So ya, thought ya, might like to ... go to the show.
        Well, I certainly did. So once I heard Roger Waters was coming back to Philly for a three-night stand to perform The Wall, I was on this photo pass faster than I was biking to MR Ducks for the weekend Duck Parties. For this review the set-list was simple, he played The Wall album in its entirety so dust off those old CDs and you'll get the picture. I was there for the first of the three-show stop and it was visually spectacular. In an age of huge productions, "The Wall" was the hugest. In the first 15 minutes and five songs alone, a plane had flown down from the rafters, there were more sparks, flares and pyrotechnics than for the finales of most shows; and a 35-foot menacing puppet teacher had inflated and moved eerily about the stage. And that was before The Wall, a 240-feet-long, 35-feet high barrier of cardboard bricks, had even started to be built. As Waters and the 12 member band (google it) played the songs from the album in chronological order, the wall started to be built brick by brick.
        For "Another Brick In The wall", Waters was joined onstage by a children's choir, who sang the appropiate sections of the song. After that, more than 20 minutes into the show, was the only time Waters spoke at length to the crowd.:
“Good evening Philadelphia,” he said. “So they closed the Spectrum. What about the Electric Factory? Is that still there?” He told the crowd the idea for "Comfortably Numb" came after a doctor gave him an injection for the flu before a Spectrum show. During "Mother", Waters was alone in a spotlight playing acoustic guitar and with its line, “Mother Should I Trust The Government?” the always vocal Philly crowd answered, “No F---ing way!” For the end of the first set he disappeared behind the wall, sang "Goodbye Cruel World", peering from the last remaining opening, and slammed it shut with the last brick.
        Now with the Wall completely built, the second half of the show contained a heavier emphasis on the imagery used from the film projected onto the wall, including the hammer marching sequence from Waiting for the Worms. That got the crowd going crazy! For "Nobodys Home," a portion of the wall opened into Water's apartment and he sang while watching TV. Now the band came to the front of the Wall for "The Show Must Go On", and the last half hour of the concert, which included the Floyd traditional huge flying pig on "In The Flesh". As usual with all of his live Wall, the show ends with "The Trial", with the "judge's" verdict to "tear down the wall", and the audience chanting, "Tear Down The Wall." The Wall exploded, bricks flew everywhere and Waters received a well-deserved standing ovation for more than 5 minutes.
        The show closed, of course, with the band lined up, playing a six-minute "Outside The Wall", with Waters on trumpet. As well as the music and message of "The Wall" have held up, the show still clearly depended on the visual aspect, and it was stunning. It was an amazing finish to an amazing show. So in an age of technology and huge productions, Waters has clearly put on a high tech, mega budget show filled with stage effects and animatronics. He created a show based on an album recorded 30 years ago and took it to a whole new level with a technological 3D concept that I think more performers are going to borrow from in the future. I'm not sure if he'll be doing anymore U.S. dates in the future, buit if you are a fan of Roger Waters and/or Pink Floyd, you absolutely MUST see this show!! View more pictures online at coconuttimes.com