Roger Waters Poland concerts canceled, rocker speaks out

Concerts were set for April 2023

Two Kraków, Poland concerts Roger Waters was set to play in April 2023 have been canceled. Nadeem Badshah of The Guardian — citing an article from Polish author Anna Piatkowska of Gazeta Krakowska — reports that Rogers’ manager had canceled the performances “without giving any reason.” The publication also states that Kraków officials were set to name Rogers as a persona non grata due to “indignation” over the his stance on the Ukraine-Russia war.

The controversy stems from an open letter to the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, that Waters shared on his website earlier this month. He asked Zelenska to clarify her statement that “If support for Ukraine is strong, the crisis will be shorter” from a BBC report. He calls Zelenska’s comments “tragically mistaken” and accuses her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, of failing to bring peace to the region as part of his campaign promise.

However, Waters refutes that he or his manager had anything to do with the decision, and advises Badshah and Piatkowska that their reporting is inaccurate.

“Your papers are wrong in their assertions that either, I or my management, has cancelled my forthcoming shows in Krakow, we haven’t,” Roger shares on Facebook. “It is true that a town councillor in Krakow, a Mr Łukasz Wantuch has threatened to hold a meeting asking the council to declare me ‘Persona non grata’ because of my public efforts to encourage all involved in the disastrous war in Ukraine, especially the governments of the USA and Russia, to work towards a negotiated peace, rather than escalate matters towards a bitter end that could be nuclear war and the end of all life on this planet. Not withstanding that this chap Łukasz Wantuch seems to know nothing of my history of working, all my life, at some personal cost, in the service of human rights, he, in an article in a local newspaper urged the good people of Krakow not to buy tickets to my show. Not very democratic sir? If Mr Łukasz Wantuch achieves his aim, and my forthcoming concerts in Krakow are cancelled, it will be a sad loss for me, because I have been looking forward to sharing my message of love with the people of Poland, something I have been doing on many tours over a career that has lasted in excess of fifty years. And also, regrettably, it will deny the people of Krakow the opportunity to see my current show, This Is Not A Drill, which is an important addition to a lifetime’s body of work. His draconian censoring of my work will deny them the opportunity to make up their own minds.”

The Poland stops were listed for April 21st and 22nd when Waters announced spring and summer 2023 European dates for his This Is Not A Drill Tour on Friday (Sept 23rd). Waters is set to play 40 shows across 14 European countries, starting on March 17, 2023 in Lisbon and wrapping June 2nd in London.

The show features 20 Pink Floyd and Roger Waters classic songs, including “Us & Them,” “Comfortably Numb,” “Wish You Were Here,” and “Is This The Life We Really Want?” In addition, Waters debuts a new song, “The Bar.”

“This Is Not A Drill is a groundbreaking new rock and 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,” Waters shares. “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, the same man. Could be his last hurrah. Wow! My first farewell tour! Don’t miss it.”

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com