Roger Waters: The Wall, Live 2010

Greetings,

I am writing this about 24 hours after having my mind completely blown by one of rock music's true icons. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Roger Waters is the author of most of Pink Floyd's greatest works. He is responsible for most of the music, lyrics, and concepts for the albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, and The Final Cut. After he left Pink Floyd in the early 1980's, he went on to record several great solo albums, including one that I consider to be one of the most important socio-political commentaries of the 20th century: Amused to Death. Pink Floyd's landmark album, The Wall, has now been around for over thirty years. It's story of isolation was written by Waters, and is largely autobiographical. It's powerful themes include the effect of wartime casualties on loved ones left behind, social isolation brought about by a one-size-fits-all educational system, the overwhelming power of modern materialism and the "sex, drugs, and rock & roll" lifestyle, and the monstrous nature that can be brought out in someone who allows these things to build up a wall around him. When the album was first released in 1979, the band followed it up with a massive-scale tour featuring the construction of a massive white wall in front of the band during the first half of the show, as well as larger-than-life puppets, animation, and other theatrics. The tour was the stuff of legend; and this year, Roger Waters has seen fit to recreate it and bring it to a new generation, citing that its message is as relevant now as it ever was.

Last night, I got to go see its relevance first hand.

The Wall has held a special place in my heart since I first heard it back in 1995. A friend of mine, who was older and much more learned in the ways of classic rock, got me into Pink Floyd bit by bit. He started with a mix tape that he had custom made (I know it sounds gay, but believe me, it wasn't). Then came the release of the live album, Pulse, which remains one of the most spectacular live albums of all time. After he was sure that I was digging what I had heard, he decided it was time to give me a copy of The Dark Side of the Moon, which is easily the most accessible Pink Floyd album. At this point, it had been months since the Floydian introduction had begun, and he kept refusing to let me listen to The Wall, insisting that I wasn't ready. I don't know whether he was right or not, but I do know that when I finally got the ok from him to listen to it, I knew that I was experiencing something special. Over the years since then, I have connected to the album in so many personal ways that it has become like a very old friend. As a musician, of course, I can play every guitar part on it, note for note. I know the album front to back, and can write out all of the lyrics on the back cover of a notebook in a single boredom-filled class period. Needless to say, I faced the show last night with immense anticipation. I'll do my best now to describe the first half of it song for song:

In The Flesh

The house lights dim, the crowd erupts, and so do a barrage of pyrotechnics and blazing red fireworks. The stage is surrounded by a partially built wall, and the circular screen above the performers displays the famous "hammers" logo that will become important later on in the story. Roger's voice is as vibrant and chilling as it ever was. I read an article in Rolling Stone a few weeks back that mentioned that he had been working with a vocal coach. It shows. During the "crash-bang" ending to the song, a large model WWII era fighter plane hoisted almost directly above my seat begins to travel across the Tacoma Dome and crashes into the stage, symbolizing the death of Eric Fletcher Waters, Roger's father - and also the father of our hero, the rock star, Pink.

The Thin Ice

The ambiant light turns dark red and Eric Waters' face is projected on the giant circular screen. Soon it changes to a type-written list of statistics about him: Name, Rank, Unit, Date of Birth, Date of Death, etc. Then that changes to the picture of another fallen soldier, followed by the stats on him. The cycle keeps up on the circular screen, and also on the partially-built wall, with the picture of each soldier being projected onto an individual brick. This continues until the climax of the song, when a large list of names appears on the screen and the wall itself has a face on every brick. Earlier in the year, Roger had sent out a request on his website for fans to send in pictures and stories about their fallen loved ones: soldiers and civilians alike, regardless of nationality. He was simply interested in conveying the casualties of war, no matter which (if any) side they belonged to.

Another Brick in the Wall, Part I

The screen and the wall were covered in an eerie red-lit silhouette of a plane flying low above water - adding visual reinforcement to the song's first line: "Daddy's flown across the ocean, leaving just a memory."

The Happiest Days of Our Lives

A helicopter sounds and a single spotlight hovers from behind the stage, making its rounds to illuminate each section of the audience, then the megaphone voice cries out: "You! Yes, you behind the bandshell! Stand still laddie!" The steady, pulsing beat of the song begins and our attention is immediately drawn to a three-story high puppet of Gerald Scarfe's animated schoolmaster taunting the band from the right side of the stage.

Another Brick in the Wall, Part II

The schoolmaster puppet continues his taunting until the second verse of the song, when a group of local schoolchildren is led onstage and begin to sing along with the band. During the extended guitar and keyboard solos at the end of the song, they move over to the puppet and begin waving their arms at him, taunting back until he finally sulks offstage.

Mother

At this point, Roger addresses the audience and explains that he will be singing this song along with a giant video clip and audio track of himself performing the same song on the original tour thirty years ago. The song begins and the sheer scale of the black-and-white image of Waters over the wall and the circular screen is breathtaking. This image continues through the verses of the song, but during the chorus, the imagery changes to the ominous dark red motif with various sarcasm-drenched phrases such as "Everything is going to be alright" and "Mother knows best" scrolling across the wall. All the while, the circular screen now displays a giant animated video-surveilance camera panning from one side of the crowd to the next. As part of a theme of the new tour, Waters has replaced Orwell's ominous "Big Brother" with his own "Big Mother," and at one point during the song, the Orwell's classic "Big Brother is watching you" is displayed with the "Br" from brother crossed out and replaced with an "M." Also of significance is the answer to Roger's lyrical question, "Mother should I trust the government?" A giant "No Fucking Way!" slowly made its way onto the right side of the wall.

