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THE WALL LIVE IN BERLIN

Roger Waters

Crossover Prog


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Roger Waters The Wall Live in Berlin album cover
3.21 | 79 ratings | 12 reviews | 30% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

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DVD/Video, released in 1990

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. In The Flesh?
2. The Thin Ice
3. Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 1
4. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
5. Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2
6. Mother
7. Goodbye Blue Sky
8. Empty Spaces
9. Young Lust
10. Oh My God - What A Fabulous Room
11. One Of My Turns
12. Don't Leave Me Now
13. Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 3
14. Goodbye Cruel World
15. Hey You
16. is There Anybody Out There?
17. Nobody Home
18. Vera
19. Bring The Boys Back Home
20. Comfortably Numb
21. In The Flesh
22. Run Like Hell
23. Waiting For The Worms & Stop
24. The Trial
25. The Tide Is Turning

Total Time: 120 minutes

Line-up / Musicians

Band:
Roger Waters, Graham Broad, Rick Difonzo, Andy Fairweather Low, Nick Glennie-Smith, Snowy White, Peter Wood.

Special Guests:
Bryan Adams, The Band, Paul Carrack, Thomas Dolby, James Galway, Jerry Hall, The Hooters, Cyndi Lauper, Ute Lemper, Paddy Moloney, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Sinead O' Connor, The Scorpions.

Releases information

DVD Universal Music
VHS Polygram Music Video 082 649-3 (1990)

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to progaeopteryx for the last updates
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ROGER WATERS The Wall Live in Berlin ratings distribution


3.21
(79 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(30%)
30%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(24%)
24%
Good, but non-essential (29%)
29%
Collectors/fans only (10%)
10%
Poor. Only for completionists (6%)
6%

ROGER WATERS The Wall Live in Berlin reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars If you want to see a spectacular live performance, this video suits you. This was a live performance by Roger Waters after he left the band delivering The Wall album in its entirety plus one new song "The Tide is Turning". On singing department, Roger Waters brought various artists from pop and rock scenes. I had a mixed feeling when the first time I saw this video in laser disc format. On one side I was really amazed with how spectacular the show was in terms of stage design and concept. The stage size was gigantic; I think it could accommodate fifty big trucks on stage. The backdrops were awesome. It was really excellent stage. But on the other side, musically I was not really happy with some songs that became very poppy especially those sung by pop singers like Cindy Lauper, Van Morisson, Paul Carrack or country singer Joni Mitchell. Those songs have lost their soul performed in this live performance.

The show was opened by the government official that welcome Waters and the band. Scorpions opened the music show with "In The Flesh?" in a rocking style - typical Scorpions. I would prefer Roger Waters and the band perform this opening because Scorpions performs this with no soul. The situation has even worsen when Scorpions played "lip sync" in "In The Flesh" (note: without question mark) in track 21, it's really bad. Their mimics did not sync with the music and this has created a terrible look.

Other artists like Joni Mitchell, Van Morison, Paul Carrack, Cindy Lauper, The Bands performed the singing but they all produce unsatisfactory result for my personal taste. The songs were getting worse compared to studio version. The part that I like most is when Bryan Adams and Roger Waters sung together under "Empty Spaces - Young Lust". Especially under high tone voice where the two gentlemen shout together at the end of the song "When I play my new guitar ." wow!! Great voice mannn!!!! I always repeat this track when I listen to the CD.

The other part that I like is when Roger Waters performed "Nobody Home - Vera". I like it very much. With the exception of Scorpions performing "In The Flesh" in lip-sync style, the rest of the songs after Vera is excellent. My all-time favorite songs as in the original THE WALL album was the last three songs "The Trial - Waiting for the Worms - Stop ". This trilogy is performed excellently!

Overall, I would say that this video features excellent performance, musically, by Roger Waters band. However, some singing parts by pop artist are really bad. They have deteriorated the quality of original album version. However, I still recommend this video for purchase mainly on the basis of spectacular show and Roger Waters performance, but not some of the singing part by various artists. Keep on proggin' ..!!

Progressively yours, GW

Review by Cluster One
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars The proof is in the pudding. Whereas the audio CD of this concert is, at best, poor, the DVD of the same concert has much more value.

