Last week at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a tribute show was held for the late Band drummer and singer Levon Helm, who sadly passed away this past April from cancer. Performers of past and present played cuts from the legendary musician's career both as a solo artist and with The Band. Among the performers were Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and My Morning Jacket, who teamed up to tackle "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," a classic cut off The Band's self titled 1969 album. A video of the song was posted on Youtube by a concert goer. Check it out below.
What a great year for shows in Buffalo this year. I mean really folks, it's not even the end of June and my mind's been blown twice by two quasi-religious experiences, and both of those shows were shows that I was sure wouldn't happen in Buffalo. Like M83, I was fully prepared to go on the road when Roger Waters announced that he'd be touring with The Wall in 2012, and I was perfectly ok with it... until tour dates were announced and Buffalo dates were improbably included. These bands came to us, and in Roger's case, a second time in less than 18 months, and for that I have to thank him from the bottom of my heart. He didn't have to do it. Bypassing us on this tour wouldn't have been unreasonable or shocking, but Roger Waters didn't, and it was awesome and much appreciated. As Drew mentioned Friday in his review, it was more than a concert. I've never seen anything like it, and I saw Roger do The Wall here in October 2010. Roger pushed everything to the limit: the band was loose, tight, and total owners of the material; and the high definition digital projections allowed Roger to go even further when it came to blowing people's minds. The wall was literally a canvass on which Roger painted with light a staggering amount of ideas and themes, and amazingly this modern Wall was the best yet.
You have to understand, The Wall has been a fixture of my musical life since the summer of 19__ when I was introduced to it before my senior year of high school. The album, the album backwards, the movie and the VHS tape that was rented from Video Factory on a seemingly weekly basis, The Wall was studied in great detail by our high school "study group." Even in college after moving onto other music, Pink Floyd and The Wall were always there in the background; and as a dude growing older frankly Pink Floyd and Roger Waters make even more sense. Taking his major Pink Floyd works (Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, The Final Cut) and his solo work (The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, Radio KAOS, Amused To Death), in some ways Roger became my rock Noam Chomsky. I didn't always agree with him, but Roger always made me think and question where I stood on the big issues (that this would happen while standing on the field at Darien Lake watching Roger perform Dark Side of the Moon was a nice bonus). Then to have Roger do The Wall in 2010 and again in 2012, well it can't help but feel that something's come full circle.
That's certainly true of Roger Waters and The Wall itself. The years have been kind to Roger; he's getting his due as the creative genius behind Pink Floyd's greatest work, and apparently therapy has improved his disposition to the extent that he can joke about the "miserable, ____ed up Roger" who created The Wall in the late 70's before doing a duet with that "miserable, ____ed up Roger" (via technology) of "Mother." Amazingly, this less miserable.more open Roger has gently transformed what was born out of pain and a sense of isolation into something almost joyful in it's connection with the audience. No longer hiding behind it, Roger instead uses the wall to be canvass upon which he paints with light a staggering amount of ideas and information, expanding his rock opera into a humanist manifesto about shared humanity in the face of oppression, and the human tragedies of war and fascism.
"Oh Max Schmelling was a formidable foe
The Ambling Alp was too at least that's what I'm told
But if you learn one thing you've learned it well
In June you must give fascists hell
They'll run, but they can't hide."
Oh I absolutely hold with Yeasayer on that. This is the month for sticking it to those mother____ers, and we were definitely doing that Thursday night at the FNC as Roger Waters and his magical band mounted The Wall for the sensory overloaded enjoyment of an insanely appreciative Buffalo audience. Indeed, we got our minds blown for a wonderful cause, and for that, and for coming to Buffalo again, I profoundly thank Roger Waters. Thanks, man.
It's a perfect storm of theatrical performance, quadrophonic sound, and all out rock awesomeness.
It's an event that ensures those who have seen it will remember that night for a long time.
I'm not saying it's the only show around of its caliber, but Roger Waters' performance of The Wall Live is part of a special group of events that changes the perspective of those in attendance.
Everyone has heard of Pink Floyd so I don't need to tell you anything about them.
Everyone has at least heard of The Wall, if not seen the movie.
Not everyone is familiar with songs off The Wall such as "One Of My Turns" or "In The Flesh" but I would be aghast to believe that anyone with even a casual interest in music over the past 32 years hasn't heard "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)", "Hey You", or "Comfortably Numb"... everyone knows these songs... even if they don't know that they know them.
I have long enjoyed the music of Pink Floyd but I don't, however, myself to be nearly as big a fan of the band as many are.
Sure, I can rattle of tens and tens of their songs and list all their hit albums in chronological order... but anyone who knows me knows that that isn't saying much. The music of Pink Floyd is incredible and has been immensely influential to the world of rock music... I just feel the music world has been over saturated with their music a little too much and that overexposure has knocked them down a few rungs on my ladder... I don't know... it's probably 97 Rock's fault [writes the man who grew up in a pre-iPod world].
Why am I writing all this?
Because none of it matters.
It doesn't (really) matter how much you like Pink Floyd. All but the most cynical, rock music-hating, curmudgeons should consider The Wall Live an event to see before they die.
Note: strong supporters of big government, war, and state power, as well as, parents thinking of taking a child under 15 years of age should also be wary of attending The Wall Live.
