Roger Waters - "The Wall"
Madison Square Garden, New York City
October 5 , 2010

 

 

 

 
Concert review by
Lady Jane Rushmore
 
 

God gave rock and roll to me. In my five plus decades on the planet I have witnessed the absolute best rock concerts that ever transpired&.The Stones "Steel Wheels" tour, Dylan backed up by Petty and The Heartbreakers, Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Elton with special guest John Lennon, The Ramones, Zep, and on and on, and blessed is what I have been, but no show, as great and spectacular as they all were, has come close to Roger Waters performance of "The Wall" at Madison Square Garden. It was the greatest rock show that I've ever been to.

It was the ultimate rock spectacular that made the 1979 Pink Floyd album seem like it was written this year as Waters used corporate logos, images of the Iraq war, and an imagined dictatorship as symbols of the wall that divides nations and separates us from one another. It was a multimedia extravaganza, a theatrical experience too big for any Broadway stage.

During this amazing production, the first album of the original package was played before intermission, then both sides of the second LP after. A 30-foot-high wall was constructed one block at a time during the first half and it ran from one side of the Garden to the other. During the second half that wall was covered in a sensory overload of images, slogans and dark cartoons that created a spectacle too mind-boggling to try and describe. All I can say is it was brilliant.

The show featured many musical and visual delights including a gigantic teacher marionette, a floating pig that swooped over the audience, and a 12-piece band that performed the music with flair and respect. A local children's choir appeared for "Another Brick In The Wall Pt 2." The visuals accompanying "Run Like Hell" were a series of images that take on iPod commercials and dissolve into a bold scrawl instructing "You Better Run!" "Mother," "Hey You," and "Comfortably Numb" were highlights that all contributed to the greatest concert I ever witnessed.

It all leads me to wonder what David Gilmore must be thinking. He can't be pleased, but then again Roger Waters wasn't too thrilled when Gilmore and company continued to tour under the Pink Floyd name after they parted company.

If you have an opportunity to see this show, run like hell to the arena. You will experience one of the greatest nights of your life.

Setlist

1. In the Flesh?
2. The Thin Ice
3. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1
4. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
5. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2
6. Mother
7. Goodbye Blue Sky
8. Empty Spaces
9. What Shall We Do Now?
10. Young Lust
11. One of my Turns
12. Don't Leave Me Now
13. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3
14. The Last Few Bricks
15. Goodbye Cruel World

Intermission

Part 2
16. Hey You
17. Is There Anybody Out There?
18. Nobody Home
19. Vera
20. Bring the Boys Back Home
21. Comfortably Numb
22. The Show Must Go On
23. In the Flesh
24. Run Like Hell
25. Waiting for the Worms
26. Stop
27. The Trial
28. Outside the Wall