Those in attendance at Desert Trip may have missed last night’s presidential debate, but Donald J. Trump’s ominous presence was felt throughout Waters’ headlining set. As he performed “Pigs”, the Pink Floyd member flashed several anti-Trump images. One depicted Trump making a Nazi salute, another had him wearing a KKK hood. There was also an image of the Republican presidential candidate holding a dildo as a rifle and one in which he was was butt naked with his micro-penis in full view. When Waters sang, “ha ha, charade you are,” the word “Charade” appeared overtop Trump’s face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHznNjpMTXo
A number of Trump’s own racist, bigoted, or factually inaccurate messages were also displayed on the video screens, and during his performance of “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2″, Waters brought out a choir of children wearing t-shirts that said “tear down the wall” in Spanish.
Even Pink Floyd’s iconic inflatable pig was repurposed to mock Trump with a message reading, “Fuck Trump and fuck his wall.”
“It’s rare that someone like me gets a platform like this, and I’m going to use it,” declared Roger Waters to thousands gathered in Indio, California, for the final night of Desert Trip’s opening weekend on Sunday. He was the last of the six major acts to perform, all of whom date back to the 1960s and the era of rebellion songs. Before the night was over, he made vivid connections between his work with Pink Floyd and the political crises of the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNXnN4dNncw
So there was a truck-sized inflatable pig floating above the crowd during the song “Pigs,” with a map of the U.S. painted on one side with the words: “Together we stand, divided we fall.” On the other side was the face of Donald Trump and the words “ignorant,” “lying,” “racist,” “sexist” and “Fuck Trump and his wall.”
Waters was more aggressive in messaging as he weaved politics as an essential element of his performance of Pink Floyd classics. He read a poem of rage and protest called “Why Cannot the Good Prevail” that he wrote on the eve of George W. Bush’s second term and expressed ongoing support for Palestinians in the multi-decade conflict with Israel.
But the music of Waters did not become overtly political until late in his career, beginning with his final album with Pink Floyd, 1983’s The Final Cut. Before that, his concerns were largely with madness and the dehumanizing of the personal. Sunday’s set eased into focus with classic Floyd imagery, with a vast moonscape on the stage’s super-wide screen, as familiar sound effects from Pink Floyd recordings slowly emerged from the venue’s various speaker towers, like something on an old quad stereo from the Sixties or Seventies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cL7qMP3cTQ
The music began with “Speak to Me” and “Breathe,” the opening songs from 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon, which remains one of the best-selling albums in history. From the same album was “Time,” lush and forward looking but classically melodic amid the dark messages: “Short of breath … one day closer to death.”
From The Wall, Waters strummed an acoustic guitar and sang “Mother,” with the words “Mother should I run for president?” drawing cheers from fans, then a bigger response for “Mother, should I trust the government?” The gifted singing duo Lucius were recruited as vocalists, and performed the the voice of “mother,” sweet, soulful and smothering.
Roger Waters
Set list
“Speak to Me”
“Breathe”
“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”
“One of These Days”
“Time”
“Breathe (Reprise)”
“The Great Gig in the Sky”
“Money”
“Us and Them:
“Fearless”
“You’ll Never Walk Alone”
“Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)”
“Welcome to the Machine”
“Have a Cigar”
“Wish You Were Here”
“Pigs on the Wing 1”
“Pigs on the Wing 2”
“Dogs”
“Pigs (Three Different Ones)”
“The Happiest Days of Our Lives”
“Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)”
“Mother”
“Brain Damage”
“Eclipse”
“Why Cannot the Good Prevail”
“Vera”
“Bring the Boys Back Home”
“Comfortably Numb”
The Fat Angel Sings 