is currently at 100 seconds before midnight – a rather gloomy concept states Waters. The song as delivered was a highlight of the night for us but the visuals were hypnotic with the nuclear holocaust destroying humanity (and tied into the opening animation shown in Comfortably Numb – a concept Waters used in The Wall album where the opening words of the album were a continuation of the closing words). Speaking of words some of the most powerful lyrics of the night are at the end of this song:

And as the windshield melts
And my tears evaporate
Leaving only charcoal to defend.
Finally I understand the feelings of the few.
Ashes and diamonds
Foe and friend
We were all equal in the end.

The evening concludes with a bit more of The Bar with Waters back on the piano and a nod to Bob Dylan. The whole band slowly surrounds Waters and transitions into a remarkable version of Outside The Wall. When Waters gets up the band follows him marching band style for a walk around the stage and an emotional exit from the arena. The cameras follow the band backstage while the last few notes echo in the Scotiabank Arena to signal the end of this phenomenal experience.

The massive job of recreating the epic Pink Floyd music of course can not be done by Roger Waters alone and his band this tour consists of almost the same people involved in the Us + Them tour with a few exceptions. David “Killer” Kilminster and Jonathan Wilson return on guitar. Gus Seyffert and Joey Waronker are back on bass and drums. Long time Pink Floyd’s 6th man Jon Carin is back on keyboards, guitars and vocals. The four fresh faces on this tour are Robert Walter on organ (he replaces Bo Koster who is out touring with My Morning Jacket – our favourite band of this century), Amanda Belair and Shanay Johnson take over backup vocals from Jess and Holly from Lucius, and long time saxophonist Ian Ritchie dropped out just a few weeks ago and was replaced by Seamus Blake.

The final setlist consisted of 23 songs (note the word “song is used loosely here as some are just snippets or intros) – 17 Pink Floyd songs and 6 solo Roger Waters offerings.

First Set
Comfortably Numb (The Wall)
The Happiest Days of Our Lives (The Wall)
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 (The Wall)
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3 (The Wall)
The Powers That Be (Radio K.A.O.S.)
The Bravery of Being Out of Range (Amused To Death)
The Bar (New Song)
Have a Cigar (Wish You Were Here)
Wish You Were Here (Wish You Were Here)
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX) (Wish You Were Here)
Sheep (Animals)

Second Set
In the Flesh (The Wall)
Run Like Hell (The Wall)
Déjà Vu (Is This The Life We Really Want?)
Is This the Life We Really Want? (Is This The Life We Really Want?)
Money (The Dark Side of the Moon)
Us and Them (The Dark Side of the Moon)
Any Colour You Like (The Dark Side of the Moon)
Brain Damage (The Dark Side of the Moon)
Eclipse (The Dark Side of the Moon)
Two Suns in the Sunset (The Final Cut)
The Bar (Reprise) (New Song)
Outside the Wall (The Wall)

T-Mak’s Random Musings

• Highlights of the night: Sheep and Two Suns in the Sunset
• Lacking: No real use of lasers, props, inflatable creatures (or at least not as much as has been used before)
• Front Row Seats: Horrible experience. You can hardly see the musicians and even the immersiveness of the screens is lost. Get a lower bowl/100 level ticket instead
• Stage: Interesting concept but I think I prefer a traditional setup
• Politics: As Roger states before the show starts, if you don’t want to hear about his political views, go to the fucking bar instead
• Vs Past Tours: Nothing can ever touch The Wall live. Us + Them was more enjoyable visually (i.e. Battersea Power Station emerging during the Animals set)
• Songs I Missed Most: Time, Breathe, Great Gig In The Sky
• Songs Wished For: More solo stuff anything from Amused, KAOS or Hitchhiking (Waters stated in an interview he wanted that also but was not permitted by promoter AEG – who naturally wanted more Floyd)

Overall: 5 out of 5 – Waters last stand? We sure hope not but he delivered the aural-visual journey we expect from the greatest showman of the classic rock generation. The politics were scathing even though Trump was unfortunately mostly forgotten about this time. Very glad to hear the Waters solo material along with some revamped Pink Floyd gems.  Waters, on the This Is Not A Drill tour, is clearly not afraid to fully present what his songs have always been about, and deliver them with scathing clarity and venom. Roger Waters triumphant return to Toronto with a politically charged masterpiece with a dire warning to humanity. Easily the best rock tour of 2022

PS. Trumpers, “freedom” convoy supporters, anti-vaxxers, racists, fascists, climate change denialists, nationalists, white supremacists, populists, religious right members, etc. – be warned,  your feelings will get hurt.

 Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill Tour Review Toronto July 8 2022 by Terry Makedon 

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