Roger Waters shares ‘2022 version’ of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’

Roger Waters has released a new version of the Pink Floyd classic ‘Comfortably Numb’.

Titled ‘Comfortably Numb 2022’, the “darker” version of the 1980 track was recorded during the recent North American leg of the former Pink Floyd band member’s ‘This Is Not A Drill’ tour.

The reworked song features contributions from Joey Waronker (Atoms For Peace, Ultraísta), Nigel Godrich (Radiohead producer-  also in Ultraísta) as well as from touring musicians and artists Jonathan Wilson, Gus Seyffert, Dave Kilminster, Jon Carin, Shanay Johnson and Amanda Belair.

“During Lockdown I made a demo of a new version of ‘Comfortably Numb’ as an opener for our new show This Is Not A Drill,” Waters explained in a statement.

“I pitched it a whole step down, in A Minor, to make it darker and arranged it with no solos, except over the outro chord sequence, where there is a heartrendingly beautiful female vocal solo from Shanay Johnson, one of our new singers.”

The ex-Pink Floyd co-vocalist and bassist will continue his farewell tour next year.

He recently shared European and UK tour dates for 2023. Any remaining tickets for the UK dates are available here.

Roger Waters’ ‘This Is Not A Drill’ tour dates 2023:

MARCH
17 – Lisbon, PT @ Altice Arena
18 – Lisbon, PT @ Altice Arena
21 – Barcelona, ES @ Palau St Jordi 
23 – Madrid, ES @ Wizink 
24 – Madrid, ES @ Wizink 
27 – Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum
28 – Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum
31 – Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum

APRIL
01 – Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum
04 – Amsterdam, NL @ Ziggo Dome 
06 – Amsterdam, NL @ Ziggo Dome 
07 – Amsterdam, NL @ Ziggo Dome 
11 – Oslo, NO @ Telenor 
12 – Oslo, NO @ Telenor 
15 – Stockholm, SE @ Tele2 
17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Royal Arena 
18 – Copenhagen, DK @ Royal Arena 
21 – Bologna, IT @ Unipol Arena
23 – Budapest, HU @ MVM Dome
25 – Zurich, CH @ Hallenstadion
28 – Bologna, IT @ Unipol Arena
29 – Bologna, IT @ Unipol Arena

MAY
03 – Paris, FR @ AccorHotels Arena
04 – Paris, FR @ AccorHotels Arena
07 – Hamburg, DE @ Barclays Arena
09 – Cologne, DE @ Lanxess Arena
12 – Lille, FR @ Studio Pierre Mauroy
14 – Antwerp, BE @ Sportpaleis 
17 – Berlin, DE @ Mercedes Benz Arena
24 – Prague, CZ @ O2 Arena
25 – Prague, CZ @ O2 Arena 
28 – Frankfurt, DE @ Festhalle
31 – Birmingham, UK @ Utilita Arena

JUNE
02 – Glasgow, UK @ SSE Hydro
03 – Glasgow, UK @ SSE Hydro
06 – London, UK @ The O2
07 – London, UK @ The O2
10 – Manchester, UK @ AO Arena

Meanwhile, Waters has said that he “couldn’t care less about AC/DC or Eddie Van Halen” in an explosive recent interview with the podcaster Joe Rogan.

Waters, who has been criticised recently for comments about Russia’s war on Ukraine among other topics, sat down for a three-hour conversation on The Joe Rogan Experience where he detailed some of his musical hates.

“[I’m] not really interested in loud rock ‘n’ roll — which some people are and they love it, but I couldn’t care less about AC/DC or Eddie Van Halen or any of that stuff,” he said.