Roger Waters – Is This the Life We Really Want? (Live from Prague) Review

A tour from veteran frontman Roger Waters is not an exclusive showcase of Pink Floyd songs. Not at all. His half-decent solo materials are thrown in for good measure. Harsher assessments of This is Not a Drill, the live album set for release next month, would suggest Is This the Life We Really Want?, is a toilet break song. It is not. A solid song from Waters’ most recent studio album, but dead rubber here. A break before the Money, Us and Them, and Any Colour You Like triple bill. Isolated from those and released as the second single to his live in Prague album, it fares far better. Is This the Life We Really Want? Has some exceptional instrumental moments to it. On the nose, as expected from Waters in his decades spent chasing the politically conscious highs of The Wall, the song remains a clear call to arms.  

Backed by those excellent instrumental sections, Waters finds the platform needed to cry out against the world. Against the fear of the world, though even with a convincing vocal performance, he cannot make these lyrics sound as brutal as he had hoped for. The “nincompoop” bit still derails the essence of the song, even if the sentiment is agreed with. In a live environment, Is This the Life We Really Want?, fares far better because the energy of a stage performance can carry those rule of three lines found towards the end of the song. Waters portrays a character who feels like a diluted version of a concept leftover from The Wall. At least he knows it and plays up to that with his performance here. The Pink Floyd bassist still has a strong voice. That’s the reassuring constant of This is Not a Drill. His vocal work is still of a high standard. 

Without that, it would be a futile release. Not This is Not a Drill, but Is This the Life We Really Want?. His constant questioning, the prose he deals with, is as dull as it was for the Redux version of The Dark Side of the Moon. Waters may tap into the very real and ridiculous fears of the world, but he does little to expand on or resolve them. Perhaps it would be too tough to ask him for solutions. Shouting into the void is all he can do with these songs, and the same applies to some of his greatest hits. He is beyond the point of influence. Is This the Life We Really Want?, unfortunately, proves it. Vicious imagery falls not on deaf ears but on those who have been horrified by worse in the real world. Instrumentally, though, Waters is unmatched. 

Few can say they hold the same attention as Waters. When he takes to the stage, his presence, the wordplay, no matter how brilliant or blunt, holds focus. Bold string sections are at play and match the slower tones of the percussion. Crucially, though, they do not overwhelm the meaning and message of the song. Applause signals the end of this one. No singing along, no moments where the audience interjects either as a rallying cry for the words or a protest against them. Spellbinding, but on a technicality. Waters’ critical assessment of capitalism and the cycle of money will always feel ironic given his personal wealth, but is that the life he really wants? He stands in that awkward, hypocritical spot, and accepts by overhauling his fourth solo album title track with instrumental bliss and an ever-questioning presence. Waters, like us, does not have the answers. It humanises him and the purpose of his song.