Roger Waters - This is not a Drill - Prague - In the Cinema 25th May 2023

Usually if Roger Waters was to go on tour I'd go to at least 2 shows. This time however I decided not to. Mostly because the sheer cost of hotels and travel is through the roof at the moment, never mind the ticket. 

Secondly I didn't enjoy the 'Us and Them' show that much. After the sheer perfection of touring The Wall how can you top that ? well you simply can't. Also I found some of his band very lacklustre specifically the drummer who was nowhere in the same ball park as the outstanding Graham Broad (whom I spotted in the audience of the Hyde Park gig a few years ago).

Now its not the first time on Seeing a Roger Waters show in the cinema but it was the first time seeing a 'Live' show. I say 'Live' but there is some kind of recording as its being shown at 8pm and as Prague is 1 hour ahead of the UK then there will have been an element of time delay. 

The show started with the new arrangement of Comfortably Numb. and straight away something felt wrong, the sound balance was iffy to say the least, the sound effects were VERY loud but the music was so quiet. This is a theme that ran through the whole concert.

Because the concert was suppose to be in surround it almost felt that some of the audio streams were missing. All the way through the sound was miss balanced with the pre recorded elements way louder than anything else. 

Pre-Recorded there is a lot not just sound effects to go with the visuals but as wee all know Roger has 'help' with his vocals. I am pretty sure all of Comfortably Numb for example was pre recorded. And this cinema experience to the experienced ear you can tell what is live and what isn't. 

If we take out all of the technical issues you have a concert that I really wasn't expecting. 

The concert was very much in 'sections' the first was all from the Wall and given the new arrangement of Comfortably Numb it then goes into a Rock and roll Segway of Another Brick in the wall with Happiest Days of our lives to Kick it off. 

Then one of my favourite of rogers songs The powers that Be, a new arrangement giving a more 'Singer Songwriter' feel to it rather than full on bombastic rock and roll like it was in 1987, The Radio KAOS tour is largely forgotten but the Bootlegs of the last 2 shows both at Wembley Arena are just outstanding. 

This goes into another re arrangement of 'The Bravery of being out of range' again this was stunning as well. 

There is a new piece called 'The Bar' and Roger plays 2 Sections of this new suite tonight. These are 2 of the highlights, I really Love Rogers Round the Piano moments as like Mr Dylan. A lot of this feels like its a continuation of Rogers Lockdown session's These were done very well indeed and provide a basis of much of tonight set. 

then we get a condensed version of the Wish you were here album with tracks going into each other before finishing with Sheep just like Roger did in 2006/8.

Back at 'The Bar'

This was a really strong first half. 20 minutes later, and oh How I wish there was a break in all film at the cinema! 

A bit more wall, Sadly the sound was really mushed up for In the Flesh 2 and Run like hell such as shame as RLH was one of the key moments in the wall show for me. 

Roger then stops the show to make a statement about recent press reports In a nutshell some reporters do not understand the show. Accusing Roger of being Anti Semitic something we all know he is not in any way, shape or form.

We then get 2 lovely arraignments of songs from the last album Deja Vi with a great solo from DK that wasn't on the album. The main portion of the Show then ends with Side 2 of Dark Side of the Moon, Again some of this has been re arranged, the ending Eclipse is much longer and really was outstanding. 



For the Encore Roger makes another small speech before a very emotional performance of Two Suns in the Sunset. Then its back round the piano for another bit of the Bar that segues to Outside the Wall as the band do a lap of honour round the stage and finish the set under the stage. 

Now another thing that put me off this tour was the whole 'Live in the Round' And I don't think Id like to see it live in this format unless I was right at the front, But, on Film it works brilliantly. 

And while we are on the subject, I felt the directing and camera work were really well done, they held on to the shots rather than the usual 'fashion' of cut, cut, cut. 

Also with the band, as mentioned the Drums were week not helped by the poor sound mix, but Dave and Jon were superb as ever Jon's solo on Any Colour you like was just great. and the 2 new Backing Singers were also a highlight. 

So yea, I really enjoyed it, if a properly mixed Blu Ray is released, and it probably will be. I'd buy it for sure.