Finally got round to seeing 'The Wall' live at the Warsaw Football Stadium on Tuesday. Just viewed it as a personal obligation to get to see Roger Waters' vision of being haunted by the death of his father; schoolday altercations with draconian authority; and the pain of neo-solipsism and personal alienation/isolation done live.
After an uncomfortably packed tram ride down to the Stadium from Warsaw city centre, and buying a couple of horribly watered down (maybe even non-alcoholic) pints of Carlsberg (one of the pitfalls of Stadium shows, I'm afraid), around 8.20 it was showtime as the lights dimmed and John Lennon's 'Imagine' gave way to the opening 'Spartacus' scene and 'In The Flesh?':
Absolutely loved the pulsating rhythm of the first half of the set, especially 'Young Lust' ('Dirty Woman'):
Of course, well done to everybody for putting their videos of the Roger Waters Warsaw gig on the net so quickly.
Must say that I (predictably) enjoyed the first half of 'The Wall' set more than the second half, as after 'Bring The Boys Back Home' and 'Comfortably Numb', the album starts to lose a little bit of its sublimity for me, as it approaches its kind of absurdist crescendo. Still, the early part of the second set still has 'Comfortably Numb' (for me, one of the greatest songs ever made) and the moving wartime resonance of 'Bring The Boys Back Home':
So, there you have it, it was great finally getting round to seeing Roger Waters doing 'The Wall'. The experience was also extra special as one of my best mates, Dave Dealy, came over from his Irish rural retreat to watch the Warsaw show. Below, Dave is sampling the dreaded (not far from urine-tasting) Carlsberg, but we both agreed that this kind of awful beer added something to the spirit and atmosphere of the show:
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