Scarlett used her mojo to get my non-industry ass into Roger Waters The Wall Live show tonight.
UPDATE: "Lights! Roll the sound effects! Action!"
It's hard to convey the Pink Floyd experience to those who didn't spend their formative years listening to them, or the importance of The Wall as a perfect piece of art and music. But for those who know and understand, I won't have to struggle to find descriptions because already you get it. And for the novices, watch the movie and listen to the album a few times so you can at least try to get on the same page. Then you'll easily agree the genius of Alan Parker's film was to illustrate an epic soundtrack, and that you can not separate the images from the music after 30 years of the two being so expertly married.
Roger Waters has the benefit of multiple tours of The Wall - from the album supporting jaunt to the memorial performance in Berlin, and on solo outings through this presentation - but also technology that is capable of making the show less rock concert and more performance of art. The strength of the show, if you had to pick just one thing (and exclude the top-line musicians and production value - both integral to the success), is that it is a start-to-finish multimedia presentation which preserves the iconic nature of the images, story and songs while making the themes relevant to the present day. There's still the anti-government, anti-war, anti-authoritarian sentiment, but it's now our modern Middle Eastern wars, not WWII, and the shadow of techno-corporate empires instead of the capitalist imperialism of the 70s and 80s.
UPDATE: "Lights! Roll the sound effects! Action!"
It's hard to convey the Pink Floyd experience to those who didn't spend their formative years listening to them, or the importance of The Wall as a perfect piece of art and music. But for those who know and understand, I won't have to struggle to find descriptions because already you get it. And for the novices, watch the movie and listen to the album a few times so you can at least try to get on the same page. Then you'll easily agree the genius of Alan Parker's film was to illustrate an epic soundtrack, and that you can not separate the images from the music after 30 years of the two being so expertly married.
Roger Waters has the benefit of multiple tours of The Wall - from the album supporting jaunt to the memorial performance in Berlin, and on solo outings through this presentation - but also technology that is capable of making the show less rock concert and more performance of art. The strength of the show, if you had to pick just one thing (and exclude the top-line musicians and production value - both integral to the success), is that it is a start-to-finish multimedia presentation which preserves the iconic nature of the images, story and songs while making the themes relevant to the present day. There's still the anti-government, anti-war, anti-authoritarian sentiment, but it's now our modern Middle Eastern wars, not WWII, and the shadow of techno-corporate empires instead of the capitalist imperialism of the 70s and 80s.
There's no wall (sorry) between Waters and the audience: he's fully aware he's putting on a show and is slipping into the Pink persona for the performance, which is wonderfully meta, as the autobiographical content was his costume when the album first came out. He took a few moments in the show to address the crowd, and his jovial, thankful banter echoed the referential gestures to the audience he made during the songs. Clearly, the demons in the music no longer haunt him, and he took satisfaction in being able to present the show, siding with the fans, as if to say, "We've both made it through the years and can really appreciate the effect of The Wall".
Rather than recap the show (which is detailed here), I'll just share some of the more truly amazing moments:
• The opening w/ In The Flesh - Not only one of my favorite songs on the album, but the pyrotechnics and explosions of the air battle were great. Not to mention the airplane that came in the length of the arena to crash into the wall and explode.
• Giant Puppets! - They had the Schoolmaster, The Wife, and Mother, all making appearances during the show.
• Comfortably Numb - Even without David Gilmour to sing and play, they did a remarkable job. Hearing the song live nearly brought me to tears...just one of those moments that tapped the pent up well of emotions from years of being affected by that song.
• Using the wall - Besides the gradual building to visually relate the music was their brilliant use of it as a screen and interaction through it. This ended the first half of the show...it's bittersweet and gorgeous by the time he finishes Goodbye Cruel World.
It was by far one of the best shows I've ever been to, and such a treat to see an artist make the most of their skills. There are few times I've seen such an immersing experience (Peter Gabriel's UP tour and U2's Zoo TV performance), and they are absolute gifts to the fans.
It was by far one of the best shows I've ever been to, and such a treat to see an artist make the most of their skills. There are few times I've seen such an immersing experience (Peter Gabriel's UP tour and U2's Zoo TV performance), and they are absolute gifts to the fans.
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