Roger Waters' total show at Circus Maximus: music, images and politics – Music – Shows

With a splendid show at the Circus Maximus, in front of tens of thousands of spectators who invaded the archeological zone of the center of Rome, Roger Waters concludes, triumphantly, the summer tour of "Nous + them ". A concert? Also a concert, but especially a work of contemporary art, a multimedia show that focuses not only on music but on words and images, a performance that aims at the sensory involvement of the public, and which mixes wonder and thought

The wonder is linked to a gigantic, huge, infinite screen that dominates the stage and that does not just amplify the images of musicians, but enriches each song with creative ideas, colors, photographs and films, which develop very well the meaning of the songs themselves and firmly hold the main theme of the show, "Us + Them", us and them. We start with the pictures twenty minutes before the concert, there is the sound of the sea, the screams of the seagulls, and a woman sitting on the beach waiting. Then we start with "Breathe", from "Dark Side of the Moon", followed by "One of these days" from "Meddle", then we go back to "Dark Side" with "Time" and "The big concert in the sky ".

This is a magnificent debut, the audience is ecstatic and everything is already perfect: the sound, first of all, its impeccable sound that allowed a listening, quadraphonic, excellent in almost all the music. concert space; and images, which flow and mix on the giant screen, images that constitute a separate show, for those who are far from the stage and can not see the group well, but who become the center of the group. pay attention even for those under the scene and wants to follow the story by watching the projections on 66 meters by 12 of the screen. So we talk about war, immigration, violence, money and greed, we talk about our world, how it is and how we want it, mixing sounds and visions, texts and colors : Waters wanted to do long and a rich artistic installation, limitless and limitless because she's not locked in a gallery, and that takes shape every night under the eyes of an audience that does not Is not meant to be solely made up of "onlookers", but that is an integral part of the show itself, C & rsquo; is the heart of the show

"We and they", c-is to say the artists and the audience, separated by a big scene, but united in one breath, in the quadraphonic sound that fills the whole area of ​​the Circus Maximus. "We and them", or thousands of heads, eyes and hearts, that Waters wants to bring into harmony with his art, made of thoughts and words. No, this is not a rockstar the old Waters, he does not want to be, he did not want to be with Pink Floyd and unsurprisingly the huge screen that dominates the stage makes the musicians of small, simple elements d & rsquo; A much bigger and more complex set. No band moves with the usual stage gestures, they are all very firm, concentrated on the music, even the two singers, the curious Lucius, who have white wigs and black sequined dresses, limit their movements to a minimum. You only move water, and not even much, from one side of the stage to the other, to give satisfaction to the people in the side areas of the audience. Everything here, nothing more, because despite all the protagonist is not him, but his works.

Yes, Waters does not believe that music is only an entertainment, he wants those who follow the show to come out with more suggestion, with the desire to discover, to be sure. to inquire, to participate. He says it clearly: "If you do not take a stand, if you do not choose to oppose, to play politics, to participate, you will let those who govern us destroy this planet". It tells with the songs, with "Welcome to the machine", with the songs taken from its last album, "Is it the life that you really want", like "Déjà vu", "The Last Refugee" and "Picture that" ", before going back to Pink Floyd and aligning the legendary" Wish you were here "then a sequence dedicated to" The wall "with" The most beautiful days of our lives "and an overwhelming" Another brick in the wall ", enriched with the presence on stage of a dozen very young Romans, co-opted in the afternoons, who compose a simple choreography but mostly wear a T-shirt with the words" Resist ". The concert is interrupted for twenty minutes, but the show, or rather the complaints, do not stop: on the screen we still talk about politics, we remember the global pollution and we ask the reader to do his part; we are talking about the renaissance of fascism in the world and we are asking the lawyer to do his part.

The policies of Trump, Putin, Israel in the occupied territories and against the Arab populations are denounced "which are treated differently ethnic and religious reasons" and the reader is invited to do his part. Here, "resist", such is the theme of the second part of the show, which opens with another wonder, the appearance of the chimneys of the Battersea Power Station, which takes shape before our eyes, with a pink flying pig, to allow Waters and the band to play the songs of "Animals", or "Dogs" and "Pigs". The political discourse becomes stronger and more obvious, the call to resist more insistent, the demand for opposition to war, violence, power, more urgent. On the screen appear images of owners, from Putin to Trump, from Theresa May to Macron, from Angela Merkel to Erdogan, also through Berlusconi, on the head of the people steal a giant pig on the side a written in Italian, "We remain human". But it is for Trump that Waters reserves the strongest complaints, first by making some of his exemplary sentences in video, then pulling on the sixty-six meters of the screen a single inscription: "Trump is a pig". And then, soon after, "Money" and his complaint of greed and then with "We and them" and his request for empathy, to recognize us in others. That of Waters is a contemporary art work in concert form, but it is also probably the show having the highest social and political engagement rate that rock has experienced in recent years. It's rock, uncompromising, uncompromising, that music that, as Waters always claims, can change minds.

There is no "entertainment", in short, the audience must be attentive, follow, not get lost, even if he appreciates the wonderful music. After "Smell the roses" we arrive at the grand finale, always "Dark side", with "Brain damage" and Eclipse "and another wonder, which is the prism of the disc cover, reconstructed with laser beams in the middle of the stalls, which are crossed by beams of light of all colors.This seems finished, but it is not the case: Waters returns to the scene, speaks at length, presents the group, remembers that Rome is the last stage of the tour, thank you technicians, the team, the public, "we receive your affection", and then again talk about politics: "Yesterday I looked at my Facebook page where there was obviously the l & # 39; 39; announcement of the concert tonight, and a jerk had written in the comments, 'We hope you think of music and you do not talk about politics'. But bad you! ", Says Waters, and still talks about Israel and Palestine, he always asks the public to resist and" stay human. "Then," The Wall, "the beautiful" Mother, "then an overwhelming version and memorable of "Comfortably Numb", which further highlights the wonderful qualities of a perfect band, that his strength in the extraordinary Johnatan Wilson, who takes the place of Gilmour in the sung parts, and still very good Dave Kilminster, who confidently replaces Gilmour in the guitar solos and just in "Comfortably Numb" takes some final satisfaction.The play ends, the fireworks begin and the concert ends.A triumph for Waters, an extraordinary demonstration of how art, politics, image and music can be merged to create something unique and wonderful. And in the end, the latest images on the Screen, are those of a child, who reaches the f emme who, at first, was waiting on the beach. A sign of hope.