Pink Floyd’s session guitarist Tim Renwick has said that Roger Waters harbored resentment towards Eric Clapton during their 1984 tour, not due to Clapton’s skill but due to audience reactions to his solos.
Renwick mentioned in Guitar Player that Waters often became “annoyed quite a lot” when crowds cheered loudly during Clapton’s performances, feeling that they weren’t paying attention to the songs.
Pink Floyd guitarist talks about Roger Waters
Waters had invited Clapton to contribute to his debut solo album, “The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking,” released in 1984, and Clapton also performed with Waters during the supporting tour.
Since then, they’ve collaborated several times. Renwick, who played on Pink Floyd’s “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” tour (1987-1989) and helped record “The Division Bell” in 1994, was part of Waters’ band at that time and recalls that Waters held some resentment.
Speaking to Guitar Player about the “Pros and Cons” tour, Tim Renwick recalled that Roger Waters was “bossy” towards his band members, constantly serious, and would obsess over every minute detail of his band’s performance.
“I got along with him very well when we were rehearsing for the ‘Pros and Cons’ tour. It was just the two of us. But once we actually got involved with the band, he really became a bit too bossy.”
“It wasn’t as lighthearted as it could have been. I have to say he took everything very seriously, and tended to want everything to sound exactly the same as the record.”
“And he was very vigilant in pointing things out. If you didn’t quite play something exactly right or changed the feel of something, he would point that out and let you know that he wanted it to be exactly as close to the record as it possibly could be.”
Further, Tim Renwick said that Eric Clapton’s guitar solos always got a reaction out of the crowds, and that this affected Roger Waters, who began feeling a certain level of resentment toward his collaborator:
“It has to be said that Roger was a bit resentful of the fact that whenever Eric Clapton got up and played a solo, the place would erupt. People would get their lighters out, and there would be a tremendous outpouring of applause.”
“And that annoyed Roger quite a lot because, rightly or wrongly, he felt that the audience weren’t actually listening to the songs. They were just watching out for what Eric was doing. So there was a certain amount of resentment there.”
