Comfortably numb: Inside the Pink Floyd founder’s gig that Frankfurt tried to ban

FRANKFURT — Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters’ concert begins with a profane announcement to his critics.

“If you’re one of those ‘I love Pink Floyd, but I can’t stand with Roger’s politics,’ then fuck off to the bar!” the loudspeakers boom.

The audience cheers; no one leaves.

Frankfurt authorities had tried to stop this show, but the ban was overturned. Israel has pilloried Waters for desecrating the memory of Anne Frank. Accusations of antisemitism against Waters gained steam over his use of Nazi-like imagery, a floating pig emblazoned with the Star of David and allegations he’s relativized the Holocaust.

On Sunday night in Frankfurt, POLITICO got a first-hand taste of the famous rocker’s German tour — which already has him facing a Berlin police probe.

While anti-Waters protesters gathered on one side of the building, concertgoers came together to guzzle beer and gobble bratwurst at the entrance to the sold-out show at Frankfurt’s Festhalle.

What was their motivation, POLITICO asked?

“We are here for the music and have been fans of Pink Floyd since childhood. This is perhaps one of the last opportunities to see a band member live,” said concertgoer Donat Balzer (pictured below). “We weren’t even aware of Roger Waters’ political views — we only learned about them in more detail over the last few weeks through the media.”

“In my opinion, musicians should make music and keep politics out of it.”

Others, however, more explicitly backed Waters’ political messaging. “He works with provocation and is a courageous ambassador for things that are not going right in the world,” said Martin Nielinger (pictured below), referring to the Mideast conflict.

Inside the venue, beyond the security checks, anti-Israel activists hosted a stand for the “liberation of the entire historic Palestine … from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea” — the area in which Israel is also located — and displayed the entire 1923 British Mandate territory over Palestine in Palestinian colors. Some view this as a denial of Israel’s right to exist.

Around 500 people showed up outside the hall to loudly protest the British musician’s performance.

“A person who says that American politics is controlled by rich Jews, who blows up balloons in the shape of pigs with a Star of David and shoots them down — we don’t want someone like that in this city,” Frankfurt Mayor Mike Josef said, standing in front of the demonstrators. Frankfurt had tried to ban the concert over the accusations of antisemitism before a court gave Waters the green light.

Flying pigs have been a part of Pink Floyd’s (and Waters’) image for more than 40 years, first appearing on the sleeve of the 1977 “Animals” album. In past Waters shows, the inflatable pig has worn the Star of David; this time, when the giant pig balloon floated through the concert hall, it was emblazoned with the logo of the Israeli arms company “Elbit Systems.”

“It is intolerable that the voice of Jew hate is once again raised in this hall,” Josef said.

The Festhalle was the location for a dark moment in German history in the 1930s.

“During the November pogrom, the Festhalle became a prison-like place for about 3,000 Jews,” Heike Drummer, curator for contemporary history at Frankfurt’s Jewish Museum, explained to POLITICO. From the Festhalle, Jews were sent to concentration camps where they faced horrific conditions and often death.

Shortly after Waters’ show started, an activist with an Israeli flag stormed the stage and several people in the audience also rose up with Israel’s white-and-blue flag.

Spectators around the protesters tried to snatch the flags from their hands before security personnel intervened. (The protester who made it to the stage told Israeli media that security guards threatened to break his neck.)

During the performance, an oversized LED screen beamed out giant letters above the stage, bashing the audience over the head with generic political slogans, including “fuck the occupation,” “fuck the patriarchy” and “resist capitalism” (tickets for the show ran up to €200 and 400-millileter bottles of water at this “resisting capitalism” festival were on sale for €4.50).

As at previous shows on Waters’ tour, Holocaust victim Anne Frank’s name was emblazoned on the screen above the stage immediately after it displayed the name of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli soldiers in 2022.

“Waters equates Anne Frank and thus the industrial murder of 6 million Jews with the individual fate of a journalist who died in a shooting in the West Bank,” said Uwe Becker, the state government of Hesse’s commissioner for the fight against antisemitism, at the anti-Waters demonstration. This is a “terrible relativization of the Holocaust,” he added.

Waters declined to comment to POLITICO about the accusations of antisemitism.

The Berlin police have been investigating him for the charge of incitement of the people, as he appeared at his Berlin show in an SS-officer-like uniform. Waters himself describes the outfit, which he uses to depict a demagogue, as a “clear sign against fascism and injustice.” Symbolism around fascist demagoguery has formed part of Waters’ concerts for decades.

During the show, Waters began to talk to the audience.

The singer started to complain about the “narrative … that I’m a raging Jew-hating antisemite.”

Waters whispered into his microphone, “I’m not” and appeared to cry as the audience applauded exuberantly in response.

Explaining why he wasn’t wearing his SS-like coat, Waters told the crowd: “I know all about Kristallnacht.”

Kristallnacht refers to pogroms on the night of November 9 to 10, 1938, during which violence against Jews exploded in Nazi Germany. Jewish people and others were killed, humiliated, arrested, abused and raped; buildings demolished and destroyed.

“I feel for the people who are concerned about desecrating this place,” Waters said onstage.

He might also be concerned about further police probes, critics counter.