Roger Waters Signing And Paying People To Wait In Line

I’ve heard that Roger Waters has been signing on his current tour. He was making a stop in Columbus two months before his stop in Cleveland. So three of my friends and I made the trek down to C-bus to try and get Pink Floyd’s bassist/singer and songwriter. We arrived early and there were already four people there. Within an hour, the line grew to 50. Another hour went by and there was easily over 150. After talking to some people and overhearing people talk while in line, it seems that some people went to a homeless shelter and offered to pay the homeless to stand in line and get items signed. I overheard two guys saying “These guys came and got us out of our tents.” When Rogers arrived, I somehow was 11th in line when I was 6th when I got there.

There are two sides to this situation. On the one side, you are paying someone for their time - about 2 to 2 ½ hours. I think the offer was 20 bucks. The other side is that you are getting something that has way more value than what you are paying for, a signed Dark Side or The Wall is going for over $300 on ebay. Also, I think this is just morally wrong. These “dealers” are not only exploiting the people that they are paying (I also heard the guy did not end up paying them, he took the albums and left) but they are also exploiting the kindness of Roger who is taking his time out of his day to sign for his fans.

I think Roger is going to shut it down pretty soon. When the tour started, he would sign anything- guitars, drum heads, posters, and albums. As time went on, he started limiting items that he would sign. It was albums only when I saw him. He also refuses to sign for kids, which I think this is a good thing. It makes me sick when parents drag their kids out to get something signed when clearly they do not want to be there or even know who the artist is. Roger sat in the back of the SUV and signed 1 item each. He did switch markers, depending on the item. He didn’t say a word, even after I thanked him for signing for me, it seemed like he just wanted to get through the signing before he went into the venue. For the 150 or so people in line it took about 20 minutes for him to sign for everyone. His security was very clear, “no posters, no musical instruments and no kids.” You also could only bring one item up and all bags had to left on the ground.

What do you think- is it ok for people to pay homeless guys to stand in line and get things signed? Sure, I wish I got a few things signed, but I am more than happy having the gatefold of my “The Wall” album signed. I'm going to frame it up, along with my Nick Mason signed drum head and hang it on my wall.

Tags: InPerson, RogerWaters, TheWall

1 member likes this

Comment by Peter C. on July 23, 2017 at 9:10am: This is beyond disgusting! What an awful side of autograph business....

Comment by Ian Baldock on July 23, 2017 at 10:03am: I would cut half of this crap out by having the guards insist on seeing a concert ticket. Shame to take advantage of one of the last major(only?) stars that signs like that. Big dealers usually have one or two workers whenever they find out somebody is going to be there. Raccs Gio usually has a bunch. Pete Townsend was just hit with the same thing. A guy will shout line up and the star doesn't realize when he goes down the line, half are just hired workers.

Comment by toby j. on July 24, 2017 at 2:46pm: Been there seen it many times in 25 years of autographing.then they wonder why they stop signing.

Comment by marc e on July 24, 2017 at 9:44pm: i dont have a problem with paying someone.people do it for concert tickets , black friday ,christmas toys ,what ever.if u wait ur turn in line and dont cut then it doesnt matter who or what i bring .

we live in a capitalist society. unlers u dont plan on selling your house for a profit or anything else than dont complain

as long as u wait your turn then its no big deal.i have a problem they stiffed them .the homeless should have given the guy a great stickie bear hug.

homeless people wait on line all the time for the new iphone

Comment by Josh Board on July 24, 2017 at 9:53pm: John does bring up a decent point.

I like what Ian said, though. Show a concert ticket. I've only seen 3 stars do that. Taj Mahal did that to my friend. He said, "I left the ticket in my car." So Taj didn't sign and walked in. My friend promptly ran to the ticket booth, bought a $50 ticket and when Taj walked out -- he showed him. And, his guitar, ticket, and 4 albums were signed. That works for everyone.

Comment by Eric Keith Longo on July 24, 2017 at 9:57pm: Well, I hope he signs for me. September 15th, 2017.

Comment by marc e on July 24, 2017 at 10:06pm: i have no problem with the ticket thing at the venue . but what about hotels airports resturants and everything else.

also rember if we all know that he will sign if u have a tcket that can also start a riot with everyone coming down or dealers just buying 50 of the cheapest tickets becuase it guarentes they will get a signiture and its just the cost of doing bussines.

also rember if u like the stones and and they said u have to have a ticket for a signiture and u only get ron wood or charlie watts and tickets cost 300$ to 1000$ it gets very expensive.

theres no real way to deal with it.

my pet peve is if u can keep a straight line and let the artist workit and no one cuts thats a good day once hell breaks lose the artist splits.

i think roger does it right.sits in the car hes safe and they bring it over one by one.

a long time ago claptons security guard would come out get one itiem from each person he wouldnt change pens.sit in lobby sign them .he would walk to the car and they would hand back they itiems it went nice that way also. now u had to know his hotel.

but i think rogers handling it well.its always better in the begging of the tour than the end for graphs

Comment by marc e on July 24, 2017 at 10:33pm: one of the biggest way to stop the selling is... and people wont like what im going to say but im surprised it has gain more traction its slowly going in that direction but just like sports they charge for signing anything.

just staw lindsey and christie mcvie and the sell there cds and vinly autographed and its pretty cheap. 35$ cd 45$ for vinyl .

im sure people would pay 100$ for band signed fleetmac instead of chasing them around.

one artist i know wont sign at all unless so he forces all people who want his signiture to go the show and he signs after inside thats it.

what is your time worth -$

Comment by Peter C. on July 25, 2017 at 12:41am: John:
In my opinion - you see it way too much in "materialistic" way, I see "moral" aspect of that. Money / value etc. and that´s NOT how fan consider about these things IMHO. I´d rather get autograph in person after few hours of waiting rather than buy autographed piece in merchandise shop. Frankly speaking - I agree that one of ways how to decrease interest of these annoying dealers for artist is.... attack the monetary value of autograph by offering these signatures in merch is way how to do that.

First - IMO artist (or anyone else) is supposed to give autograph for FREE to fan (it should be about that "relationship" between star and fan). Therefore everyone who enters into this as dealer who gets autograph for free from artists and sells autograph to fan for money actually exploits both sides - artist (who give something for free...) and fan (who often pay for something which shouldnt be even paid). Now - dealers achieved another level of this by abusing people who have probably "no idea" about what´s going on (as they probably have no idea about value of their "work")... Really, it´s sadly all about money and I do understand many stars who stopped signing due to these ruthless wretches. And sadly fans are those who got the worst of it. :( I´m really annoyed and disgusted by this side of autographs.

Comment by Richard Booth on July 25, 2017 at 2:10am: This spoilt the autograph collecting element for me many years ago. Long gone are real fans who want to get an autograph from their hero, but dealers and business people who dupe artists for signatures by lots of people making lots of money from their signature.

I have no problem with people selling the odd signature, but those who get the artists to sign stacks to make cash and the real fans don't get a look in for their prized signature is wrong and always has been.

It certainly spoiled the hobby of this for me many, many years ago.