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 Corey Moylan on July 29, 2017 at 10:26am: Yes I totally agree Peter. No one can take away the fact you had an item signed by him personally. To me, those items are invaluable to an individual.

Comment by Eric Keith Longo on July 29, 2017 at 10:30am: Congratulations! Lovely and personal.

Comment by Eric Keith Longo on July 29, 2017 at 10:38am: Amen Peter C.

Comment by Peter C. on July 29, 2017 at 10:48am: BTW - I´d say that the worst thing fans can do is "giving up" due to those damn dealers - that means that fans and artists lost the battle and dealers won - and fans are going to be more and more dependant on those dirty guys. :(

Comment by Paul on July 29, 2017 at 2:40pm: Peter C,these dealers will kill the hobby completely, along with the iphone fans opt for a snap than a graph usually. One famous cricket player said he hasn't signed a graph since the iphone came out. Im still collecting or ill ask gor something signed if i could be bothered,I've decided to collect different items where there's not thousands of the same thing signed. I dont want the same collection as everyone else. Im not posting them on this site.

Comment by PFCollector on July 29, 2017 at 2:54pm: Kathy Bates was on a Late night show and they were talking about how everyone wants selfies now and don't care about signatures. She said something like she signed a bunch of stuff for people... then the next day was walking her dog and it pooped on the ground. She forgot a waste bag and seen a paper on the ground so she picked it up to use it... and it was one of the pictures she signed. Then the host agreed he almost never signs it's all selfies. I don't think many young people these days care about autographs.

Comment by Paul on July 29, 2017 at 3:19pm: I believe it! Also you have these less then par, Tpa's slapping anything with a sticker because they want the business, that on top of the birth of dealers trying to tell you who to buy from, there really isn't any room for collectors anymore, you barely can have a say now without being censored. Some of my younger collector friends are starting to pick up on what these dealers are about and are really being turned off!

Comment by Eric Keith Longo on July 29, 2017 at 3:29pm: I am gonna send Roger something in the mail to do with with his dad. The hell with this craziness.

Comment by Paul on July 29, 2017 at 5:15pm: Seen a few vid's, with Axl rose being pissed off at these dealers, one was following him around recording and Axl says get the fk put of my face. The dealers banging on thanks for signing axl, stay black.

Comment by PFCollector on July 29, 2017 at 7:56pm: George Lucas recently went off on some autograph hounds too and now refuses to sign. I think the videos are on tmz

Comment