Earlier this month, Pink Floyd icon Roger Waters brought his This Is Not A Drill tour to Toronto; after the performance he immediately took aim at local hometown heroes, The Weeknd and Drake. The Weeknd’s tour After Hours ‘Til Dawn was set to start on the same night, and it seems Waters took exception to the Canadian press deciding to cover The Weekend’s show and not his.
INCREDIBLE TWO NIGHTS IN TORONTO, THANK YOU! pic.twitter.com/qBoUNPywx6
— Roger Waters (@rogerwaters) July 10, 2022
“I have no idea what or who the Weekend is, because I don’t listen to much music,” he said. “People have told me he’s a big act. Well, good luck to him. I’ve got nothing against him. Would it not have been possible to review his show one night and my show another night?” He went on to say, “I’m not trying to make a personal attack. I’m just saying it seemed odd.” Not happy to leave it there, he turned his sights on the Weekend’s fellow countryman Drake, “By the way, with all due respect to the Weekend or Drake or any of them, I am far, far, far more important than any of them will ever be, however many billions of streams they’ve got,” Waters said. “There is stuff going on here that is fundamentally important to all of our lives.”
Waters initially announced the details for his This Is Not A Drill Tour in January 2020. due to COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns the tour was unfortunately postponed until this year. Waters said in a video announcement back in 2020, “As the clock ticks faster and faster and faster down to extinction, it seemed like a good thing to make a fuss about it, so that’s why I’m going on the road,” he said. “To be blunt, we need to change the way we organize ourselves as a human race or die. This tour will be part of a global movement by people who are concerned by others to affect the change that is necessary. That’s why we’re going on the road. That’s why this conversation should be on everybody’s lips, constantly, the whole time, because it’s super important. So I hope you’ll all come to the shows. This is not a drill.”
In a statement for the tour Waters elaborated more, “This Is Not A Drill is a ground-breaking new rock & roll/cinematic extravaganza, performed in the round. It is a stunning indictment of the corporate dystopia in which we all struggle to survive, and a call to action to love, protect, and share our precious and precarious planet home. The show includes a dozen great songs from Pink Floyd’s Golden Era alongside several new ones — words and music, same writer, same heart, same soul, same man. Could be his last hurrah. Wow! My first farewell tour! Don’t miss it. Love, R.”
Walters feels that His This is Not a Drill tour carries an urgent message but The Weeknd’s After Hours ‘Til Dawn tour is a career-spanning extravaganza that Rolling Stone says is worth the wait.
