Outside The Wall, Or So Ya Thought Ya Might Like To Go To The Show

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.

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.

8-Bit Side Of The Moon

Timescapes Timelapse

Simulated Destruction

A hundred years ago a large meteor exploded ten kilometers above the Earth's surface in Tunguska, obliterating 830 square miles of woods. It was the largest impact in recent history, but nothing compared to what could happen 30 or so years from now.

The meteor—or comet fragment—was only a few tens of meters in diameter, according to modern estimates based on its 15 megatons energy blast. This 3D simulation, however, shows what something like the potentially deadly Apophis rock will do if it hit Earth (also in glorious HD). Basically you can see Earth getting completely obliterated. If it really happens, at least you'll have been able to see what it was like, because there won't be bleacher seats when the event happens.

And the Pink Floyd soundtrack is goddamn righteous.

Echoes, A Space Odyssey

The Listening Post over at WIRED does it's best music geek cum urban myth take on "Echoes", the full second side of the grossly under appreciated Meddle.

The passing of Pink Floyd's Richard Wright still remains a painful subject at Listening Post. But coupled with the earlier and still saddening loss of sci-fi titan Arthur C. Clarke, it is nearly unbearable. And eerie, considering that Pink Floyd's mind-blowing "Echoes," written by all of the band members long before petty divisions tore them apart, was a perfect soundtrack to Clarke and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Pink Floyd's seminal Meddle was the first release in what was to be the band's storied run at the record books, and "Echoes" commanded the entire second half of the album. It is an epic without peer in rock, which hordes of resourceful fans would eventually mash in near-perfect synchronization (whatever that means) with 2001's storied finale "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite."

The phenomenon boasts its own fan site and Wikipedia mention. And while the band never came out and declared "Echoes" an intentional soundtrack to Clarke and Kubrick's film, Nicholas Schaffner's biography Saucerful of Secrets: A Pink Floyd Odyssey did little to beat down the rumors of a direct connection.

"Roger Waters, yet to balk at the sci-fi association, went so far as to say his 'greatest regret' was that they didn't do the score for 2001: A Space Odyssey," the book explains, "parts of which, particularly in the long, mind-blowing hallucinatory sequence near the end, nonetheless sound remarkably Floydian."

The synchronization, for your viewing pleasure.

The Great Gig In The Sky

Richard Wright, keyboardist and founding member of Pink Floyd died of cancer today at 65.

Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college and joined their early band, Sigma 6. Along with the late (and insane) Syd Barrett, the four formed Pink Floyd in 1965. In the early days, Wright, along with Barrett, was seen as the group's dominant musical force. "Rick's keyboards were an integral park of the Pink Floyd sound," said Joe Boyd, a producer who worked with Pink Floyd early in its career. David Gilmour joined the band, and Barrett was soon out as a result of his drug induced psychosis.

Tensions grew among Waters, Wright and Gilmour over the years and came to a head during the making of "The Wall" when Waters insisted Wright be fired. As a result, Wright was relegated to the status of session musician on the tour of "The Wall," and did not perform on Water's last album with the band, "The Final Cut." When Waters left in 1985, Wright began recording with Mason and Gilmour again, and the band released two more albums. The last performance of Pink Floyd was at the 2005 "Live 8" charity concert, and the first time in 25 years they had been onstage together with Waters.

Gilmour noted, "He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognized Pink Floyd sound," he said. "I have never played with anyone quite like him."

Shine On You Crazy Diamond


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