Roger Waters Review and Pics

When Pink Floyd first staged "The Wall" 32 years ago, it was wildly expensive and difficult to move from town to town - which is part of the reason why the tour only visited five cities.

The technological advances in three decades surely haven't made things cheaper, and Waters has spared no expense in the production (it reportedly cost upwards of $60 million dollars to stage).  From the outset, you know you're not in for a standard night at a concert when the warm up music playing through the PA includes John Lennon's "Imagine" and Jeff Beck's "People Get Ready".  Waters doesn't want you to get pumped up for a rock show that will blow your mind...he wants you to get mentally prepared for an emotional roller coaster that will blow your mind.

So what exactly is it about this show?  The oversized teacher puppet towering over a Raleigh children's choir   for "Another Brick In The Wall"?

The airplane divebombing over the crowd and crashing into the wall after "In The Flesh"?

The haunting Orwellian nature of "Mother" watching you while the video screen projected a camera watching your every move?

The images of greed dropping from a plane in "Goodbye Blue Sky"?
Peeking through the wall as the last brick is placed before intermission for "Goodbye Cruel World"?
The images of victims of war and terror complete with their stories plastered on the wall during intermission?
Playing "Hey You" from completely behind the wall with an ironic spotlight shining on an image we can't see?
The gut wrenching anti-war plea "Bring The Boys Back Home"?
The top-of-the-wall guitar solo on "Comfortably Numb"?

The graffiti-laced pig flying over the crowd?
The heart-pumping "Run Like Hell" with mind-boggling 3D images of bricks flying out of the wall?
Waters playing a dictator and symbolically picking out audience members to shoot during "Waiting for the Worms"?
The crumbling of the wall in the finale?

The only problem with seeing Roger Waters perform "The Wall" is it has set the bar too high for all other concerts.  After seeing this, the next time you see a band charge triple digits for tickets and then just stand there playing their instruments, playing the hits and phoning it in, you'll view them with a bit of contempt...because Roger Waters just staged the greatest rock concert ever.

Foster
Radio 96.1

***Some of the above photos are from my phone taken at the show and others are from "The Wall Tour" wikipedia page.  For additional photos, check out our friend Scott Sharpe of the News and Observer:

 http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/09/2189061/roger-waters-at-pnc-070912.html