Roger Waters: The Wall

             The show must go on. And it has done exactly that. The Wall has not been toured since 1980, and now 30 years later it has been resurrected for a tour. Led by former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters, but without the help of remaining live members Nick Mason and David Gilmour, Waters puts on a show that not only made me remember why The Wall is one of the greatest albums of all time, but also can have a powerful message even 30 years after its release.

            Pink Floyd is my favorite band of all time aside from The Beatles. Every Pink Floyd album has something special (with the exception of A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell). The Wall, which is also one of the best selling albums of all time, is also certainly some of their most ambitious and well written music. The albums concept was about a musician who isolates himself and builds a metaphorical wall around himself. The original tour for this album was a spectacle in itself. It featured a giant white wall that is slowly built up during the playing of the album till the band is no longer visible. At the end of the show during the last song, “Outside The Wall”, the wall comes down. At this new performance, everything was recreated brilliantly. The only thing that is noticeably different was the anti-war and anti-government message the new show had to offer.

            The moment the band broke out into “In The Flesh?”, the first song from the album, I immediately began to smell marijuana floating through the air. That was when I knew I was going to really enjoy this show.

            I firstly must say that Roger Waters still sounds amazing. The man, despite being close to 70, still sounds just as he did during the days of Pink Floyd. Every song is faithfully reproduced to sound almost exactly like the album. The only noticeable difference was the absence of David Gilmour’s vocals during “Comfortably Numb”. Instead he was replaced by a person with a voice that sounded similar to Water’s voice, only nowhere near as good.

            Aside from this, everything sounded perfect. I felt like I was listening to the album in my car. Waters was very receptive to the audience, and the effects and theatrics of the show were just brilliant.

            While this may end up being Roger Waters’ last tour, I can certainly say if it is he has gone out with a bang. Here’s to hoping we see some sort of Pink Floyd reunion in the coming years.