Roger Waters’ Poland gigs off amid Ukraine row

Two scheduled concerts in Poland by Roger Waters have been cancelled amid controversy over the Pink Floyd co-founder’s comments on the war in Ukraine.

The 79-year-old, who was due to perform at Tauron Arena in Krakow in April 2023 as part of his This Is Not a Drill Tour, wrote an open letter to Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska, in which he claimed “extreme nationalists” had “set your country on the path to this disastrous war”. He also criticised the west for supplying Ukraine with weapons.

The letter prompted an angry response, with Krakow city councillor Łukasz Wantuch urging people to boycott the gigs and the city council due to vote this week on a resolution to declare Waters persona non grata.

Promoter Live Nation Poland confirmed the shows will now no longer go ahead but did not give a reason for the cancellation. A spokesman for the venue declined to comment.

“I have been looking forward to sharing my message of love with the people of Poland”

Responding to an article in the Guardian, Waters denied claims his team had made the decision to cancel.

“Your papers are wrong in their assertions that either, I or my management, has cancelled my forthcoming shows in Krakow, we haven’t,” he says in a Facebook post. “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.

“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… His draconian censoring of my work will deny them the opportunity to make up their own minds.”

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The post Roger Waters’ Poland gigs off amid Ukraine row appeared first on IQ Magazine.

Written by IQ Magazine