Waters is basically recreating the blockbuster international tour based in the band’s 1979 double album of the same name, complete with all the theatrics, pyrotechnics, and props. The Wall also spawned a partially animated movie starring Bob Geldoff, which was released in 1982.
The current tour features the same grandiose productions as the original tours, with a backing choir, videos projected on large screens, inflatable characters, and a full-sized wall being built on stage, later to be demolished. Much of the video footage is new, made specifically for the 2010 tour.
The new footage features shots of dictators like Adolph Hitler and Mao Tse-tung, as well as former President George Bush, interspersed with shots of Iraq war victims and 9-11 firefighters.
The photos of war and terrorism victims were provided in part by fans, as part of Water’s Fallen Loved Ones project. Waters advertised on his website for fans to send pictures of soldier or civilian victims, saying, “Civilian deaths are equally, if not more, harrowing.”
The concert essentially played the album’s tracks from start to finish and throughout the first half of the event, workers built the wall onstage. During “Another Brick in the Wall,” Waters was joined onstage by 25 middle-school students, who chanted, “We don’t need no education” in unison with the chorus.
Waters is slated to play two more nights in Toronto before moving on to Ottawa and Montreal next month. He will play in Vancouver in December.
30-Year-Old Show, Relevant Message
Originally conceived as an expression of Waters’ pain over the loss of his father in World War II, The Wall also deals with depersonalization, isolation, and despair. Having seen war and the loss of life continue, Waters feels the show’s message is still relevant.
Waters says on his website, “30 Years ago when I wrote The Wall I was a frightened young man. In the intervening years it has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss provides an allegory for broader concerns.
“Nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, Whatever! All these issues and ‘isms’ are driven by the same fears that drove my young life.
“This new production of The Wall is an attempt to draw some comparisons, to illuminate our current predicament, and is dedicated to all the innocent lost in the intervening years.”
Waters believes that “many of these tragic losses of life are avoidable. I feel empathy with the families of all the victims and anger at ‘The Powers That Be’, who are responsible, in equal measure.” He ask fans to join him in “honouring our dead and protesting their loss.”
Waters emphasizes that the grim images are not indicative of pessimism or defeatism.
“I believe we have at least a chance to aspire to something better than the dog-eat-dog ritual slaughter that is our current response to our institutionalized fear of each other.
“I feel it is my responsibility as an artist to express my, albeit guarded, optimism, and encourage others to do the same. To quote the great man: ‘You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.’”
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