Roger Waters Breaks Down "The Wall" at Toronto Film Festival
TORONTO (CBS/AP) Roger Waters tore down the house Wednesday night in Toronto as he kicked off the 30th anniversary world tour for Pink Floyd's "The Wall."
He walked out to thunderous applause beginning with the first track of the seminal concept album, "In the Flesh," and the adulation never stopped. Synchronized pyrotechnics, Orwellian imagery and marching hammers culminated with a plane flying into the wall and bursting into flames. And that was just the opener.
Many times when classic rock artists perform, there's an air of nostalgia, but not with Waters. Not only does the material seem fresh, it also appears 2010 is the right time for this tour, probably because of the technology that catapults it into the stratosphere.
Throughout the nearly 2 1/2-hour performance, the wall fills with imagery making the large arena feel almost cozy. Thanks to the width of the wall, which spans the Air Canada Centre, and the constant saturated, crisp projection, there doesn't seem to be a bad vantage point. It's almost like seeing a staged musical in an appropriately sized theater.
The first half of the show sees the wall going up brick by brick, and by the last song, "Goodbye Cruel World," the massive structure is complete.
When Waters conceived the rock opera in the late 1970s, he wanted to capture the cause and allusions of personal alienation, hence the metaphorical wall. The character Pink shares a lot of attributes with Waters, and some with his friend and band co-founder Syd Barrett.
Throughout the performance, Waters played it straight, never breaking the fourth wall until the end of the show when he thanked the crowd. The only thing that resembled communication is Pink engaging the crowd by asking it, "is there anyone here who worries?" before launching into "Run Like Hell."
When the wall finally fell, the giant cardboard bricks came into the first rows of the orchestra but were quickly scooped up by the crew.
"The Wall" tour continues across Canada and the United States before going to Europe later in the year.