Roger Waters Live in Manchester 2023 Review and Photos

by Keith J · June 11, 2023

The Roger Waters concert in Manchester last night was the last UK concert date and the band will have a much earned rest until November 2023 where they kick off the This Is Not A Drill Tour again.

It was a hot night in many ways. There was a lot of politics in the show with Roger telling people who had a problem with that to F**k off to the bar! The band were on absolute top form and sounded amazing playing to an amazing audience. A fiery Roger gave a fantastic performance especially considering he is only 4 years younger that Bob Dylan at 79, but his brother John Waters was only 2 years younger when he sadly passed away last year. The the temperature of the venue was absolutely boiling, which Roger mentioned himself. How he could stand there, leather clad from head to toe, under such hot conditions, is beyond belief!

Spectacular Stage

The audience divided physically in the early part of the show

The stage concept literally splits audiences! The start of the show had the who audience divided up into quarters where nobody could see all of the picture. The centre of the stage was then lifted to reveal all of the band, playing in the round, with band members playing at closer quarters that would normally be the case to the audience. Roger being able to walk around the stage meant every seat in the house was a decent one, and there was no dead capacity lost behind and to the sides of the stage.

The animations that were to accompany the performance was crystal clear on the screens and was a sight to behold in itself. Fantastic immersive use of technology to thrill all of the senses.

Loop the loops

Watching the inflatable Sheep and Pig being piloted around the arena by remote control was fantastic. Roger even had the Sheep doing roll overs to his command. Very amusing and poetic.

Here is a video of the Sheep making its way across the arena to be controlled by Roger making it roll over.

I’m a King Bee!

Mid show a bee decided to land on Roger’s hand! Roger, being the professional he is, continued and made a joke about it before blowing it away gently then continuing the show. A king bee to be sure!

Musicianship

Jon Carin, Roger Waters, Amanda Belair, Shanay Johnson

The band sounded very well rehearsed and the playing was world class of course. David Kilminster was ripping away at this guitar solos, Gus Seyffert brought driving prog bass with the precision of Joey Waronker drumming in the rhythm section, Robert Walter’s keyboard punctuated and coloured by Jon Carin’s beautiful sounding synths, layered up with a gravelly older man’s voice from Roger Waters with the glorious sounds from the backing singers Shanay Johnson and Amanda Belair, with extra guitar greatness from Jonathan Wilson and the beautiful sound of Seamus Blake’s saxophone. A glorious and very well produced sound was enjoyed.

Politics

There was a lot of politics in the show. It is part of Roger’s character, family history and that is what he chooses to bring to his show. It can be very decisive and I heard a lot of people around me talking about the politics in not a positive way. There were some pretty long political speeches in the show and that is what Roger is passionate about.

All in all a fantastic show on a glorious hot day in Manchester. Thank you Roger and all of the band and production crew. Good job.