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 started on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6th at 10am (local time), 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-nine of the 2023 This Is Not A Drill tour for Roger Waters, his band, and crew, who are back in London for the second 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.

Two days off now (albeit travelling, as well as breaking down this show, and setting up the next) before the final show - for now - being held at the AO Arena.

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 video:

The second of the brace of Roger Waters gigs at London's O2 Arena, in Greenwich, saw the Free Julian Assange protestors outside the main entrance who were there before the first night, joined on the opposite side of the entrance by some pro-Israeli protestors (who later tried to protest during the show, but were quickly ejected).

As we mentioned in our review of the previous night's show, the venue is a perfect shape for Roger's latest staging - in effect, a cross made up of large screens, hanging from roof trusses and raising after the first song to reveal the band (although this aspect does depend on where you are sat). 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.

At one point, fairly early on, Roger commented that it was weird thinking that "this is probably the last arena gig I'll do in London". Publicity for the This Is Not A Drill tour notes that it is his "first farewell tour" but clearly he is thinking that it's his ONLY farewell tour.

In the run-up to The Bar, Roger made reference to the lengthy "rant" he had the previous night - 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). He made it clear that he wasn't going to repeat that, and kept his preamble to The Bar incredibly brief. He did, however, fall to the temptation that he said others (presumably his tour management) had told him not to, and after The Dark Side Of The Moon segment, before the "encores", he made various comments about Polly Samson with a fair amount of glee. As with the Wakefield comments the previous night, there were mixed feelings in the audience with his words about Samson, referring to her at one point as "that".

Other than that, Roger's show - the second of the brace at the O2 Arena - 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 show in London. Just one more show to go before the (final?) Waters concerts, which are in South America.

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!