October 12, 2010
From Uniondale, NY.
When I heard that he was going to do the Wall again I said to myself, not again. Not now, after this long. He could choose from so much, why the Wall?
The night of October 12, 2010 I was reminded why. Roger Waters is the Wall. It is about him. His life, his times, his experiences. His Wall.
The Wall came out back in 1980. It was finally released way overdue and over budget. The Fans were chomping at the bit for new Floyd and they delivered. Straight to number one, smash hits, incredibly memorable guitar riffs and songs that take you far far away. They only did a few shows. London, Uniondale NY, and Los Angeles. They actually built a wall onstage and you couldn't even see the band play. Not many were able to witness the event, only to be told through word of mouth, magazine articles and newspaper clippings.
Now thirty years later The Wall is back. Roger Waters with an all new band and doing The Wall and only The Wall. From beginning to end. They did change one part into a medley of a few songs instead of everything exactly note for note, but most of it was exact, even all of the interesting and spaced out special effects. Gomer Pyle's surprise, surprise, surprise, got quite a few laughs for sure and all of the bomb explosions, baby's crying, birds chirping were all there. All to set the mood.
The Mood was there. The light show was none other than stunning. Nothing I've ever seen before and I've seen my share. Since they built a wall onstage just like they did back then, they projected lights, designs, shapes, words if wisdom, TV screen images, everything on it , around it and off of it. The huge flying pig, the giant sized schoolmaster flailing them into shape and the holes in the wall where you can still see the band, or some of them anyway, all added to the excitement and uniqueness of this show A true audio-visual mind trip to another place. Somewhere, Mr. Waters allowed you entrance to, a spaced out journey from beginning to end of his emotional breakdown, courtesty of rock and roll and special effects. Can it get any better?
There were fans there of all ages. Proud parents bringing their children to see a part of rock and roll history being made...yet again. And right there in Long Island at the Nassau Coliseum where the original show was thirty years ago. One other possibility for that night was that David Gilmour agreed to play Comfortably Numb on just one night of the tour as part of an agreement with Waters to do a song at a charity concert a few months ago. Since this is the venue where it was originally played I thought this may be the one, but no luck. Looking forward to hearing about that show for sure!
One thing I can say to all rock and roll fans:
Don't miss it. It won't be happening in another thirty years.