Roger Waters - The Wall - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland OH (09.28.10)

Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 10.08.2010

30 years after it's release, Roger Waters tears down the wall once again.

I'm pretty sure that I was 14 years old when I asked for Broken by Nine Inch Nails for Christmas. Instead, my mom got me Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell and Pink Floyd's The Wall. I don't think I've ever properly thanked her for that decision. I was a little familiar with Pink Floyd (my father is a huge Floyd fan, and whenever "Us and Them" would come on the radio he would challenge me to guess the second part of each line), but I had never really understood how they put their albums together. Suffice it to say that I was absolutely hooked. I listened to a lot of different types of music, but this album became the definitive album for me. Like so many people before me, I could (and still can) relate to the themes that the album presents of isolating yourself from the world, putting on a face, lashing out, etc… even if I don't have some of the same experiences that prompted Waters to write it.

Since that fateful Christmas nearly 17 years ago, I've devoured every bit of The Wall that I've been able to. I've studied the differences between the studio version and the live recording that was released, as well as the changes they made for the movie version. I watched the 1990 version from the Berlin Wall dozens of times. I've talked at length with family and friends about the album, the movie, the story, and the symbolism. I wouldn't say that I'm an expert, but I definitely am very familiar with every lyric and every note of that album.

Ever since seeing Roger Waters perform Dark Side of the Moon a few years back, I was hoping that he would decide to do a full re-creation of The Wall for a major tour. My wife was well aware that, no matter how far I had to travel, if Waters did another run of The Wall I would be there. Rumors of this show started floating around last year, and, when the tour was announced early this year, there was no question as to whether or not I was going. My father, my brother, and I ended up getting tickets for the Cleveland performance, and the anticipation began.

***Spoilers ahead***

Before I get started with the actual review, I'm going to cover a couple of points. Obviously this review is full of spoilers for the show. If you're planning on seeing the show, the only thing that you should know going into the show is the fact that they only play The Wall. Unlike the Dark Side tour, which included a full first set, Dark Side of the Moon, and an extended encore, this show is The Wall and only The Wall. Other than that, I honestly think you should stop reading this review and come back after you see the show. Just my 2 cents.

My family got what I considered very reasonably priced tickets for very good seats. We were in the lower level, looking at the stage head on. The stage already had the sides of the wall constructed, with parts stretching into the lower balcony, and there was a large round screen behind the stage. The setup was actually similar to the Berlin setup, although obviously a smaller scale. There wasn't much on the stage at the start of the show other than the band's instruments, but all of that changed when the lights went down.


The show started at about 8:15. Like the album version, the show actually started with the very end of "Outside the Wall" before suddenly exploding into "In The Flesh?" complete with flag waving and the double-hammer imagery. I probably shouldn't have been surprised by how good Waters and his band sounded, since they were pretty spot-on for Dark Side the last time I saw them, but they did sound fabulous. The song even closed with a plane flying into the wall and an explosion on impact. I was surprised that the sound and the pyro weren't more dramatic, but it was still a cool opening.

The show went from dramatic to personally touching for the second song. The performance of "On Thin Ice" was again superb, but it was the visuals that really stole the show. Throughout the song, a picture would show up on the large round screen, followed by the person's name, date of birth, and date of death. It started with Waters' father (who died in WWII and is a huge inspiration for the album) before moving through U.S. soldiers, a policeman who died in 9/11, an Iraqi child killed in Baghdad, an Iranian activist killed in Tehran, and others. As the song progressed, the images moved from the large screen to individual bricks on the wall, until, by the end of the song, each brick featured another victim of war. This was the first example of just how impressive of a screen this "wall" was going to be. Each brick was able to create it's own detailed image, independent of the other bricks. It was a very cool effect.

The "Another Brick In the Wall Pt. 1"-> "Happiest Days of Our Lives"-> "Another Brick IN the Wall Pt. II" section was next. It started with a great version of Pt. 1, very dark, with the stage and set bathed in dark red light. This also was the start of the actual construction of the wall, as stagehands began building brick by brick. As Pt. 1 ended and "Happiest Days of Our Lives" began, the helicopter sound effect echoed through the arena and searchlights swept the floor. When the schoolteacher made his appearance on the album, a spotlight came shone on an oversized schoolteacher puppet that stood significantly higher than the wall. Unfortunately, for Part 2, the performance went from a serious (if over the top) telling of the story to a "grade school musical" type of rendition, complete with bad choreography and a group of kids on stage lip syncing. This was unfortunate enough, but when Roger got involved in the dancing as well, it was really a low point for the show. The Wall is a serious show, dealing with serious issues, and it's not an album that I've ever thought is meant to be taken lightly. There were plenty of changes and adjustments to the presentation throughout the night that I loved, but this was one that I was really upset about.



