Roger Waters is launching Legacy, a Pink Floyd show led by his son Harry that will tour without any of the band’s living members onstage. LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 06: Roger Waters performs live on The Great Oak Stage during Barclaycard present British Summer Time Hyde Park at Hyde Park on July 6, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Simone Joyner/Getty Images)
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Roger Waters is sending the music of Pink Floyd back on the road next year, but he won’t actually be there. Neither will David Gilmour or Nick Mason, the only other two living members of the band.
Instead, Roger Waters Presents Legacy — A Pink Floyd Show will put a 10-piece musical group led by Waters’ son Harry onstage at more than 100 concerts throughout North America and Europe. The production will focus on Pink Floyd’s celebrated 1970s winning streak and incorporate imagery that’s connected to the visual world that the rockers created decades ago, which has long been an integral part of the outfit’s brand.
It isn’t quite Pink Floyd, but it isn’t simply another tribute act, either. The ambitious tour raises an interesting question about the future of classic rock. Once a catalog becomes valuable enough, does the original band actually need to head out on the road for its music to generate what could be millions of dollars in live settings?
Roger Waters Is Putting His Name Behind a Pink Floyd Show
Legacy launches in February 2027 and is expected to visit more than dozens of cities once European dates are added. The former Pink Floyd band member worked on the show with both AEG Presents and ICON LIVE. The two-hour-plus show concentrates on Pink Floyd’s so-called golden period, which took place from 1971 until 1979. Much of the material that will be performed comes from the bestselling albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall.
There are no holograms of Waters or Gilmour involved, as has become the rage among some chart-topping acts. Harry and the musicians will seemingly reproduce the original recordings as faithfully as possible, while large LED screens will present a visual identity that draws partly from imagery Roger himself created or helped craft during his yeast with Pink Floyd years. It’s that official connection is what separates Legacy from the countless Pink Floyd tribute shows that have existed for decades.
Harry Waters Has Spent Years Playing His Father’s Music
Harry may be a nepo baby of sorts – another term that’s hot and controversial in music right now – but he has earned his spot on the venture. The younger Waters spent a decade and a half touring with his father, including treks built around The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, and his connection to the catalog stretches all the way back to childhood.
He will serve as musical director for the show, rather than attempt to impersonate his father’s performances. The production reportedly conducted an international search for someone to sing Roger’s vocal parts, and Harry apparently listened to thousands of submissions before choosing a winner in Clifton David Broadbridge.
Pink Floyd Already Supports A Huge Tribute Business
The fact that this tour was dreamt up shows just how intense the demand for anything connected to Pink Floyd’s music is to this day – even without Pink Floyd. The tribute band Brit Floyd has performed more than 1,600 concerts around the world since 2011 and already has another tour scheduled for next year. The Australian Pink Floyd Show has been around since the 1980s and also claims it has sold millions of tickets.
Roger and Gilmour have also spent years touring portions of the band’s catalog separately, while Mason formed Saucerful of Secrets to revisit Pink Floyd’s earliest material. Legacy removes even the minimal requirement that one original member from the outfit be present for the show to be legitimate.
Pink Floyd itself has not mounted a proper tour since 1994. The classic lineup reunited once for Live 8 in 2005, but by the time Legacy begins, nearly 33 years will have passed since a true Pink Floyd trek wrapped.
Pink Floyd Is Worth Hundreds Of Millions as a Brand
The new production will arrive only a few years after Pink Floyd sold its recorded music catalog, name and likeness rights to Sony for roughly $400 million. Sony has not been publicly linked to Legacy, so the two developments should not be conflated, though they speak to the same larger reality.
Pink Floyd is no longer valuable only as a functioning band. The name, recordings, imagery and general creative universe have become enormously valuable intellectual property on their own. Anything and everything that can be attached to the group – even if only tenuously – can add to the ever-expanding business empire.
Other Legendary Bands Are Already Testing Similar Ideas
Pink Floyd is not the first major catalog to move in this direction, and it certainly won’t be the last. Queen created Queen Extravaganza, an officially sanctioned tribute band produced by Brian May and Roger Taylor. Dweezil Zappa continues performing his father Frank Zappa’s catalog.
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 26: Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA attend the first performance of ABBA “Voyage” at ABBA Arena on May 26, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
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ABBA has pushed the concept even further with ABBA Voyage, which allows fans to attend a full concert built around digital versions of the pop band while the actual musicians are nowhere to be found. The production has sold millions of tickets in London, and a second iteration is expected to open in New York City in 2028.
Legacy is not quite as radical, technologically speaking. Fans will be watching real musicians perform the music of Pink Floyd live. What makes this stand apart is the involvement and approval of one of the band members. Pink Floyd the touring band finished its run years ago, but Pink Floyd the live attraction could live on for years, if not decades.
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