‘This Is Not A Drill’: Roger Waters Announces North American Return

Dave Simpson / WireImage / Getty Images – Roger Waters
Roger Waters performs during the “Us + Them Tour” at Auckland’s Spark Arena on January 24, 2018.

This is not a drill! Literally: Legendary Pink Floyd rocker Roger Waters announced his live return to North America on Thursday in the guise of “Roger Waters: This Is Not A Drill,” which will storm the continent from July to October.

Waters’ tour begins at Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena on July 8 and concludes at Dallas’ American Airlines Center on October 3. He’ll play 31 arenas over its course, including Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center (July 10), New York’s Madison Square Garden (August 5), Atlanta’s State Farm Arena (August 20) and San Francisco’s Chase Center (September 25).

The trek will also hit several markets Waters didn’t perform at on 2017 North American leg of his “Us + Them Tour,” including Cincinnati (Heritage Bank Center, August 1), Orlando (Amway Center, August 13) and Minneapolis (Target Center, August 25).

And, significantly, the all-new tour marks Waters’ first time playing in the round.

So far, Waters has only announced single-night plays in markets for “This Is Not A Drill,” in contrast to 2017, when he staged two- or three-night stands in many markets. Box office highlights from that outing included three sold-out nights at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, which grossed $4.64 million, and three sold-out nights at Chicago’s United Center, which grossed $4.46 million; Waters will play both venues in 2020.

Waters grossed $702 million in the ’10s, placing him at No. 10 on Pollstar‘s Top Touring Artists of the Decade chart, and “This Is Not A Drill” suggests the revered rocker is poised to follow his strong ’10s with another big decade. Waters highlights in the ’10s included Goldenvoice’s Desert Trip, which grossed $160.1 million, and his “Us + Them Tour,” which ranked No. 13 on Pollstar‘s Year End Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart in 2017 with $92.1 million grossed, and No. 8 on the same chart the following year with $131.3 million grossed.

Tickets for “Roger Waters: This Is Not A Drill” go on sale on January 31 at 10 a.m. local time. Find the list of dates below.