ROGER WATERS PERFORMS DARK SIDE OF THE MOON AT COACHELLA IN 2008

Roger Waters, Prince, Portishead, Jack Johnson, My Morning Jacket and The Raconteurs kick off the West Coast festival season in grand style in the Cali desert.

In what quite possibly will be the last complete performance of ‘Dark Side of The Moon’ on U.S. soil, Roger Waters thrilled the thousands of music fans who flocked to the California desert for 2008’s version of Coachella. With sets from Jack Johnson, The Verve, Prince, My Morning Jacket, Portishead, Fatboy Slim, The Raconteurs, John Butler, Vampire Weekend and many others performing on The Polo Grounds in Indio on April 25-27, it was Roger Waters who not only played one of the best sets at Coachella in 2008, but quite possibly one of the best sets in Coachella’s long history.

Performing selected songs from some of Pink Floyd’s hit album’s like ‘The Wall,’ ‘Animals,’ ‘Wish You Were Here,’ as well as songs from his solo albums, Roger Waters proved why he is one the greatest songwriters and entertainers the world has ever seen. But after taking a short intermission, Waters and his band played the entire ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ album note for note and even featured violin virtuoso Lili Haydn for two songs, to give some of David Gilmour’s guitar lines a new feel.

The always political Roger Waters made sure the fans at Coachella knew exactly who his choice for President of The U.S. will be in the upcoming election as he released his trademark Pink Floyd inflatable pig into the air with “Impeach Bush” written on one side of the pig’s behind and on the pig’s belly was Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s name with a check mark beside it. “Don’t be led to the slaughter” was also written on one side, next to a cartoon of Uncle Sam holding meat cleavers and “Fear builds walls” completed his political views. The inflatable pig wound up breaking loose and floating away where it landed on a couple of houses a few miles from the event. Both households were fortunate enough to split the reward of 4 free lifetime tickets to Coachella and $10,000 in cash.

Photographer Brian Miller captured Roger Waters at Coachella in the California desert night. Roger and his band look to conclude their Dark Side of the Moon tour with a performance in St Pertersburg,Russia on June 6th. No future Roger Waters tour dates are scheduled for 2008 as rumors continue to gain steam about a possible Pink Floyd reunion and tour in 2009. Although nothing has been set in stone, clearly fans are crossing their fingers in hopes the band can put together what would be perhaps the biggest tour in music history.