Venue:
Broadway Cinema, Letchworth
Date: 29/09/2015
It’s a performance of ”The Wall” interspersed with Roger making a road trip from Blighty across France where he visits the first World War grave of his Grandfather, eventually arriving at the Anzio/Monte Cassino war memorial where his father died in action.
The massive stage show and concert with crack band features the likes of our Rog alongside Snowy White, Dave Kilminster and GE Smith on guitars. The Waters’ pipes are in good form, and there’s a “Dave” replacement for second vocals and a spot of reinforcement on the odd high note. Fair enough. He’s never struck me as an especially charismatic bloke but he fronts the ensemble really well and it must have been a hell of a moment for him personally. Guitar nerds will appreciate Snowy using a Dave Gilmore Stratocaster model – surely a (possibly personal) not so mute tribute to the man it now appears to take 3 top players to replace? The band recreate the album as superbly as you’d expect. The lighting, images and overall show is mind boggling and it must have been quite an occasion to be there. The menacing fascistic uniforms and many of the Gerald Scarfe graphics and puppets from the original film and stage show are all present and correct, and are as menacing as ever. Of course if you don’t like the album you wouldn’t enjoy it, but then why would you go to see a concert of an album you don’t like? It’s not going to win any new fans for the album, but if you like it or the Floyd this is well worth seeing in a decent cinema where the sheer scale of it can be reproduced.
The concert and film is dedicated to the memory of those who died as a result of state oppression from full war, repressive dictatorial regimes or over zealous armed response cock ups such as the death of Jean Charles de Menez. We are left in no doubt that Rog is seriously pissed off about this. His companion on the road trip observes that Rog’s father also never knew his father, meaning two generations of Waters’ grew up without a father, a fact I found very moving. Roger reads an old letter to his mother from a colleague of his Dad on the beach at Anzio, and weeps. The inevitable presence of a camera crew hints at overindulgence but it is a striking moment nonetheless and had this viewer lamenting the amount of dust in the cinema.
The audience:
You can probably guess…reassuringly (in the interests of the world becoming a more predictable and stable place) there was a dickhead on the row in front who talked all the way through it. The Broadway is a lovely cinema, an original art deco building beautifully restored and run as a non profit making operation by the local authority (and beloved by @drakeygirl of this parish, though sadly not there tonight). On arrival a nice young man pressed a glass of sturdy red wine into my palm on the way on. Could it be better?
It made me think..
It’s a pretty powerful film/concert/message. Roger’s own personal demons clearly drive him much harder than do mine, tending towards stoic acceptance of what a lousy world it can be, but I did find my idealistic younger self popping up and wondering, what if, just if, everyone wanted to stop this sort of thing? We could do it, couldn’t we?
Very well worded review Twang. `The Wall` is an unloved album in this house so I doubt if I will go to see it but I may just play the album later because of what I have just read.
You can change your mind, can`t you?
Indeed you can Baron. I forgot to mention there’s a follow on mini feature which is Roger and Nick Mason answering fans’ questions over a glass of vino in knockabout style, providing some light relief after the trauma preceding it!
I went to see it at the FACT in lovely downtown Liverpool, we have a better quality of dickhead here, not only was she very pissed she decided to take the song ,Run Like Hell, as a command and run around the cinema. What fun it was,bet she does`nt remember it today.
Agree wholeheartedly with your review.
Ideally would have liked the ‘travelogue’ part to have been longer as found that the most interesting aspect, but given that the whole album had to be accomodated too, it would have made for a very long evening indeed.
It is laudable that Waters has tried to reboot the album to give it a more contemporary appeal, but to me it will always remain an album about an alienated rock star performed by Pink Floyd. As technically superb as these seasoned players are, in some indefinable way the spirit of the original album by the original band is somehow lacking.
Think it’s due for dvd release towards the end of November, so maybe some extra footage from the documentary will be thrown in.
I’ve been listening to the vinyl today – it really is a brilliant piece of work, which over stretches itself occasionally, but who cares. I think I’ve overlooked it recently, despite knowing every note. Is the remaster any cop?
As mentioned above
http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/latest/roger-waters-the-wall-dvd-blu-ray-2-disc-special-edition-and-cd.html
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THE FILM
on Blu-ray
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THE SOUNDTRACK
on CD http://smarturl.it/RWTW_D2C2CD?IQid=fb.rw
on 180 gram Triple Vinyl http://smarturl.it/RWTW_D2C3LP?IQid=fb.rw
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Better than the original cd pressing certainly – the demos are interesting too if you get that version – some good stuff on there – all on youtube of course if not!
C’mon, everyone switches off after Run Like Hell.
I recently bought it on CD – knowing that my old vinyl copy will never get played, and it was cheap.
And also because I was curious to hear it again as an adult. I played it to death in my teens but curiously I can’t remember how any of the tracks go (bar the ever-present “Another Brick…”) The titles jog no memories, neither does the lyrics, very strange.
I’ve yet to listen to it though, partly because I fear I will find it quite ghastly (and partly because there are so many brand new albums out now that I’d rather listen to).
I’ve had the opposite experience to the one you fear – I hadn’t listened to it for a while but it sounds brilliant to me. Sags a bit at one point but it’s hugely ambitious and I don’t mind.
Form an orderly queue for this
http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/roger-waters-builds-the-wall-higher-with-inflated-super-deluxe/#more-117609
Estimated UK price including shipping, import duty, VAT just short of £500 apparently!
Meanwhile James Guthrie discusses the reissued Amused to Death and reveals a 5.1 mix of the original Wall album is in the pipeline.
http://www.soundbard.com/soundbard/perfect-surround-sound-sense-james-guthrie-on-mixing-roger-waters-and-pink-floyd-in-5-1/
Santa brought me the blu-ray, it’s good but didn’t quite blow me away.
I have a 55″ telly and 5.1, I don’t like going to the cinema.
The next time someone complains about the (actually under-mined) back catalogue of The Beatles, just check out the seemingly limitless way ‘The Wall’ has been played live, recorded, filmed and repackaged over the years.
It’s second only to ‘Quadrophenia’ which Townshend feels the need to dust down every three years.
Best bits were where RW actually played the bass, now we all know he’s no Squire or Wetton but his bass is what is needed on this The Wall version. That plank spanker Pratt is a real drag.
Just watched this and am feeling a little blown away. Much, much better than I expected, visually and musically. A gazillion times better than that awful Berlin dross of 1990. Both concert and travelogue were beautifully shot and some of the musical arrangements were better than on the original album. Wonderful. I was surprised to see that the majority of the French audience looked under 30 and seemed to know every word.
Great stuff Gary. I am contemplating getting the DVD…