Pink Floyd’s 1979 record “The Wall” was their next to last
great, masterful composition with the full original band of Roger Waters, David
Gilmour, Rick Wright, and Nick Mason.
Since then, Gilmour and Waters have traveled very separate roads to
success despite a re-forming of Pink Floyd on a one-off occasion in 2005 for
the Live 8 concerts. Since that time,
Rick Wright has passed away and Roger Waters embarked upon two solo tours (The
Dark Side of the Moon, and his current tour, The Wall, which has spanned the
globe since 2010, making a return to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul to a
sold out crowd). The show was a musical
and theatrical spectacle, displaying an uncanny ability Waters has to tell a
story.
Three male backing vocalists sang the tracks originally sung
by David Gilmour on the album. Robbie
Wyckoff shared lead vocals with Roger Waters or sang parts originally done by
David Gilmour. On backing vocals were
John Joyce and, the Lennon brothers (Mark, Michael, and Kipp).
Guitarists Dave Kilminster, Snowy White and G.E. Smith
provided the fireworks originally laid down by Gilmour on the record and all
played with urgency, and soul, fitting the record to a T while showing their
own skill, and Roger’s son Harry took command of the Hammond B3 organ on the
whole list of songs but most notably playing the original organ line from the
song “Young Lust” in the first part of the set.
That was a highlight. The organ
parts rang through crisp, loud and clear while Waters on bass and Graham Broad
on drums held down the rhythm section.
The set list was the entirety of that album with its songs
about greed and the effects of it, alienation, loneliness, and the notion that
control in any way, shape or form (be it political manipulation by the
allegiance to ideologies of any kind and, manipulation of the corporatism that
takes hold in modern society), will build walls and ruin what a society could
or has become. There were signs flashed
on the makeshift wall reading slogans and messages like “your mother loves you”
during the performance of that song, “Mother” (the sixth track and end of the
first side of the album). Waters also sang a duet with himself telling the audience, "you are about to hear something we hope you like. It's me singing a duet with myself as you watch footage from "The Wall" tour in 1980."
The theme is that building walls will not help a society and
that using ideology to prove a point on political or worldly levels, can’t
always work and it will lead to chaos, war, and downfall of nations. Behind the pyrotechnics, the screaming guitars,
thundering drums, and the hypnotic whirling of the Hammond B3 and Leslie
speaker, this is the message of “The Wall” as an album which was brought home
in a major way through the live theatrical performance. Theatrical, because Waters intended for this
album to be a rock opera, and that’s what it turned out to be. There is a plot, a set of characters, and a
struggle for one character to overcome isolation in a world he cannot
understand.
Both government and corporatism are what Waters is railing
against in his angst as the album unfolds with the bombastic backdrop of a rock
and roll concert, pyrotechnics and flying pigs as the means to illustrate such
emotions. Take something to an extreme
to prove a point that this world can become way too extreme if people let it
and that politically manipulative views of any kind will build walls and tear
societies apart.
Despite the gloom of that reality portrayed in the recording
and in the live show, the music has a bright side to it through the technical
skill of the musicians playing it. So,
fans can appreciate and represent both sides of what the album is about and
that is what makes “The Wall” and its tour Waters is on right now, such a
rewarding experience. Here’s how the set
list and the album break down, so, this could also qualify as one of the
“record collection, revisited” pieces that are frequently posted in the blog,
but seen through an entirely different lens.
Set List
Set 1:
In The Flesh
The Thin Ice
Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2
Mother
Goodbye Blue Sky
Empty Spaces
What Shall We Do Now?
Young Lust
One of My Turns
Don't Leave Me Now
Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 3
Last Few Bricks
Goodbye Cruel World
Set 2:
Hey You
Is There Anybody Out There?
Nobody Home
Vera
Bring The Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb
Show Must Go On
In The Flesh
Run Like Hell
Waiting For The Worms
Stop
The Trial
Outside The Wall
At the end of the show,Waters introduced the band, thanking the crowd for accepting the music as it was played. Waters still has a passion for bringing the legend of Pink Floyd to life, and it showed on Sunday night in the whole production of "The Wall".
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