Photo Credit: Jethro / CC by 2.5
A report from The Guardian says Roger Waters canceled concerts in Poland. Waters says that’s not accurate.
An official with the Tauron Arena in Kraków confirmed that the Roger Waters concerts scheduled for April 2023 would not happen. “Roger Waters’ manager decided to withdraw–without giving any reason,” Łukasz Pytko told Polish outlets looking for a comment.
After the report, Roger Waters took to Facebook to clear up any misconceptions. In an open letter addressed to the author of the article and The Guardian, Waters shares his side of the story. “Your papers are wrong in their assertions that either, I or my management, has cancelled my forthcoming shows in Krakow, we haven’t,” the statement begins.
“It is true that at own 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, rather than escalate matters towards a bitter end that could be nuclear war and the end of all life on this planet,” Rogers continues.
“Not withstanding that this chap Łukasz 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. Not very democratic, sir?” Rogers asks a rhetorical question.
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, something I have been doing on many tours over a career that has lasted in excess of fifty years.”
“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,” Waters concludes.