Rogers Political stance

[henno]

i know theres some slightly similar threads out there, but i just want to say the following....

after reading many of the reviews of rogers current American tour, and seeing pictures of the shows... i must say how much i admire the man for sticking to his politics... especially in a very undemocratic climate in the US at the moment......

he is receiving boos in many concerts during the animated 'leaving Beirut' sequence, his 'impeach bush' on a pigs arse is genius and apt.....

he has recieved critisims about being antisemetic (unduly IMHO), he has campaigned for the War on Want charity trying to bring dialogue between the isralie and palestinian postions........

its good to see someone stick to their politics, the only other rock star id compare him to in this field is Joe Strummer... (and maybe Billy Bragg)....

just to say 'good on ya Roge!'

[Parish]

20 years ago...

"There were Arab's with knives at the foot of the bed, right at the foot of the bed"


and there still there...


"Mother should I run for president?"

Yes...

[Sonic Destruction]

Yeah, I sort of admire him for sticking to his guns, even though I don't agree with everything he sings/says. I doubt I would have had the guts to run through "Leaving Beirut" in the States, right on the 5th anniversary of 9/11.

Is he playing in Texas on this tour?

[Groovybass77]

I honor Roger for playing Leaving Beruit on his US tour...especially during an election year. Id love to hear the audio of his show when he plays the song in Texas !

[Sonic Destruction]

It would be good if he did one of his classic rants from the stage. Remember that live version of "The Gunner's Dream"? If he gets that upset about people whistling, I wanna hear him rip into people who are actually booing. Still, perhaps he should be admired for showing dignified restraint. Then again ..... Nah! I wanna here some flickering fireworks!!

[Parish]

Roger was all class when I saw him. there were a few meatheads in the crowd but not enough to drown out the thunderous cheers at his politics.

Blind faith ideology unfortunately, is universal...

[nemesis11f]

Whistling, I've never heard that one.....

Tell me more.....

[b.king]

i was at roger's first show here in the states (9/6). I thought Leaving Beirut was a pretty good song, even a lot better than most of his newer work. I thought the lyrics were clever. However trying to draw a connection between his experience from 40 years ago and the current state that the middle east is in seems pretty naive. (Now don't get me wrong. I know i live in the US and yada yada yada. I actually cheered after the song. It was booed pretty loudly though. I mean we were less than 20 miles from Ground Zero 5 years after that horrible day. in monmouth county home to hundreds of people who lost their lives on 9/11.) Overall great concert. not a huge fan of david kilminster. he kinda butchered a couple songs. roger was great. very open with the audience.

[Sonic Destruction]

[quote="nemesis11f"]Whistling, I've never heard that one.....

Tell me more.....[/quote]

On Roger's Pros and Cons tour, he is busy singing "The Gunner's Dream" to background audience noise of yells, screams and whistles; you know the kind of things you normally get a concerts. About one verse in he suddenly tells the audience "You know it's not easy to sing up here when you're whistling", and then a verse or two later he yells out, "Oh for f*ck's sake, stop whistling", or words to that effect. This is 24th July 1984 in Philadelphia, and can be heard on the "alternative" best-of compilation "Rarities Volume One" (aka "Mr Obvious"). That comp also has some other career "highlights" including the nightmare power cut version of "The Thin Ice" from Berlin 1990.

[cymbaline212]

when i saw him, when he said something about bush during leaving beirut along the lines of "that texas education must have fucked you up" every1 cheered so i doubt he will be hearing any cheers if he visits texas

[Sonic Destruction]

Yeah, that is the line I was thinking of.

[moodyblue]

he is receiving boos in many concerts during the animated 'leaving Beirut' sequence, his 'impeach bush' on a pigs arse is genius and apt.....

Just goes to show how ignorant and unworldlywise some Americans really are.
The people that boo deserve no less than a good kick up the backside as i feel they do it out of sheer stupidity.
People should have the brain capacity to open up their minds, put their judgemental feelings aside and think about it otherwise he might end up spitting at the mindless twits that bother to make weird noises during that song.

[Sonic Destruction]

As someone reminded me on another thread, I guess the people who booed were just exercising their own freedom of expression (as well as spoiling the concert for those who were trying to listen to the music).

[Groovybass77]

People who boo are expressing their freedom of expression, however ruining Roger's freedom of expression within the song. stupid booing people.

[b.king]

"Just goes to show how ignorant and unworldlywise some English really are."
This is a f**ked up world and these are f**ked up times. There were no boos until the end of the song, the proper time for crowd reaction. Unfortunately, about 50% of this country still thinks bush is doing a decent job.
So being that they paid at least $100 for the ticket, and i would also say that probably everybody in that arena lost someone close in 9/11, they have earned the right to boo a single song.
It's our right in this country to voice our political beliefs, whether you like it or not. I think it's healthy for roger to sing political songs. I think it's healthy to boo political songs you disagree with. You see, that's what freedom is. Do you realize that you can be killed for voicing your own political beliefs in most of the world.