OP-ED: Why I didn’t attend the Roger Waters concert
By ALAN SMASON
During my college years there was probably no bigger fan of Pink Floyd than me. I was a longtime devotee of their particular mix of electronic sounds coupled with traditional rock trappings which elevated their unique music with ingrained political and social commentary to an almost indescribable state of pure nirvana. Clearly, they spoke to me with albums like “The Dark Side of the Moon,” “Wish You Were Here,” “The Wall” and “Animals.”
Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” as depicted by artist Nesta592 (via Wikimedia).
The British rock band consisted of founding father Syd Barrett, keyboardist Rick Wright, drummer Nick Mason, lead guitarist David Gilmour and bassist and guitarist Roger Waters. The popularity and success of the group led to many divisions and departures. Wright left the lineup first in 1979, followed by Waters in 1985. Wright later came back to record with and tour with Mason and Gilmour, who had successfully retained the name of Pink Floyd over the protestations and legal maneuvering of Waters’ counsel.
Of the original five members of Pink Floyd, two – Barrett and Wright – died in 2006 and 2008, respectively. The last time Waters, Gilmour and Mason performed together as Pink Floyd was in 2005 at a special concert. Their bitter acrimony persists to this day as Gilmour and Mason have ceased touring, releasing the last so-called Pink Floyd album, “The Endless River,” in 2014.
Waters, on the other hand has been chomping at the bit to reconnect his name with that of the legendary band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 21 years ago. Were Waters satisfied purely to play the music he had helped create decades ago, I might have been less introspective about attending one of his concerts.
But Waters has elected in recent years to become a lighting rod of controversy. He has become the voice, if not the face, of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in England and a tireless critic of any artistic endeavor that lands inside the land of Israel. Waters has sent emails and posted diatribes against any musical acts – from Radiohead to the Rolling Stones and to Stevie Wonder – who have not only agreed to perform in Israel, but also in Wonder’s case to perform at a Los Angeles fundraising concert for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. (Wonder pulled out of that concert in response to the outcry from Waters and other BDS supporters.)
He has used his bully pulpit to find every excuse imaginable to tear down the Israeli government, but has yet to issue his first screed against the terrorist group Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, or to decry the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) for its part in continuing the status quo of not attempting to seriously sue for peace in the area. By continuing to advance payments to the survivors of terrorists, for example, P.A.. leader Mahmoud Abbas sends a clear message to the Israeli government that it prefers to reward acts of terrorism rather than reign them in.
Waters wheeled into the Smoothie King Arena this past Saturday night with his “us + them” tour, a reference to one of the more well-known songs from “The Dark Side of the Moon.” He regaled attendees with older selections from his Pink Floyd days as well as a number of new works from his most recent solo release.
As much as I am a fan of his earlier work, I could not cross the line of forgetting that Waters and his fellow BDS movement cronies are playing into the hands of the Palestinian terrorists by attempting to delegitimize the State of Israel and to sponsor an all-out artistic boycott there.
The schism between the Israeli and Palestinian people will not be ameliorated until reactionary rhetoric from outsiders like Waters is diminished and the leaders are allowed by their own rank and file members to petition for lasting peace.
Fanning the flames of discord and blaming the Palestinian crisis on Israel alone simply ignores the bitter lessons of history. Israel may not be innocent in all of the Jewish States’s doings, but attempting to portray the Gazans as innocents, for example, is singing a song of pure fiction and one that I won’t listen to.
I prefer my Pink Floyd music unfettered by political propaganda that denigrates Israel and promotes the cultural agenda of terrorists. I say yes to rock music and no to rockets.
That’s why it wasn’t “me + them” at Water’s concert on Saturday night. For those who elected to go or those elsewhere along the tour thinking about buying tickets, they should know what they are supporting, even tacitly, by attending.
(Alan Smason is the editor of the online Crescent City Jewish News and the founder of Theatrecriticism.com)
