How to describe The Greatest Rock Show On Earth? “Epic”, “ambitious,” or even “pompous,” fail to do justice to the sheer scale of the live incarnation of Roger Waters’ audacious concept album, released all of 34 years ago.
A triumph of technology and an audio-visual spectacular, The Wall, is unequalled in terms of the immenseness of its stage production. Even the vast expanse of the Aviva, (which provided the perfect futuristic backdrop) was barely able to contain the massive white wall itself, which stretched across the stage and up into the stands on either side.
The show opened with an overload of pyrotechnics - crimson flames shooting up from behind the stage, an eruption of fire at the front, spotlights searching around the crowd and the sound of sirens and aircraft engines swirling around the stadium. A World War Two fighter plane zooms in from the back of the arena heading for the right of the stage before crashing in a ball of flames. And that was just for starters! Like a demented dictator in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, the silver-haired 70-year-old Waters held court centre stage with arms stretched out glorying in the excess of it all. Anti-corporate and anti-war images are projected onto the giant wall throughout the show, while the props include the familiar teacher and of course the fat, “capitalist” pig hovering above the crowds before being dragged down and ripped apart by the mob! And then there was the music itself, which, though inextricably linked to the visuals, stood on its own. The best-known sections of the sprawling double album elicit the most enthusiastic response; ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ (Parts 1 and 2), ‘Is There Anyone Out There’, ‘The Happiest Days of Our Lives’, ‘Comfortably Numb’ and ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ being among the highlights.
Waters, who informed us that this would be the last performance of The Wall before an Englishspeaking audience, looked slim and fit and if his voice seemed a tad fragile and cracked at times, it didn’t adversely affect his performance. The surround-sound mix was excellent too, while a terrific band, which included Snowy White on guitar, remained, hidden behind the wall for most of the show before being revealed at the end. There are times you wonder at the breathtaking ridiculousness of it all.
But then, that’s the whole point of a show like this...