I don't need to tell you what the set list was or what the general feel of the show was like. If that's all you're looking for then just look at the track list on the album of pop in the film and watch that.
No, that's not what I need to tell you about.
I need to tell you about the astounding production value of the performance and the sheer number of people involved just to make it happen. More importantly, I need to tell you about the power of, not just the music or the visuals themselves, but the emotions and thoughts the music and visuals provoked in me as I stood in awe in a sea of people standing in awe.
You can get a general synopsis of the show here... I read the article and it describes the show in detail that I don't care to expand upon.
I will say that each song compounded upon the one before it and every time I thought the show couldn't get any better... it did.
Some snippets/observations from the show:
- The first few songs of the show featured pictures and basic information (birth place and year, year and place of death... ranging from WWII to present day) of people who have died as a result of war and terrorist attacks displayed on the circular screen behind the stage, as well as, on the individual bricks of the wall being built.
- "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" featured local school children singing the chorus and dance battling a giant demonic teacher puppet with glowing red eyes. Roger Waters finds a group of local children in every city the tour stops in and rehearses with them for 20 minutes before each show... pretty cool.
- The production value was unparalleled. When planes would fly by you would hear it go through the arena. Gun shots would ring out from all sides of the arena. So on and so forth.
- I forget what song it was... but easily the most powerful part of the show, for me anyways, was a video of a little girl sitting in her grade school classroom. The camera was focused on her and, all of a sudden, her face twists up in knots and she starts going berserk. The camera zooms out and it shows her father enter the classroom, still in his military fatigues, and give her a big hug. The emotion in that little girl's face... the thought of how anyone would feel in that situation... well, it's making me a little teary eyed right now as I write this so I don't have to say how powerful it was seeing it displayed on a gigantic screen as an acoustic guitar played in the background.
There were countless other moments that I will not soon forget, but it really doesn't do justice to any of them to sit here and tell you about them... it truly has to be seen to believed. Yes, there were crazy videos, giant puppets, pigs floating around the arena, classic rock staples, extended guitar solos... everything.
I would gladly pay $120 to see the show again (and I just might, depending on where the tour is going) and I can say that you get much more than you pay for, regardless of where you sit.
Do yourself a favor and make sure you see this show before it stops touring.
Tonight, Roger Waters brings The Wall back to Buffalo for an encore performance of his legendary multimedia rock opus at the First Niagara Center. Pink Floyd fans all over the world rejoiced when Roger announced that he'd be bringing The Wall back for another round of shows this year in arenas and baseball stadiums, and this frankly shocking Buffalo show will almost certainly be your last chance to see The Wall performed live by Roger or anybody else in Pink Floyd again (if the Floyd were to reunite for shows, it's highly doubtful that they'd be doing The Wall, fromtheir most contentious period). Also exciting is word that Roger's tweaked the show for this 2012 go around, so even return customers will get to see something different. That said, anticipation and expectations are high for this art/rock spectacle. The show starts promptly at 8, and tickets (of the expensive variety) are still available. They're totally worth it.
When I saw Rogers Waters perform The Wall at the then HSBC Arena two years ago I figured that was it, that would be my first and only time seeing The Wall live. My love of that album (and Pink Floyd) goes back to high school and Video Factory, and seeing it unfold before my eyes was literally a dream come true, something I could check off my list with joy in my heart. But then Roger announced on Fallon that he was taking The Wall back out on the road and playing baseball stadiums, and I was sure I'd have to go on a road trip to see it again, not a bad thing mind you, but I didn't think a second Buffalo performance of The Wall was in the cards. But lo, I was wrong, and in between dates in significantly larger venues a 2012 show at the First Niagara Center was announced in November of last year, an incredible coup and honor for our fair city considering The Wall is one of the great works of the 20th century. June 21 is the day. One month away.
And I am doing it right this time. For the next 30 days ,it's going to be a steady diet of Roger Pink Floyd (not the Roger-less Pink Floyd played far too often on 97 Rock). Meddle. Dark Side of the Moon. Wish You Were Here. The profoundly underrated and undervalued Animals. And of course The Wall in all of it's configurations (no Atom Heart Mother and The Final Cut- one has too little Roger and the other too much): the studio album, the live album, the movie, and the 1990 Wall in Berlin.* I'm going to be hitting that vintage of Pink Floyd when Waters asserted himself as a lyricist and creator hard, that glorious period in the 70's when they found their greatest success while issuing their most meaningful and confrontational music. And The Wall works every time, whether as a studio album, as the ultimate midnight movie, and as live experiences. It doesn't matter where or how it's happening or the scale involved, The Wall is a powerful and affecting piece of popular art.
So yes, I have to get ready. I'm going back and studying anew the sacred texts and their various interpretations in advance of the big day when Roger Waters brings The Wall back to Buffalo. For the last time? I was wrong the last time, and I'd hate to be wrong again, but this time, yeah, I don't think we'll be seeing it again in Buffalo... or seeing anything like it, again, period.
And here's a surreal yet insightful 60 Minutes profile on Roger and The Wall. Check out Van (The Man) Morrison singing "Comfortably Numb." Big thanks to Joe Vip for the hot tip.
* Please note, the new Beach House album Bloom will still be in the rotation. No doubt.
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