Roger Waters and Pink Floyd

In 1965, Roger Waters was one of the founding members of the band Pink Floyd. The first members were Syd Barrett who sang and played guitar and also Richard Wright and Nick Mason. But, things don't go so well at first, especially with Barrett. Although Barrett wrote most of Pink Floyd's early songs leading up to 1968, including their first album Piper at the Gates of Dawn. He soon departed the band in 1968 and left Waters as the main contributor along with the new guitarist and singer, David Gilmour. And soon after the band exploded onto the music scene with Roger Waters at the helm. Pink Floyd created some of the best themed and musically charged albums ever including Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Waters led Pink Floyd and wrote the hits "Money" and "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2" as well as wrote solo or co wrote with Gilmour and other bands members about 70 percent of Pink Floyd's records. But, Waters had many disagreements with the band along the way, firing Rick Wright. Wright was the bands keyboard/organist and one of the founding members of the group! And in 1983, Pink Floyd made its last album together called "The Final Cut". And many critics and Pink Floyd fans realized that the new album wasn't a group effort but more of a Roger Waters album that the band kind of went along with just to release it as Pink Floyd. This coupled with other bickering and artistic differences with the band led to their eventual breakup in 1985. And unfortunately soon after Gilmour and Waters went to court over the name Pink Floyd. And even though Waters claimed he wrote most of Pink Floyd's material, Gilmour and Mason won the name and a lot of the band's tunes. Waters obtained the rights to "The Wall" and all of its songs except for the three Gilmour co- wrote, the album The Final Cut, and to the Pink Floyd pigs.

Roger Waters solo career

Waters created three albums after his departure from Pink Floyd. His first "The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking", which actually was started while the band was still together, and contained dream like songs and stories like other Pink Floyd albums. The album wasn't as successful as other Floyd albums but still won over critics and kept Waters in the spotlight with admirers. His next album, Radio K.A.O.S., was about a boy who could hear radio waves in his head and was also a concept album. Waters then went on his first solo tour in 1987 which wasn't that successful because Gilmour and company as the revamped Pink Floyd also released an album called A Momentary Lapse of Reason. After the separation between East and West Germany in 1989, Waters staged a gigantic charity concert of The Wall in on July 21, 1990. The concert which celebrated the wall coming down featured The Band, The Scorpions, Ute Lemper, Thomas Dolby, Sinead O'Connor, Joni Mitchel, James Galway, Bryan Adams, Jerry Hall, Van Morrison, Marianne Faithfull, Albert Finney as well as of course Waters and was a monumental success. In 1992, Waters released "Amused to Death", which strikes a chord even today about the violent nature or television. After a long hiatus, Waters toured in 1999 performing both solo and Pink Floyd material. The In the Flesh tour as it was called was a huge success selling out arenas and stadiums everywhere in North America. Waters continued touring for over 3 years and released one of his concerts on DVD. After playing several festivals during 2001 and 2002, in 2004 Waters released two brand new songs , "To Kill The Child" & "Leaving Beirut". featuring anti-war sentiment over the war in Iraq. But things got really interesting in 2005 when Waters reunited with other Pink Floyd members, including David Gilmour for a performance at the Live 8 concert in London, England. Floyd, played a four-song, 23-minute set which was electrically charged and possibly the best set at Live 8. Although they were able to perform together, Pink Floyd members did not agree on any sort of reunion tour, with Gilmour even jokingly saying the meeting was like one with an ex-wife. This is also evident as Gilmour is just finishing up a theatre tour of his own, as Waters will be touring solo also. The tour will include Pink Floyd favorites as well as a complete rendition of "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Waters. ABC tickets will have great Roger Waters concert tickets for the tour, here are the Roger Waters tour dates below:

Roger Waters concert schedule

Fri 06/02/06 Lisbon, POR World Stage - Bela Vista Park
Sun 06/04/06 Verona, ITA Arena Di Verona
Mon 06/05/06 Verona, ITA Arena Di Verona
Thu 06/08/06 Berlin, GER Wuhlheide
appearing with "Arrow Rock Festival"
Sat 06/10/06 Lichtenvoorde, NET Arrow Rock Festival
Mon 06/12/06 Reykjavik, ICE Egils Hollin
Wed 06/14/06 Oslo, NOR Norwegian Wood Fest.
Fri 06/16/06 Rome, ITA Olimpico Stadium
Sun 06/18/06 Athens, GRE Terra Vibe
Thu 06/22/06 Neveh Shalom, ISR TBA
Mon 06/26/06 Stavanger, NOR NYE Viking Stadium
Thu 06/29/06 Cork, IRE Marquee Festival

Roger Waters appearing with "Hyde Park Calling"
Sat 07/01/06 London, UK Hyde Park

Sun 07/02/06 Roskilde, DEN Roskilde Festival
Wed 07/12/06 Lucca, ITA Piazza Napoleone
Fri 07/14/06 Magny-Cours, FRA Grand Prix Centenary
Wed 09/06/06 Holmdel, NJ P.N.C. Bank Arts Center
Fri 09/08/06 Mansfield, MA Tweeter Center
Tue 09/12/06 Roger Waters New York tickets, NY Madison Square Garden
Wed 09/13/06 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Fri 09/15/06 Wantagh, NY Nikon @ Jones Beach Theatre.
Sat 09/16/06 Camden, NJ Roger Waters in Philadelphia at The Tweeter Center At The Waterfront
Mon 09/18/06 Auburn Hills, MI Palace Of Auburn Hills
Wed 09/20/06 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
Thu 09/21/06 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Sat 09/23/06 Bristow, VA Nissan Pavilion
Sun 09/24/06 Burgettstown, PA Post-Gazette Pavilion @Star Lake
Wed 09/27/06 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
Fri 09/29/06 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Sat 09/30/06 Noblesville, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center
Tue 10/03/06 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Pavilion
Thu 10/05/06 Roger Waters in Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl
Sun 10/08/06 Las Vegas, NV Theatre Under The Stars @ Hard Rock
Tue 10/10/06 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
Thu 10/12/06 Seattle, WA KeyArena at Seattle Center