One of those good changes came with the next song. Waters came out to do an introduction and a thank you before launching into "Mother." On the screen, they broadcast footage of Waters singing the song at Earls Court in London back in 1981. The effect was pretty cool, and the sound was great. This was the first opportunity to really hear Robbie Wyckoff doing Gilmour's vocals, and he did a very impressive job throughout the show. The multi-guitarist setup (which included G.E. Smith and longtime Waters bandmate Snowy White) did a solid job recreating Gilmour's solos on the song as well. The animation showed a change of focus for the song, as the original antagonist (mother) was often shown as a substitute for a modern-day "big brother."




"Goodbye Blue Sky" was beautifully done, and used very similar imagery to the movie. However, instead of the planes just dropping crosses as they had in the past, the bombs were now represented by a variety of religious and corporate symbols. The statement of how different entities (religion, corporate greed, government, etc…) take different responsibilities towards war was pretty clear. "What Shall We Do Now," which is an extended version of "Empty Spaces," used the same display as the movie, only projected on a wall that by now spanned the majority of the stage, with just a few holes for the band to move back and forth. "Young Lust" wasn't really a heavy version of the song, and it came off pretty flat. I don’t know who to blame for that, but it wasn't a very high-energy performance of the song. "One of My Turns" suffered in a similar way. The opening part was good, with Roger singing while sitting at the base of the wall. After the "turn," however, the tension and danger that the song represents really didn't come across in the performance. While the movie shows windows breaking and furniture being thrown from the window, Waters wandered the stage rather aimlessly, and even the projection on the wall was rather bland.

"Don't Leave Me Now" turned things around, with heartfelt vocals and some simple but stark visuals for most of the song. The song featured another massive puppet, likely representing women in general, that didn't do too much, but it still looked pretty cool. "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 3" featured television and a consumer society as opposed to a relational society as the last few bricks. The first set closed with Waters singing "Goodbye Cruel World" behind the wall, looking out of the final hole in the wall, which was filled in at the end of the song.



During the intermission, names and pictures of victims of terrorism were displayed on the wall, creating a powerful message during the break. "Hey You," a very Gilmour-heavy song, opened the second set in good fashion. The wall itself was stark and mainly static throughout the song, adding to the feeling of isolation that the song generates. "Is There Anybody Out There" included crowd searchlights and a true-to-the-original classical guitar solo. "Nobody Home" had the stage-right side of the wall opening to reveal Waters in a recliner in a mock hotel room for the song.

The next two songs I've often thought of as the weakest tracks on the album. I understand where "Vera" and "Bring The Boys Back Home" fit into the story, but they've never really inspired me. However, after this performance, I'll never be able to listen to "Vera" without getting chills. The performance itself was good, and, again, true to the album. It was the imagery that was most powerful. The song started with a picture of Vera Lynn on the stage-left side of the wall. During the song, however, movies of children tearfully greeting parents returning from war were displayed on the wall. There were only maybe 4 different clips, but they were absolutely heart wrenching. I am not the most sentimental person by any stretch, but I had tears in my eyes by the end of the song, and one of my friends who was at the show later told me he was crying openly. It was absolutely the most powerful thing I've ever seen at a concert, and that moment in itself overshadowed some of the weaker parts of the show. That was followed by the nearly as powerful message of "Bring The Boys Back Home" where the wall displayed images of bombed out buildings and cities along with a Dwight D. Eisenhower quote "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed and those who are clothed and not cold." Waters obviously wears his politics on his sleeve, but his presentation of The Wall and specifically these two songs allowed him to express that in a way that was real and powerful without being preachy or overbearing.

