THE WALL LIVE IN BERLIN

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.

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