The show was advertised as a Dark Side of the Moon performance as Waters, as Waters had just released The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, a re-recording of legendary Pink Floyd album that celebrated its 50 year anniversary this year. Before Waters got to performing songs from the album however, he proceeded to set up a laptop and sit behind a desk reading portions of his memoirs to the audience. The audience grew angry.

The Times wrote about the show that “One story involved a duck that came to live in the family home,” and “Another began promisingly as a memory of Floyd’s original leader, Syd Barrett, but revealed nothing more than that Barrett wrote a lot of songs and had an innocent air about him.” calling the whole fiasco a “under-rehearsed, one-man non-show”. The duck story reportedly lasted 20 minutes alone, before leading into more stories about his pets. The audience were unsurprisingly not happy with this, as many started to heckle Waters, whilst other members of the audience simply began to walk out.

In response to this, Waters angrily told those members of the audience to “f**k off”. Critics from the Telegraph described that the whole show “had an unrehearsed air, with a tension exacerbated by Waters’ school masterly demeanor, as he sternly brooked no interruption.”. The audience were understandably growing restless by the constant stories and tirades from Waters. Waters doubled down against this by telling the audience: “If you want to tell stories, tell them in your own time to your own audience in your own f*****g theater. By the way, if you can show constraint and stop shouting again.”

Fans displayed their displeasure via social media, with one person saying via X/Twitter: “Well went to watch Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon remake gig last night at London Palladium with Roger Waters and I simply have no words to describe it and not in a positive way. What an egocentric narcissist he is and to think I paid good money to watch him. Lesson learnt.” The reception online wasn’t all negative however, as one person wrote: “Roger Waters @ Palladium Dark Side of the Moon Redux. Beautiful, raw, stripped back and a true experience! Sometimes self indulgent in the first half but the essence, genius and reimagining was special”

Well went to watch Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon remake gig last night at London Palladium with Roger Waters and I simply have no words to describe it and not in a positive way. What an egocentric narcissist he is and to think I paid good money to watch him. Lesson learnt.

— lorraine burgess (@lorraineburges2) October 10, 2023

Roger Waters @ Palladium Dark Side of the Moon Redux. Beautiful, raw, stripped back and a true experience ! Sometimes self indulgent in the first half but the essence, genius and reimagining was special

— Elliott Moore (@tagomago69) October 8, 2023

Waters did indeed play music alongside his band in the second half of the show, however the first half already set the tone for some fans.

“Speak To Me” and “Breathe” follow previously shared reinterpretations of “Time” and “Money” and set the tone for Waters’ daring new twist on an album that has captivated generations of music lovers. In a spoken word introduction, Waters recites the opening verse of “Free Four”, a track from Pink Floyd’s 1972 LP Obscured By Clouds, before launching into a brooding, organ-driven soundscape.

Watch the official lyric video for “Speak To Me/Breathe” below:

While some fans may maintain that such an undisputed masterpiece of a record is better left untouched, Waters feels that half a century on, the Floyd’s magnum opus deserves a reimagining. In a recent press release, he explained:

“The original ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ feels in some ways like the lament of an elder being on the human condition. But Dave, Rick, Nick and I were so young when we made it, and when you look at the world around us, clearly the message hasn’t stuck. That’s why I started to consider what the wisdom of an 80-year-old could bring to a reimagined version.”

On Instagram, he added: 

“The new recording is more reflective, I think, and it is more indicative of what the concept of the record was. People will have to listen to it before they can form a view really of what it is. I’m very proud of it.”

Waters, who co-produced the album alongside Gus Seyffert, recruited members of his touring band to help record The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux. The two other living Pink Floyd members, guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, did not take part in the project – although the latter did reveal he’d heard some snippets:

“He [Waters] actually sent me a copy of what he was working on and I write to him and said, ‘Annoyingly, it’s absolutely brilliant!’ It was and is. It’s not anything that would be a spoiler for the original at all, it’s an interesting add-on to the thing.”

Waters plans to perform songs from the new album at special live concerts at the London Palladium on October 8 and 9.

Get tickets here.

Pre-order The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux here.