A “bizarre” setting for an adaptation of The Wall has been hailed by fans as they recall memories from Roger Waters‘ show.
The Pink Floyd bassist would bring in The Band, Bryan Adams, and Van Morrison to put on a huge show where “communist architecture and construction” only added to the adaptation. Members of the public who were present for the show and have since visited the place of the performance were stunned. Some suggested the “looming” towers surrounding the venue only add to Waters’ work, which he wrote alongside David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright in the late 1970s. Waters would later take the album on tour as a solo artist, following his depature from Pink Floyd in 1985. Songs from the album, including Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell, feature in Gilmour and Waters’ live shows respectively.
A YouTube upload of the performance has seen fans share their memories of attending the show or watching it years later. One person wrote: “I’d love to go back now to the very same site and see how much has changed. It was a bizarre setting with the drab-looking east full of communist architecture and construction on one side, the affluent west on the other.
“I remember the huge TV tower of the east looming large. The high-rise blocks of flats etc. I had the feeling at the time, the stage announcements wanted to rekindle some kind of Woodstock feeling with their language. There was a Romanian flag held high during the concert with the communist insignia cut out of the middle.
“It was a great memory for this 26-year-old at the time. It wasn’t quite Pink Floyd at the time, but the best we could hope for.” Pink Floyd would continue with Gilmour as the frontman until 1994, and has played just one show since. The four-piece would get back together for Live 8 in 2005, and has not taken to the stage since.
A rehearsal of the Berlin Wall show uploaded to YouTube has been praised by members of the public, who say it’s an incredible undertaking from Waters. One person wrote: “What an undertaking this was. Roger, always the perfectionist, pulled it off. An amazing show!” A setlist for the rehearsal can be found below.
- The Bravery of Being Out of Range
- Mother
- Goodbye Blue Sky (with Joni Mitchell)
- Empty Spaces
- What Shall We Do Now
- Young Lust
- In the Flesh
- The Thin Ice
Members of the public have since praised this particular edition of The Wall, with Waters’ live version relying on a host of acclaimed musicians. Morrison’s addition to Comfortably Numb was singled out by listeners, who believe it’s a vastly superior version of the all-time great song. You can watch the rehearsal footage below.