WATERS organized this massive concert (attended by over 250,000+ fans) to celebrate the end of The Berlin Wall and to raise money for 'The Memorial Relief Fund' charity. The concert was broadcast to a live audience of over 300+ million. A lot of work went into this huge production, and it shows, even if most of the musical performances is/was really poor!

The sheer scale of the stage show is momentous. The SCORPIONS actually drive onto the stage to perform 'In The Flesh?' in a Limousine. The stretch limousine looks puny, putting the size of the actual stage in perspective, mammoth! As well, seeing UTE LEMPER perform is always a good thing, even with the volume down ;-)

Seeing the music performed live puts a number of the performances in a new light. Case in point: CYNDI LAUPER. Audiowise, her rendition of 'Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2' is hard to suffer through, but seeing her on tape, shows she is really into her performance. In fact she not only looks good performing, she truly looks like she's enjoying herself. The same goes for THOMAS DOLBY, as for his performance, he is attached to huge (5 metre+) inflatable legs and arms and suspended over 20 metres in the air. Like or dislike this concert, you can't deny the massive amount of effort invested in it by its brainchild (WATERS), its performers, musicians, and right down to the roadies building the enormous almost kilometre long Wall.

As a bonus feature, the DVD includes a short documentary where WATERS and a number of the other creators outline the difficulties staging a show of this magnitude, and the symbolism of this unique historic event.

For ROGER WATERS fans, a definite 3/5 stars, for others, the video of this concert is more of a visual spectacle or curiosity than anything else. Yet the music is still quite lacking so 2/5 stars, for collectors primarily.

Review by Guillermo
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars I don`t have none of the officially released commercial versions of this concert video, but I recorded it from the TV when it was broadcasted in my country by a Mexican TV company (in two parts, two saturday nights, in late 1990). One day some years ago I was in a record shop, and I saw that in their TV screens the employees of the shop were playing this concert in the VHS or Laser Disc format. I watched this video in the screens of the record store for some minutes, and I saw several clear differences in the editing and in the camera angles between the official video version and the TV broadcast version. I have to say again that I don`t like the original "The Wall" album very much and that I prefer the Alan Parker`s movie of "The Wall". So, I watched the TV broadcast with some curiosity and at the same time I recorded it. Some versions of these songs are good, but one can hear clear differences in the musicians` performances. One really misses David Gilmour`s guitar solos and vocals, or Nick Mason`s drums and Rick Wright`s keyboards. Roger Waters`band is good, playing the songs with a lot of "professional attitude", but... it is not the same without Pink Floyd. Maybe the best songs are the songs on which Roger Waters sings the lead vocals, particularly "Nobody Home" (a very good version sung with a lot of feeling) and "Run Lke Hell". He is also a good "actor" too, doing gestures. The guest lead singers did the best job they could, some with good performances (Bryan Adams, Cindy Lauper, Van Morrison), and others with less good results (particularly Joni Mitchell and Sinnead O`Connor, who seem to really be "out of the style" for the songs, like doing it only for Waters`kind invitation). "The Tide is Turning" is a song from Waters`"Radio KAOS" album which was played more as an Encore after the performance of "The Wall" was finished. This version of "The Wall" is more for Roger Waters` fans and collectors, and also maybe for some Pink Floyd`s fans who like to listen and to see the contributions of famous stars to the Post-Pink Floyd`s "in concert performance" of this work. But I recognize the lot of efforts that Waters put in this show. It was a very good planned show, and he was successful in this purpose. The stage design was very good.
Review by erik neuteboom
PROG REVIEWER
1 stars I just read the review from Palm Palmer and I can live with it! I witnessed the The Wall shows from Pink Floyd two times, in London (UK) and in Dortmund (Germany). If I compare those concerts with this one, it revealed the almost megalomaniac state of mind from Roger Waters! He must have been on another world to think that he could achieve anything that could come close to the magic of the original shows. Did he really think that he could deliver a decent show? I witnessed the original Roger Waters show live on the German television and during the show I felt more and more ashamed about the performance, what a bunch of amateurish faults and poor appearances! I compared my original video recordings with the final DVD, it's really embarrasing...
Review by memowakeman
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Why don`t you enjoy it?