The epic "Comfortably Numb" brought the show back to basics, with very little going on visually beyond Waters singing at the front of the wall and a pair of Gilmour fill-ins performing at the top of the wall. Waters once again showed that, for everything that he is, he is not a strong frontman, as he still looked a little lost wandering around, especially during the Gilmour parts. "The Show Must Go On" allowed Waters to return to character, as he and a small group of backup singers all dressed in black sang the songs in the shadow of the massive wall, now lit up to look like huge columns at some Roman coliseum. Double-hammer banners unfurled as the song moved into "In The Flesh," with the classic look from the movies as foreboding as ever.



"Run Like Hell" included some of the biggest imagery of the show, with the wall showing it's full potential. Instead of the more cartoon-esque graphics of the original, the display was more modern and much darker. There was a clear line drawn between leaders and followers during the song, and a condemnation of a digital age that turns people into followers by design.

The final segment of the album started out strongly with "Waiting For The Worms," although the danger and venom that the typically accompanies the song wasn't really expressed in the performance. Again, it was just an area that needed more "oomph" behind it. Luckily, that was the last underwhelming part of the show. The synchronization of the cartoon display on the wall with the music was perfect for "The Trial", and Roger played the different characters well. I was always particularly disappointed with the voice of the Judge at the end of the song on other live version that I've heard, but this performance was at least as powerful as the album version. The actual tearing down of the wall was quick and impressive. It obviously was controlled, but it didn't come across that way. The epilogue of "Outside The Wall" was a great sendoff, with Waters playing the trumpet and the band giving a heartfelt performance.



I've been waiting most of my life for this show, and I know it would've been almost impossible for it to live up to expectations. I was definitely upset that, at certain times, the serious tone of the album seemed to be lost, especially by Waters playing to the crowd. He's always been an awkward frontman, and him pointing at the crowd or clapping along just comes across as odd, and the fact that he was doing that during some of the serious moments of the album added to that. The raw emotion, the anger, and the sense of isolation and depression that makes the album so powerful was lost for much of the concert. I would've liked to have seen him stay "in character" for the duration of the show, at least until the very end before "Outside The Wall."

I was also surprised that it wasn't, for lack of a better term, "bigger." The wall itself was extremely impressive, but the light show was only ok, the screen wasn't that great, and there was hardly any pyro at all (and the pyro that was used was pretty basic stuff). I've seen concerts with some pretty impressive explosions, but even the plane crash at the beginning was relatively tame here. Also, the volume for the concert was simply too low. We had speakers directly in front of us, and I was expecting at least a few bone-jarring moments, but that didn't happen. I definitely appreciate a few blinding explosions and some seat-rattling bass, and The Wall has plenty of room for that, but it was all pretty tame.

Finally, I know that the show was billed as The Wall, but I was honestly surprised that there wasn't a short opening set of other Floyd material along with a couple of Waters' solo songs. The Dark Side Of The Moon show had a full first set, the full Dark Side album for the second set, and a 5-song encore. Granted, The Wall is a longer album, but there still could've been a 40-minute opening set, an intermission, and then the performance of The Wall. I think if they had added a short set that would've allowed Waters to greet the crowd and do that stuff prior to The Wall. That would've also done away with the intermission in the middle of the album. I know that's how it was originally performed, but having a half-hour intermission between Side 2 and Side 3 stops a lot of the momentum.

I'm certainly not trying to come off as negative, however, and I absolutely recommend that any fan of Floyd go sees this show. The band is absolutely phenomenal, and they do a great job with the album. It may have taken 4 guys to fill the shoes of David Gilmour, but those four guys did an exceptional job. The wall itself is a sight to behold, and I'm still trying to figure out how they did the projections. The message often shifted from the original personal story to a more corporate story and critique of society in general, but the album certainly leaves enough room for that interpretation.

As I said, it would've been just about impossible to live up to the expectations I had for this show. That being said, it was an amazing performance, and Waters certainly still has a tremendous artistic vision beyond just the music. He's stated that this is likely going to be his last tour. If that's the case, while I would be very sad to see him hang it up since he's still obviously very capable, he would be going out on one hell of a high note. If you're on the fence, please, go see this show.

The 411: While it wasn't perfect, this latest incarnation of The Wall is one of the best shows I've seen this year. The band sounded amazing, the stage show was great, and the album itself still stands the test of time. If it's coming your way, go see it.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]