Roger Waters - the Wall Live in Berlin [Special Edition] [DVD]

I went to see this concert in 1990 at the tender age of 19, and I'm not sure that I fully appreciated its significance back then.

The Berlin Wall had just fallen, and moving with lightning speed and opportunity, Roger Waters and his crew arranged this full production of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" concert, in the "No-Man's Land" that had existed between West and East Berlin since the (other) Wall was erected in the early 1960's (1961?).

Pink Floyd fans will understand that Roger Waters wasn't on speaking terms with the rest of the band at the time, and so he called on his many music business friends to do the honours of performing. Perhaps the only thing that could have improved this concert would have been a full Floyd line-up. That said, lead guitar duties at the concert were performed by both Andy Fairweather-Low and Snowy White (the latter a member of "The Surrogate Band" in original performances). And it says something for Waters' professional respect for Dave Gilmour's musical ability that he used these two heavyweights to fill the void.

The rest of the performances at the concert feature a variety of artists, each taking a different section of the show. At the actual performance there was a big technical hitch during Sinead O'Connor's angelic performance of "Mother", and this DVD actually uses footage from the previous day's full dress rehearsal. A wise decision in view of the way she sings a song that fate must have dictated she would get to sing one day.

The highlight of the whole show for me was seeing the words "Bring The Boys Back Home" projected across the entirety of the 100m x 30m wall constructed during the first half of the show. When I came to watch the DVD 14 years after the event, the power and context of this message finally hit home and left me in floods of tears.

This DVD is a must-own for all Floyd fans, old and new. The production values do, at times, reflect the hastily arranged nature of the performance. But nothing can take away the power and reflected glory of Roger Water's professed anti-War/anti-Human-Conflict message.

The finale of the show, after the Wall collapses, is an ensemble performance of a track from Water's "Radio K.A.O.S." album - "The Tide is Turning".

It certainly seemed that way in 1990.

By good fortune I went with two Dutch friends who speak perfect German
and we arrived in the morning so was able to get very close to the huge stage.

Held in Potsdamer Platz (a location which was part of the former "no-man's land" of the Berlin Wall), this concert was even bigger than the Pink Floyd era ones, as Waters built a 550-foot long and 82-foot high wall, which was broken down in the same show.

The show had a sell-out crowd of over 200,000 people, and right before the performance started the gates were opened to the concert and an additional 100,000 to 500,000 (estimates vary) people were able to enter for free so we are talking about a huge audience.

To Clear up the issue about ' technical failures ' I had a friend
record the whole show in Holland { unlike the UK in Holland they covered it live ' from start to finish } so I did watch it after the event and I do know the broadcast was marred with a few drop's in sound but we { the audience } watching it live were unaware about any problems ' apart ' from the second song, "The Thin Ice" and part of the third song, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)", were disrupted when a circuit breaker tripped. It was reset, but immediately tripped again so they had to rewire some equipment. Those two songs had to be re-recorded for the issue of the DVD.The live performance of "Mother" was also hounded by a power failure. Roger Waters tried to get Sinéad O'Connor to sing her parts anyway, or mime the song, while the error was being fixed. Offended by being asked to mime, she didn't return after the show to re-record the performance (which is how "The Thin Ice" was saved for the CD/Video release.) Instead, the release version of "Mother" comes from the dress rehearsal on the previous night before the concert. Consequently, the large projection of Gerald Scarfe's mother character that was projected on the screen during the concert cannot be seen on the video or DVD versions.

I went to a local party in East Berlin and around one hour later we could hear them repeating the part that had been broken up before .

Its impossible to spot when you watch the DVD and even although I was thirty foot from the stage I cant even spot the splice.

I work in the music festival field so I do get to see many Live events but The Wall Concert in Berlin on 21 July 1990 was the best Concert I have ever seen and even although its now over seventeen years later I can still remember it as if it was yesterday.

Really this DVD should be in ever fan's collection.

ps

Shot on Potsdamer Platz, the no man's land between East and West Germany, the producers didn't know if the area would be filled with mines - no one did. Before setting up, they did a sweep of the area and found a cache of munitions and a previously unknown SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler bunker. The Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler started as Hitler's elite personal bodyguard but were later diverted to Eastern and Western fronts. There is a misconception probably due to the SS division's name that the bunker found was the Führerbunker or the place were Adolf Hitler committed suicide which is false. The Führerbunker was in another location.

At the request of the concert producers, part of the Berlin Wall was kept in place as a security fence behind the stage.

In 1990, Pink Floyd Mk III ruled the world. David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright, on the strength of 1987's good-enough album had toured the world for two straight years and at the dawn of the decade headlined the subsequent Knebworth festival. Roger Waters' 1987 album, Radio K.A.O.S., was a conceptual masterpiece. He had toured it, playing Floyd classics which he was almost entirely responsible for along the way, and played sweatboxes in New Orleans while his old band headlined stadiums in Italy. In 1990, partly out of spite, and partly for charity, Waters planned a massive extravaganza, a slightly distorted version of The Wall, which he legally owned, with a greatly proliferated - and often surprising - supporting cast.

The result is a somewhat mixed bag. Watching this DVD is very much a head-trip, a bizarre experience as Waters leads the vocals on the songs he made famous, while the contemporary pop stars of the time back him up. Some do well; some less so.

Paul Carrack, who made an excellent cameo on Radio K.A.O.S., again does a fine job of Hey You, his passionate, high-pitched voice echoing across the remnants of the Berlin Wall where this magnificent event was staged. The Scorpions make a decent showing of themselves, Van Morrison and The Band both make sterling efforts and Sinead O'Connor also teams up with the former Dylan musicians on Mother to great effect. Best of all is Bryan Adams, whose takes on the lost verse of Empty Spaces - in my opinion a great loss to the original Wall album, as the lyrics are brilliant - and Young Lust practically make the show worthwhile.

However, all is not necessarily well. As Waters admits on the vastly entertaining special feature which comes with the DVD, the playing of the communist German orchestra is, to use his words, 'slapdash,' and makes Bring The Boys Back Home, never a highlight of the original show, a tad tiresome. The Trial, despite its star-studded mini-cast, is incredibly disappointing, and has detracted slightly from my love of the warped original piece.

The encore redeems it all, though. Waters and the better members of the cast collaborate on a version of The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid), the happy ending (and best track) of Radio K.A.O.S. that Waters' label forced upon him. Its vast choruses above the shattered wall and Waters gloriously pretentious lyrics echo in your ears for hours after the DVD clicks to a halt.

While by no means perfect, this DVD is well worth the money and is an excellent choice. I heartily recommend it to experienced Floydians, Waters solo fans, and even those who barely even know The Wall.