Roger Waters Denies Reports of Canceling Polish Concerts

Roger Waters has denied reviews that he canceled two concert events in Poland amid outrage over his beforehand revealed stance on Russia’s struggle towards Ukraine.

Polish media reported Saturday that Rogers scrapped two concert events scheduled for April 2023 on the Tauron Arena in Krakow. “Roger Waters’ manager decided to withdraw … without giving any reason,” Lukasz Pytko from Tauron Arena Krakow advised Polish media shops, as reported by the Associated Press.

The Pink Floyd co-founder, who’s presently on his This Is Not a Drill tour, revealed an open letter to First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska earlier this month by which he accused “extreme nationalists” of “[setting] your country on the path to this disastrous war.” He additionally criticized the West, significantly Washington D.C., for “continuing to supply arms to the Kiev government’s armies” and argued that “throwing fuel, in the form of armaments, into a firefight, has never worked to shorten a war in the past, and it won’t work now.”

Krakow metropolis councilors reportedly expressed “indignation” over Waters’ views on the struggle and had been anticipated to vote subsequent week on a proposal to call the musician as a persona non grata. On Saturday (Sept. 24), Waters revealed one other open letter on Facebook by which he asserted that he didn’t, in reality, cancel his Krakow performances, however that native officers are attempting to forestall his appearances.

“It is true that a town councillor in Krakow, a Mr. Lukasz 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,” Waters wrote.

“Notwithstanding that this chap Lukasz 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,” he continued. “Not very democratic, sir?

“If Mr Lukasz 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 50 years,” Waters concluded. “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.”