Maybe the fact here is that Roger Waters decided to do a commemorative and representative concert because of The Wall (you know which wall), but in his will to celebrate that event, he decided to gather lots of artists to perform the whole Pink Floyd`s "The Wall " album, the mistake was that he didn`t gather prog msucicians like (a weird example) Peter hammil, Jon Anderson or Peter Gabriel, even the same Pink Floyd, he gathered pop and mainstream artists maybe to get audience or because they asked him i dont really know, but i think the reason of see Cindy Lauper, Bryan Adams and The Scorpions for example, is not very comfortable to you, as a prog lover or Pink Floyd fan maybe we might be angry with this , because the essence of progressive rock was totally destroyed with their performances, maybe that`s the reason of it`s low rating.

I share your feelings, i would like to see another singers or musicians here, but after all Waters attempt to do a great show, and he did it!

As i said above, this concert was made to celebrate the fall of Berlin`s Wall, and to have a moment of joy and happiness between the citizens and musicians, the complete The Wall was performanced here as we know it, musically it`s almost the same, only for a couple of long guitar solos and that kind of things which we can see in every concert, and also it was something like a theatre play, or i mean, the adaptation of the movie, we can see for example in "The Trial" all the characters personified by singers and actors, the same case after "One of my Turns" who doesn`t remember the lady asking "Pink" would you like some water?

Well, each song is performanced by different singers / artists / musicians, of course including Roger Waters who is also like an actor, appreciating the talent and will of pop artists like Bryan Adams singing "Young Lust" and pretending to play the guitar (haha what a shame), Sinnead O`Connor singins "Mother" with her beautiful voice (but in fact i think this song was recorded one day before the concert, because she didn`t want to go to stage), or the legendary Joni Mitchell singing "Goodby Blue Sky", it is not that bad as i assume you think, what we have to do is enjoy this concert, or at least enjoy the moment, the cause and a couple of voice that are not bad.

So don`t be unfair with this video, i repeat talking about progressive maybe it doesn`t have essence, and it could be an enough reason to kick it, and im sure you won`t buy this DVD when there exists looots of music that we really want to get, but i repeat, this is not a bad DVD, so for me 3 stars!

Review by Finnforest
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Phenomenal show. A must-see for all Wall fans

Just a brief one here to say that this concert video is a truly exciting and larger-than-life performance to commemorate an event in history and Waters pulled it off very well. I'm really surprised at the low ratings. Many do not like the guest performers that Roger used. I thought almost all of them did a fantastic job and brought a high level of excitement to the audience. I thought these folks did a reasonable job of trying to interpret the material of someone else with unprecedented pressure on them.

It's pretty amazing to me to listen to Waters describe the amount of preparation, concentration, stress, work, and pure luck it took to pull off such an ambitious stage production with the whole world watching live. While no live recording can compare to the original studio masterpiece this concert is worth seeing for the visual aspect and historical significance. This is a monster of a concert video, so if you happen to like The Wall do NOT miss it. Obviously if you don't like ole Rog this video will not do much for you

Review by Easy Livin
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
4 stars Hey you, this is art gone mad!

In 1990, Roger Waters decided to reclaim part of his Pink Floyd heritage by staging an event of enormous proportions, involving a performance of "The Wall". The plan initially came about in order to raise funds for and awareness of a new charity dedicated to natural and war disaster relief. Various venues were considered, reportedly including The Grand Canyon, before the Potsdamer Platz section of the Berlin Wall was settled upon. At the time, the wall had been breached and the reunification of Germany was proceeding apace. It was however effectively still two separate countries, with Berlin still having separate East and West administrations.

Waters vision was transformed into an extravaganza which would be seen by a quarter of a million people live, and broadcast to an audience of over 300 million people all over the world. A number of guest performers were signed up (eventually!: the DVD sleeve notes tell a tale of near disaster), a stage of quite staggering proportions was designed, and an army (literally) of extras planned.

The result is a strange amalgamation of stage show, rock concert and genuinely breathtaking spectacle. At the one end of the spectrum we have Waters sitting alone in an armchair singing "Goodbye cruel world", at the other we have a marching band, an orchestra, a choir, and an army with their trucks staging "Bring the boys back home". If that is not bizarre enough, there's Jerry Hall trying to act out "Oh my God, what a fabulous room", and Van Morrison singing possibly the worst version ever of "Comfortably numb" (apart obviously from that obnoxious Scissors Sisters version). In between, Cindi Lauper jumps about the stage in a school girl's uniform for "Another brick in the wall" and Bryan Adams claims "Young lust" as if the song had been written especially for him.

