England's Battersea Power Station on the video screen, with actual smoke stacks rising above the screen and the pig hanging from the rafters.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sal Cirrincione - Premiere Networks
Roger Waters starts his Us and Them tour Friday in Kansas City, Missouri in support of his new album, Is This the World We Really Want?, which he releases on June 2nd.
Last night, he asked a couple of thousand people -- family, friends, members of the media and contest winners -- if this is the tour they really want as he did an open rehearsal at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey where he's been getting the tour ready for the past month.
Combining elements of his last two tours -- The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall -- plus last October's shows in Mexico and at Desert Trip, the show leans heavily on visuals as the screen behind the stage extends from the seats on stage left to the seats on stage right. And, taking a page out of U2's Innocence + Experience tour, a video screen descended from the rafters and divided the arena.
Like his two shows at Desert Trip, the video presentation during the second half of the show dealt with the current state of the world -- war, climate change, civil unrest, Donald Trump and the Middle East. And the pig, with Trump's face on the side with the words "Machine of War," did a lap around the arena.
In terms of the set list, the two-and-a-half hour show concentrated on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall, with four songs off of Is This the World We Really Want?, but none from his previous three solo albums.
At the end of the night, Waters thanked everybody for coming and said word of this tour will spread by friends telling their friends and family telling family members. He added that hopefully the message will be spread over walls that "some a**hole is building."
Roger Waters Us + Them dress rehearsal at list - Sunday, May 21st, Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey:
- SPEAK TO ME/BREATHE
- ONE OF THESE DAYS
- TIME
- BREATHE REPRISE
- THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY
- WELCOME TO THE MACHINE
- DÉJÀ VU
- LAST REFUGEE
- PICTURE THAT
- WISH YOU WERE HERE
- HAPPIEST DAYS, BRICK, PT. 2
INTERMISSION
- DOGS
- PIGS (Three Different Ones)
- MONEY
- US AND THEM
- SMELL THE ROSES
- BRAIN DAMAGE
- ECLIPSE
- VERA/BRING THE BOYS BACK HOME
- COMFORTABLY NUMB
Source: roger-waters.com and Premiere photo credit - Sal Cirrincione, Premiere