Goodbye Blue Sky

The stage now goes dark momentarily before the child's voice announces: "Look Mommy! There's an airplane up in the sky!" As in the 1982 film, the visual media for this song is solely animation done by Gerald Scarfe, but this time the animation is updated. The bombers depicted in this updated version now drop crosses, crescent moons, stars of David, cycle and hammers, dollar signs, and perhaps most chilling, Mercedes-Benz and Shell oil logos. These religious, political, and corporate-economic "bombs" paint the entire landscape blood red. This is one of the most chilling moments of the show.

The Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now?

This section of the show features the original animation from the 1982 film being projected onto the wall and the circular screen. It should be noted here that throughout all of these songs, crew members have been walking on and off stage, building the wall up, brick by brick, and the wall is now much closer to completion.

Young Lust

Red-lit footage of lingerie models and strippers dancing in time with the music projected across the wall and circular screen. The construction of the wall continues.

One of My Turns

The wall is now nearly complete. There are just a couple of holes in it through which you can still see some of the band members. During the prologue to the song, footage of a groupie entering the hotel room of our hero, Pink, is projected onto the wall in black and white. This footage is similar to the footage shown in the movie, but not the same. When the vocals start, Roger sits in front of the wall with a single spotlight on him until the song kicks into gear. At this point, I was expecting a little theatrical violence - since, after all, in the movie this is one of the most intense scenes in which Pink destroys his hotel room and scares the groupie to death - but there was none of that here, not even projected onto the screen. While this was a bit less than I expected, it was still not quite disappointing.

Don't Leave Me Now

The wall stays mostly dark for the first half of this song, and the remaining holes continue to be filled, brick by brick. Roger sings the first half much as he did with the first half of the previous song: In front of the wall with a single spotlight on him. During the climax of the song a female face is projected onto the right side of the wall and another giant puppet, representing Pink's wife, haunts the left side of the wall. As the music goes on, eerie color streaks of green, yellow, and red run down the wall like paint and obscure the female face on the right side. By now there are only about five bricks missing in the wall.

Another Brick in the Wall, Part III

This song is filled with a mish-mash of all of the images seen so far flashing on and off the screen. Roger is now with the rest of the band, behind the wall.

The Last Few Bricks

This is a musical montage in which, as the name suggests, the last few bricks of the wall are filled in. The mish-mash of projected images continues from the previous song.

Goodbye Cruel World

A single spotlight shines from behind the wall through the one remaining brick-shaped hole in it. Roger's silhouette is in the middle of it. Upon the final "Goodbye" of the song, the last brick is filled in and intermission begins.

During intermission, the now-complete wall is filled with images of casualties of war, along with their stories.

The second half of the show is performed largely from behind the wall. The song list progresses exactly as it does on the album, but I don't have the time to go through this half song for song. The highlights were as follows:

Nobody Home

This was done the same way it was done in the first tour. A section of the left side of the wall opens up to reveal Roger sitting in a neon-lit hotel room much like the movie. Pretty cool to see.

Bring The Boys Back Home

Footage of children being reunited with their deployed military parents. This was the point in the show where I was actually on the verge of tears. It was absolutely heart-wrenching.

Comfortably Numb

Nothing really visually stunning happens during this song, but the music was outstanding. Roger's band featured GE Smith (formerly of Saturday Night Live), and Snowy White (who actually played quite a few of the guitar parts on the album) on guitars, and they simply killed their performances on this one.

Run Like Hell

The transition to the Nazi-esque "Hammers" uniforms and fascist-state atmosphere are now complete. From the left side of the stage, a giant, menacing, inflated pig comes hovering out over the audience. It has huge red LED eyes and it is covered in corporate logos and phrases like "Everything is going to be alright," "Trust us," and "Big Mother is watching you."

Waiting For the Worms

Even though the projected animation on the wall for this song is the same as that of the movie - a relentless battalion of marching hammers - the visual impact of this compared with the deafening crescendo of the music was quite a climax to the theatrical madness of Pink's flirtation with fascism. Very powerful.

The Trial

Again, the same animation as seen in the movie, but the climax of the physical wall being torn down on stage in front of you is simply breathtaking.

Outside The Wall

Roger and the band members march onstage in front of the devastated wall and at first, I think they might not do this song. It looks more like a curtain-call moment. Then, each with a different instrument, and Roger with a trumpet, they begin the music to this little one-minute-forty-three-second ray of hope. Even though it's so short, I would have felt emotionally cheated if this song had not been performed. For me, it's the catharsis that's necessary at the end of any proper tragedy. It's lyrics sum it up:

All alone, or in twos,

The ones who really love you

Walk up and down outside the wall.

Some hand in hand,

Some gathered together in bands,

The bleeding hearts and the artists make their stand.

And when they've given you their all,

Some stagger and fall.

After all, it's not easy

Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.

Overall, I guess I knew all along that this was going to be an amazing experience, but I don't think I ever consciously expected to leave the Tacoma Dome having witnessed the greatest show I've ever seen. That is, however, exactly what happened. I have seen a lot of concerts, including most of my all time musical heroes, and this show was without a doubt the best. I will even put it above any Cirque du Soleil show I've seen in Las Vegas.

To me, Roger Waters has more than proven my theory that pop music can fill the needs of society that literary poetry used to fill. The Wall remains, in my opinion, an outstanding work of literature and is every bit as relevant and powerful today as it was thirty years ago. Bravo, Roger! Bravo. And thank you very much for sharing such a poignant and moving piece of art with the world.

I am the Reverend Humpy and I have approved this message.