The really odd thing is though, by and large it actually works! OK, Pink Floyd purists are never going to approve of folk singer Joni Mitchell singing "Goodbye blue sky", members of The Band harmonising on various backing vocals (while clearly having to read the lyrics), or James Galway doing anything on any Pink Floyd song, but if we put such prejudices aside and see this for what it is, it really is enjoyable.

In the niggles which bug me department, I feel really sorry for Paul Carrack who has to sing "Hey you" while standing facing a white brick wall about 3 feet in front of him for the entire song. That's just art gone mad! Also, I do not feel the direction of the filming adequately captures the scale and visual spectacle of the show. Too much time is spent focusing on the individual performers, giving the mistaken impression that this was first and foremost a simple rock concert. Clearly it was immeasurably more than that, this was an historical event.

To watch this DVD, you must first put any preconceptions aside, and be prepared to see it for what it is. The music will be familiar, but the environment and the performers will take a little tolerance. On that basis, this is a highly worthwhile indulgence.

Review by Marty McFly
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars After months I've decided to give 4 stars. This is because this is just no masterpiece.

I enjoyed it much. But there were moments that I was (unintentionally in my mind) excusing and hoping for better performance of song from different players. I'm The Wall fan, I'm Roger Waters fan (maybe little bit) and I like spectacular shows. Feelings shining from them are so overwhelming. This is big solo for Roger and many famous musicians he invited. It's also some kind of tribute band to himself. Yeah, he may be arrogant and selfish, he may have also broke Pink Floyd apart, but he's very creative genius.

So forget your hate, don't shake your spears anymore and enjoy it. Just shut off and enjoy it, then you will understand my 4 star rating.

Review by Flucktrot
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars One of the biggest, historically relevant shows out there...what's not for a progger to like?

Well...the nitpickers (and that often involves me) could have a field day with The Wall Live in Berlin.

As one of those who just had to have everything Pink Floyd and their individual members put out, I obtained this just about as soon as I had enough cash to do so. And then I put it on...and much of it I just didn't enjoy much.

Fast-forward 15 years, and now I can let go some of my previous expectations and enjoy some of the pieces on here just as they are. And as others have noticed, when you can do this, you realize how big of a spectacle and production this was. It really has everything: gigantic puppets, the Scorpions rolling in on a limo (yep, the stage was THAT big!), Waters trashing a bedroom (in One of My Turns), and, of course, one enormous wall.

Although I would never buy any Joni Mitchell or Cindi Lauper music, I have to admit they are decent here, as are almost all the guests. (One exception: I will never, ever, appreciate anything Sinead O'Connor is involved with!) Overall, it's just a fun experience.

Unfortunately, the music is not great (both as performed, and as written in places). The orchestra is a bit much, as is the inclusion of so many guests. The best parts are ones in which you just see the piece as put on ten years earlier for the first live performances.

My highlight for the album lasts only about 15 seconds, but it's one of the most memorable live things I've seen (in person or on DVD): at the end of Another Brick...II, a guy dressed as the teacher (complete with three tufts of hair sticking up against a bald cranium) totally rocks a keytar solo. It's so ridiculously over-the-top that it's hilariously entertaining. Skip what you must, but don't miss this!

Overall, I'm moderately glad to have it in my collection (mostly to satisfy my Floyd completionist needs), but I rarely come back to it. Far from essential, but the best video of one of the greatest rock shows ever performed (even if I'd much rather have a DVD from the original Wall Live tour).

Review by VianaProghead
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Review Nş 458

As I wrote before, when I reviewed the CD version, I have the two versions of this live show, the CD and the DVD versions. So, I'm going to make two reviews of this live show. However, as they cross itself one with another and are completely linked, I'm going to make both reviews as one being a complement of the other. So, in the CD version I wrote more about the music and the protagonists of this live show, saving for this DVD a place about the concept and the local of it. So, if you are interested in know all my point of view about this concert, you must read my both reviews.

