THE WALL LIVE IN BERLIN

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*)

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