Capacity: 23,000
Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: Peninsula Square, London, SE10 0DX. MAP

Website: www.theo2.co.uk

COMMENTS

The European leg of Roger's new tour - THIS IS NOT A DRILL - has now been announced, and is a new production. The show will be presented "live in the round" - a departure from Roger's previous shows. The production has already been seen in the US and Canada in the latter part of 2022, showcasing both the new visuals, and the new set list. More details of that can be found in the show pages for Roger's 2022 tour - but don't go there if you don't want to have any surprises spoilt!

Those who have attended - or have seen pictures/video of - Roger's previous tours, will know just how spectacular and moving this new production is likely to be, and how it is a show you really shouldn't miss! From comments Roger has made in recent interviews, it could be his final tour...

For the regular sale of tickets, which starts on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th at 1pm (local time), or for presale tickets which go on sale one day earlier (September 29th) at 1pm, CLICK HERE. Using this direct link also helps toward the ongoing running costs of this site, and is appreciated!

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Do not read on if you don't want surprises to be spoilt, regarding what the band played!

Night thirty-eight of the 2023 This Is Not A Drill tour for Roger Waters, his band, and crew, who are back in London for the first of a brace of shows, before heading to Manchester for the final show on this leg. Towards the end of the year the tour resumes with South American dates.

Initial reports from the fan community are that the show was as expected from last year's experiences of Roger's latest production, but as always, we value your first hand views on all the concerts - so if you went, please let us know your thoughts! Our views on the evening are shown below Roger's official videos:

And so the return of Roger Waters to London's O2 Arena, in Greenwich. Originally the Millennium Dome, it's fortunes turned when it was taken over and efforts made to make it into one of the best concert and entertainment venues in the country. Over the years various changes have been made to it, to improve the offerings it has (and being in an area of London which has few facilities, this was needed) and now it is one of the principal venues in the UK. And, thankfully for Roger, the roof trusses were clearly strong enough for his current show, which has a VERY heavy set of screens that have counted out some venues during their considerations while planning the tour.

It's also a venue with the perfect shape for Roger's vision. The staging fits perfectly, giving a decent amount of seating all around. Some venues have a shallower floor area giving little room for seating at either end of the long "arms" of the stage.

Acoustically too, the O2 tends to be a good place for musicians, with decent sound almost always guaranteed. In the case of a Floyd-related project, you know the sound will normally be good (even in the toughest venues to mix for) so when the sound team know things should go well, they can then have fun.

Certainly, from comments made by those who had seen the show in Birmingham, the sound at the O2 was substantially better than that heard at the Utility Arena. Things had a real punch, without losing any of the subtleties, with everything extremely clear - sound effects, dialogue, vocals, instrumentation.

Visually, the screens were as clear as ever. I'd last seen the show at Madison Square Garden, in New York, at the end of August 2022, and it felt like the band were more visible now. Back then, the musicians, dressed in black, on a black stage, and not overly lit, could be hard to make out, but despite them STILL wearing black, on a black stage, maybe they were better lit, as they were easier to see. Of course, that depended on whereabouts you were sat; with the layout, some of the staging and musicians would always be out of sight, as most of them stayed in the same places. There was the occasional bit of movement out onto an arm by someone, but most of them staying roughly in their spots.

Those who moved the most were the saxophonist Seamus Blake, the backing vocalists, Amanda Belair and Shanay Johnson (both excellent and for me, their singing and approach was more suitable than the previous singers Lucius), and Roger Waters himself, although a fair amount of the time he favoured one particular "arm", as well as the piano he used in some songs. Apart from the appearances on the screen (when the narrative permitted) when he was sat at the piano, or on his favoured "arm", much of the venue were unable to see Roger.

Most of you will now be familiar with the set-list of the show, so I won't go into that. Maybe it was due to it being a London audience, but the Floyd material seemed to get a much stronger reaction than Roger's subsequent solo work during the show. I've noticed this sort of thing before in the capital - shows there seem to attract the more casual fans.

One thing that did seem to come as a surprise to many there, was the very lengthy "rant" that Roger had in the run-up to The Bar - in particular, fixing MP Christian Wakefield firmly in his sights for standing up in parliament and trying to get Roger's shows in the UK stopped (and specifically, the Manchester gig). Whilst people understood Roger's reasoning as to why Wakefield was incorrect in his views, the use of "cripple" as an insult to Wakefield did seem to get Roger a bit of a negative reaction within parts of the crowd.

Other than that, Roger's show went down extremely well with the audience, who enjoyed the visuals and inflatables, were attentive with the messaging (again, not least due to potentially limited visibility of at least some of the musicians), and made the most of what could be his final arena shows in London.

CONCERT PICTURE by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Matt Johnson

 

CONCERT PICTURE and COMMENTS by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Jon Randle

I was at the show last Tuesday at the O2 Arena with my wife, both autistic sons and a mate of mine. We all loved it. It was a very emotional experience I have to say.

 

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Geoff Bridges

To be honest I was a little disappointed with the Roger Waters gig at The O2. I'm a big Roger Waters fan having seen his live shows 4 times over the years and 5 Pink Floyd gigs since 1973 albeit with Roger in them only twice.

I bought my first Pink Floyd album in 1969 and I don’t think I am desensitised to the music after decades of listening. I support Roger’s politics although I am probably more radical.

I’m a regular gig goer and know a big production when I see one having seen Rammstein 5 times, SlipKnot, Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, ELP, Yes, Green Day, Metallica, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Tina Turner, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath plus hundreds of others. Yes this was visually stunning and the sound, much of it recorded, was very good BUT it didn’t inspire me as his other gigs have.

Roger Waters latest shows use screens in a cross with two screens being longer than the other two. Although I had a £98 ticket I was end-on to a longer screen and could only see a shorter screen. This screen was also partially obscured by hanging speakers so the important messages on the screen were sometimes difficult to read. I was in the first row of the upper tier so thousands behind me would have had a similar if not worse experience.

The seats on the floor or those diagonally to a long and a short screen would have had an unobstructed and better view.

Musically some of the newer songs were a bit weak. My three previous Roger Waters gigs were an emotional roller coaster but this time I just didn’t feel it.

The O2 is miles from mainline rail stations and I managed to get back to Euston in time for the 12.39am train home arriving at 01.35am. There are reports of people leaving early to catch trains. Instead of an 8pm start and 11pm finish, 7.30pm to 10.30pm would have been better for this venue.

I’ve never liked the O2 as a venue. There were long queues for the men’s toilet and £15.20 for a cardboard cup of wine and a similar amount for a hot dog was excessive. Wembley Stadium would have been a better venue for London if the light evenings didn’t spoil the effects.

I look forward to buying the DVD so I can better appraise it and not from a seat that spoilt my appreciation.

YOUR HELP NEEDED! We want to cover Roger's concerts the best we can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. We'd love to see ANY pictures, tickets scans, reviews, newspaper reports, and anything else you come across for this show - we look forward to hearing from you!