Alter-reviews:
Roger Waters live at the Barclay Center
The Arcade Fire live at Madison Square Garden
Herb Alpert with Lani Hall at the Cafe Carlyle
Roger Waters played two nights of mostly Pink Floyd music at the Barclay’s Center this week. And since Roger is both a musical genius and a serious showman and Pink Floyd’s catalog is filled with gem after gem—all of which sound best live even without David Gilmour and Nick Mason etc—it could only be a great show. Pigs flew. Lights flashed. Local, multicultural-looking kids sang about not wanting any “education” wearing “Resist” T-shirts. Videos announced that “Trump was a Pig” and fists went up into the air and people cheered. I recently saw the “Pink Floyd” exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and here, on his own, Roger lived up to the band’s almost impossible legacy, visually as well as aurally.
Waters is one of the most ambitious—and in many respects—most successful songwriters of the post-sixties rock era. This is no secret.
”Dark Side of the Moon” hold the record for longevity on the Billboard charts. (Neil deGrasse Tyson says he spends half his time explaining to people that there is no “dark side” of the moon.) And “The Wall” is about as famous as any album, ever. But even so, Waters is somehow underrated as a songwriter. “Wish You Were Hear” and “Comfortably Numb” are equal to the Beatles’ best work. And Waters, now 74, draws energy from the crowd and gives it back, strutting, screaming and generally hyperventilating when called for—and hypnotizing when not. (But hey Rog, No “Shine On You Crazy Diamond?” How can you skip a song so great?)
The Barclay’s show was the most political rock show I’ve been to that I can remember. Much of the massive screen that stretches the length of the floor seats was dedicated to protests against Trump, Bush, Putin and all forms of imperialism. Since the show was on 9/11, Roger made a short speech in honor of the thousands of victims but also in honor the millions of victims of the idiotic and counterproductive US reaction to the attack. Once again, he was met with nothing but cheers and he seemed sincerely moved by the sustained, heart-felt applause he received.
I’ve been extremely critical of Waters’ politics in the past. It’s not that I happen to deeply disagree with him about BDS—which of course I do—but like a number of professional anti-Semitism watchers—in whose ranks I definitely do not include myself— thought Roger went way over the line. It’s not just the haranguing of Radiohead for playing Tel Aviv, etc, it’s more the imagery I saw at a previous show of his where Jewish stars morphed into dollar signs into bombers. (I forget the exact order.) There were right-wing Jewish protesters outside the show, but one senses that they were there for Israel, rather than anti-Semitic symbolism. (They were not subtle people.) Roger has recently been the subject of campaign on this issue, joined by the usually sensible JCRC and the more-sensible-these-days-than before, ADL, though they have made it clear they are not calling for a boycott.
Anyway, while Roger may traffic in anti-Semitic symbolism, or at least did so in the past, the dude is not an anti-Semite. No anti-Semite would have spent an entire day at the Haaretz/New Israel Fund conference as I saw Roger do in early 2016. And I’ve spoken to him a few times and he’s pretty personable fellow. And while my eyes were closed for part of the show—which in some ways, is the best way to appreciate Floyd—if those anti-Semitic symbols, reappeared, I did not see them. If I’m right about this, then everyone should just calm down about Roger’s support for BDS. He did not bring it up in his “resistance” speeches and he has the right to his politics, just as we have the right to disagree. And if he has dropped it, well then that’s a happy outcome. We can all enjoy the great music and focus our efforts on the dangerous psychopath in the White House. This is no time to go comfortably numb.
PS: Here is. Transcript I found of Roger’s remarks relating to 9/11.
“This is a very sad anniversary for a lot of people in this town and we feel for the families of all the innocent people who were killed that day 16 years ago. And also for the first responders who died since from the diseases they got from working,” Roger said. “And also the hundreds of thousands, even millions of people in the rest of the world who’ve died since that day because of what happened and our responses to it. So let our hearts be with all the innocent people all around the world whoever they might be, whatever their ethnicity or their color or religion.”
The next night I was back in Manhattan to see Arcade Fire’s debut at Madison Square Garden. Did you know they were big enough to fill that place? Well, it was totally full and the band took full advantage, playing raucously from an enormous boxing ring located at the center of the floor. They were announced like fighters but they came to party. I think AF, together with Radiohead, are the most innovative popular musicians working these days. (I’d put The National just a few notches below and will admit that I know nothing about hip-hop.) And it says something good about the sad state of the music world that they are as bid as they are. They make you dance and think at same time: an intellectual party band in the same vein as the Talking Heads. Also like the Talking Heads, they blend all kinds of world beats into their music, sometimes obviously, sometimes subtly. The Butler brothers s are from Houston so that was the cause of the night, but in the past it’s been Haiti. They are not sanctimonious but manage to be simultaneously sincere.
As far as I could tell, the room was filled with Brooklyn hipsters who know all the words to all the songs including the (wonderful) new album, “Everything Now.” (One weird thing: the band members wore AF swag jackets on stage. That strikes me as kinda lame.) Even so, it was nonstop dancing and cheering from the crowd as the energy flowed back and forth from the boxing ring all the way to the nosebleed seats. And the hits just kept on coming. No Cars Go; Neon Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) (The Suburbs (dedicated to the people of Houston); Ready to Start; Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Reflektor; Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Electric Blue, Put Your Money On Me, hypnotic; We Don’t Deserve Love, etc, etc,
I went home after the show as I had to make an earlier flight, but Will Butler didn’t, He hosted a $5 a head “Disco Town Hall” to inspire political action at a tiny club in the East Village. The idea was to “engage Arcade Fire fans (and others!) with local organizations, activists, and politicians engaged in helping the vulnerable and empowering communities.” Last night, Melody Lee of the Katal Center and New York City Council member Brad Lander, who was, and maybe still is, leader of its Progressive Caucus will talk about closing Rikers Island. I say “bully for them.” Butler played afterward with other AF members. This is a band for our time.
Finally, last week, I was able to catch the second show in what was Herb Alpert and Lani Hall’s fifth run at the Café Carlyle. Herb has to be one of the most enviable people alive. He’s probably richer than Trump for having cofounded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. (The A is for Alpert.) And I’ll bet everything I have his foundation is a lot more generous with good causes and actual money than that of the lying psychopath. Alpert got famous travelling the world heading up the TJ Brass—you may remember the cover of the Whipped Cream album—and 50 or so years ago, he met Ms. Hall, who was then the lead singer for Sergio Mendes and the Brazil 66. They’ve been husband and wife and musical partners ever since and I must say, they really do seem to love and respect eachother in an authentic, not-too-showbizzy way.
The shows at the Carlyle are decidedly relaxed, intimate (and of course, expensive) affairs. They blend North and South, with Alpert's timeless Tijuana Brass classics played unflashily but with sensitivity as well as from and Hall’s extraordinary voice poetically hypnotizing the audience in Portuguese (which, by the way, she does not speak or understand. She just loves the sound of the language). They engaged in conversation with the audience and showcased their excellent band and really, what’s not to like? I asked Alpert who he was most proud of having worked with at A & M, He answered “The Carpenters.” Ok, well, maybe that’s something not to love.
The Café Carlyle's fall season is in full swing, so if you have a lot of money and want a special romantic evening, with surprisingly good food, you may want to check out also includes the venue debuts of actress/singer Mandy Gonzalez and songwriter/composer Duncan Sheik; as well as the return of Rita Wilson, John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey my favorites), and the perennial post Bobby Short- holiday host, Steve Tyrell.