Roger Waters served as musical guest on Tuesday’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where the founding Pink Floyd bassist/songwriter performed a trio of The Wall classics. The performance arrived as Waters gears up for the long-awaited This Is Not A Drill tour, set to begin on July 6th in Pittsburgh.
“My musical guest tonight is the founding member and creative force behind Pink Floyd,” Colbert said, reading a cue card that Waters himself may or may not have written himself. Roger’s performance consisted of the cohesive movement of “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” and “Another Brick In The Wall” parts two and three.
Even with the dense layers of instrumentation found on Waters’s 1979 epic rock opera, he is able to authentically replicate the sound with a relatively lean backing band. Roger played an electric guitar for the performance, backed up by another two guitar players—one of whom bears a striking resemblance to a young David Gilmour. The lineup featured on Colbert also included celebrated organist Robert Walter (Mike Gordon, The Greyboy All-Stars), who will tour with Waters for his This Is Not A Drill outing.
The performance went beyond the terrestrial rock staple that is “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” > “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2” by tacking on the third and final part of the movement, providing some closure following the iconic solo originated by Gilmour. Meanwhile, words and phrases flashed on the large LED screens behind the band, including “Good”, “Evil”, “Us”, “Them”, and more.
Watch Roger Waters perform “The Happiest Days of Our Lives”, and “Another Brick In The Wall” parts two and three on Colbert. For tickets and a full list of This Is Not A Drill tour dates visit his website.
Roger Waters – “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” > “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2” > “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 3”