MBR_ISSUE 43_LOWRES

MALTA
BUSINESS REVIEW
EDITORIAL
Malta Business Review
There was a flying pig bearing the words: “Stay human
or die”. There were slogans reading “Pigs rule the world”
and “Trump is a pig”. At that moment, I thought that this
sounded so close to home. It was stirring and hopeful...
Roger Waters on stage at the Circus Maximus in Rime on
14th July- I happened to be there by chance!
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Carol; Laurens Cerulus; Janosch Delcker; Jean
Paul Demajo; Jaume Duch Guillot; Mike
Kaeding; Toan Nguyen; Jaan Soone; Tunku
Varadarajan; Nic van den Bergh.
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Francis Group.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state"
-Euripides, Orestes
Anyone who thinks pop and politics should not mix ought
to steer clear of Roger Waters’ Us + Them tour, one man’s
attempt to put the world to rights delivered as a giant
spectacle. There were surveillance satellites and rendition
aeroplanes. During a thrillingly tumultuous Another
Brick in the Wall, a multiracial group of local schoolchildren dressed as students sang:
“We don’t need no thought control.” The message of all this – which is written on the
schoolchildren’s T-shirts and on confetti that showers over the audience during a superbly
reflective Comfortably Numb – is “resist”. “Resist what or who?” reads a query on screen
during the interval, to which the answers come in a blitzkrieg: “Neo-fascism”, “pollution”,
“profits from war”, “Mark Zuckerberg”, corruption and other such bugaboos.
In fairness, Waters has been writing lyrics about authoritarianism, war, death, power
and such for decades, but the Pink Floyd co-founder can probably scarcely believe
how prescient those songs now are. Breathe’s “don’t be afraid to care” lyric sounds like
a manifesto. Time’s ticking clocks perfectly capture the current creeping dread, as we
sleepwalk towards an unknowable future, because “hanging on in quiet desperation
is the English way”. The mammoth set-list spans five Pink Floyd albums – Meddle, The
Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall – from 1971-79,
but the mostly retrospective show feels alive and relevant, with impeccable sound: a
quadrophonic system means the cackle in Brain Damage suddenly emits from the other
side of the arena. But Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig (from indie outfit Lucius) more than
manage The Great Gig in the Sky’s tonsil-troubling wailing, and the musicians recreate
and reimagine Waters’ old band’s sound impeccably. It’s not all Floyd, though. The Last
Refugee – one of four recent solo songs – sounds eerily moving with the breaking news
report of more than 500 migrant shuttling on a boat in desperation in the Mediterranean.
Although Waters’ politics undoubtedly have refuseniks, issues close to his heart are mostly
encouragingly received, although the massed cheering that suddenly spreads round the
arena during the Orwellian, Trump-ridiculing Pigs (Three Different Ones) is for news
of England’s penalty shootout success, not the revolution. Other ovations come thick
and fast for the mock-up of Battersea power station (the cover star of 1977’s Animals)
across the stage, or the gigantic, laser-powered Dark Side of the Moon prism replete with
lasers. For all such stunning visuals, the focus never quite drifts from the music. Eclipse is
wonderfully weightless. Money chugs timelessly on its groove of cash tills. Us and Them
– illustrated by Black Lives Matter protests and riot police – is heartbreakingly beautiful.
Waters doesn’t speak much during the performance but ends it with a stirring, hopeful
speech asking people to “rise up” for human rights. Here, the rugged 74-year-old grins,
air-punches and even seems to wipe a tear from his eye at the audience reception. If it
weren’t for all those audio visual runes of oncoming war and apocalypse, you would think
he was having the time of his life.
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Roger Waters review is raging at the dark side of the Earth, against corruption at the top
echelons of powers that are. The former Pink Floyd bandleader is full of air-punching
vigour as his Us +Them tour makes a stand for ethical resistance, and as the grand finale
comes to a spectacular fireworks ending, I echo the saying that, “The greatest sin of all
is to stand by silent and indifferent”– true of any act of oppression or any predicament
human beings find themselves in the world irrespective of their religion or nationality.
Martin Vella
Editor-in-Chief
Malta Business Review’s editorial opinions are decided by its Editor, and besides reflecting the Editor’s
opinion, are written to represent a fair and impartial representation of facts, events and provide a correct
analysis of local and international news.
Agents for:
www.maltabusinessreview.net
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