Roger Waters Backed by My Morning Jacket at Newport Folk Festival
We've gotten used to seeing epic, theatrical performances from Roger Waters as he's brought his The Wall production around the globe. But last night (July 24), he gave an acoustic headlining set at the Newport Folk Festival with a surprise appearance by My Morning Jacket as his backup band. You can watch a fan-shot video of them performing "Wish You Were Here" above.
According to Consequence of Sound, their brief set contained a few other Pink Floyd songs ("Mother," "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse"), two tracks from his solo albums ("Amused to Death" and "The Bravery of Being out of Range"), a new song called "Crystal Clear" and covers of John Prine's "Hello in There," Buddy Guy's "Wide River to Cross" and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young," which closed out the performance.
They also note that Waters, who was performing for the first time since 2013, was joined at various times by Sara Watkins of bluegrass group Nickel Creek and Amy Helm, a fine singer-sonngwriter who recently released her debut, Didn't It Rain. Helm is the daughter of the late Levon Helm.
The Newport Folk Festival began in 1959 as an offshoot of the Newport Jazz Festival. It has since morphed from its roots in traditional folk and blues into a showcase for many of today's top Americana and indie acts. In addition to My Morning Jacket, this year's installment features Jason Isbell, the Decemberists, Brandi Carlile, the Lone Bellow and Sturgill Simpson. Today (July 25) marks the 50th anniversary of its most famous moment, when Dylan played his first-ever electric set.
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