Roger Waters – The Wall (Live In Berlin)

"Crazy, over the rainbow, I am crazy"... about this tape!

Hearing Cyndi Lauper's rather... well, let's just call it 'unique' rendition of "Another Brick in the Wall" on the radio late 1990 was my very first exposure to the amazing event described in the following paragraphs. Some time thereafter I caught a few snapshots in... no, not family albums, but magazines - leaving me to wonder what it exactly is that I had missed.
Well, what I did miss by living on the other side of the equator was a concert event of a phenomenally massive and grand scale, both in concept and execution as well as sheer attendance and TV audience numbers.

When the Berlin Wall finally come down in '89, Berlin's Potsdamer Platz practically set itself up as the stage for the ideal setting of a live Roger Waters performance of the classic Pink Floyd album (which was, after all, penned primarily by the bassist). Thus, on Saturday the 21st of July 1990, a very different kind of wall (and this not being on account of the styrofoam bricks used!) was built by an all-star cast assembled for a stellar performance of this seminal concept classic.
However, even with the most meticulous planning a project of this sheer scale (just take a look at the credits above) which, amongst others, boasted gargantuan inflatables of the 'Teacher' and 'Pig' characters as well as animations projected onto the wall atop a stage (that reportedly measured some 550 feet wide and 82 feet high) does not get pulled off without a few hitches: those 300,00 or so in the audience and the estimated ½ billion TV viewers had to sit/stand through about three power outages, while other glitches included camera failures and, embarrassingly enough, Sinead O'Connor and The Band even forgetting their texts!

Nevertheless, none of this is apparent on this video and subsequent DVD releases.

All little accidents were beautifully ironed out and edited away into a spectacle that invariably closer represents what the organisers had envisaged and certainly supersedes anything I have personally ever attended or witnessed.
For instance, some of The Band's vocals on "Mother" had to be re-recorded after the show was over because they did not remember the lines during the actual performance. On the video you can see Roger Waters standing by them holding the lyrics to read (something only continuity freaks might spot) while Sinead O'Connor's fantastic performance we get to watch is from the previous day's dress rehearsal... but, who cares?

Amazing... simply amazing I say! Even my wife, who solemny dislikes music videos, sat through most of this - mesmerized!

Bryan Adams' grovelly voice is perfect for "Young Lust"; Cyndi Lauper in her short skirt and blazer school uniform does a twisted version of "Another Brick..." that somehow works; Snowy White's guitar solos are just out of this world and do ample justice to Dave Gilmour's original although it is Van Morrison who does sound more than a little out of breath during "Comfortably Numb".

Amazing, still... I bow down in humility to this phenomenal video.

The camera work, lighting, editing and overall sound is superb, showcasing all featured performers, including the orchestra and chorus (conducted by Michael Kamen) which the live audience would never even had seen or properly heard.
Roger Waters, too, is in top form, throwing TV sets around and clearly enjoys commanding queers, coons, jews and dopeheads against the wall. The Scorpions are comically adequate while personal highlights include Paul Carrack singing into the wall, the track "Mother" (edited, I don't care) and the superbly creepy performance of "Goodbye Blue Sky" by the legendary Joni Mitchell, with the projected animations from the film and stills of graffiti that had adorned the real wall which had cut the city in two adding to the overall emotional impact of the entire show as well as the somehow humourous "Trial Sequence" whereafter all walls come crumbling down to thunderous applause and great symbolic effect.

Oh, and have I mentioned that this tape is amazing?

"I've got 13 channels of shit on the TV to choose from." This is not one of them.