As we know, the concept of "The Wall" belongs to Roger Waters. The story portrays fictionalized the life of an anti- hero (Pink) that is mistreated by the society since the early days of his life, suffocated by his mother, oppressed at school, he builds a wall in his consciousness to isolate him from society, and takes refuge in a fantasy world created for him. During a hallucination caused by drugs, Pink becomes a fascist dictator only to have his conscience rebel put it in court, where his inner judge ordering him to have his own wall down and open to the outside world. In the history of the album "The Wall" there is an imaginary wall that gradually isolates the protagonist of the real life, which removes his friends and family. The fall of this wall isn't only the end of the division, but the end of a fear, a fear of revealing himself.

As we know, "The Wall" was a personal Roger Waters' bet, and is a rock opera that centres on the character of Pink, who is largely based on Roger Waters' life. As the character of the story Pink, Roger Waters also lost his father during the Second World War. On the original album, all songs were written and composed by Roger Waters, except "Young Lust", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell" written and composed by David Gilmour and Roger Waters and "The Trial" written and composed by Bob Ezrin and Roger Waters. So, "The Wall" is, in a certain way, a kind of his little baby.

It was normal that Waters became interested of making a great world live show in Berlin with "The Wall". The concert was staged on a vacant terrain placed between the Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate, a location with a very strong meaning. It was part of the former "no man's land" of the Berlin Wall. Potsdamer Platz is sat between the two Berlin Walls which divided the city, and where for decades people had died trying to escape, from east to west, trying to join their families in the other side of the wall. The show had a sell-out crowd of over 350.000 people, and right before the performance started the gates were opened which enabled at least another 100.000 people to watch the live show.

The colours and the vivid stage design are there for all to see, and the direction is in keeping with the theatrical feel of this concert. Although this image struggles with overall clarity, it doesn't detract from the experience, and colours are rich and vibrant, if a little "noisy" in places. You really can't expect much more than that, given the poor master material and the age of the production. The sound quality is extremely good. The recording gives that the live feel right from the start, with clever use of the surround channels as the band are introduced to screams of approval from the thousands present. The overall sound mix is extremely well handled, never drawing your attention away from the screen, but opens up a huge sound field across the front channels, with clever placement of the instruments. This is an excellent remix, and the overall effect is stunning when you add in the visuals. A down mixed Dolby Stereo track is also available. A 30 minute Documentary kicks of the extra features on the disc. This starts with a quick history lesson on the Berlin Wall, and sets up the story of how the idea and concepts came together for the concert. The entire production crew give a retrospective glance back through interviews, of why they put together the concert, and the problems they had to face. All together this rounds the themes of the disc, and the concert, into a must have package for all Pink Floyd fans.

Conclusion: Besides all I wrote before on my CD review, I must say something more, this time about the live show itself. I was truly amazed when I saw this concert, for the first time in direct in the TV of my country, in those days. I was completely astonished with the show, particularly in terms of stage design and concept. The stage was absolutely gigantic with over 500.000 people watching the concert. About the performance of the guest artists I'm not so critical about it, like many of my colleagues on this site. Some of those performances weren't so bad, really. For instance, Joni Mitchell doing "Goodbye Blue Sky", Sinead O'Connor doing "Mother", Ute Lemper doing "The Thin Ice" and Paul Carrack doing "Hey You", are actually quite good. But above all, I liked very much the performance of Roger Waters. It does also have some great musical moments like Brian Adams doing "What Shall We Do Now?" and "Young Lust", and when Snowy White and Rick DiFonzo doing their guitar duel on the top of the wall. All in all, it's highly recommended.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Latest members reviews

4 stars As most of us did not get a chance to see the spectacle that was the Wall live in 1980, and the majority of bootleg copies are so poor that they are unwatchable, this DVD of the BErlin show must suffice. I for one must say it is an amazing exibition of the concept Waters had in mind for his magnu ... (read more)

Report this review (#114500) | Posted by DantesRing | Thursday, March 8, 2007 | Review Permanlink

1 stars O.K. this album's problem it's not the scenery, drawings,and music .... it's the guests that Roger hired.In "in the flesh" comes a limo the door opens out they come ...... "żżżĦĦĦĦTHE SORPIONS????!!!!!"(uuuuuaaaaahhhhh?).In "The thin ice " the part that originally sings Gilmour is sung by "UT ... (read more)

Report this review (#47363) | Posted by | Monday, September 19, 2005 | Review Permanlink

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