Sun. Oct. 3

Roger Waters re-staged the grandest production he ever created, “The Wall,”  a massive tour that stopped at TD Banknorth Garden in October, 2010.  He's doing it again this time at - yes, on even a grander scale - Fenway Park Sunday July 1, in front of, yes, our very own famous Wall. The conceptual double album came out in 1979 and it was one of the darkest extravaganzas, of then or now. All about alienation, smothering mothers, a bankrupt educational system, jingoism, war’s destructive power on all, rock star delusions, drug abuse, egotism and isolation. Fun stuff? You bet! Pink Floyd tried to stage this monster in 1980-81 and it sputtered. Very expensive to mount and people didn’t exactly like the idea that as the show went on this gigantic wall that separated the crowd from the band. Hey, it was symbolic, but, well, you know, all that distancing meant you were detached from the band, which was part of the point. That wall served multiple purposes. At any rate, Waters has decided that “The Wall” really is his major statement and he’s mounted it again, spending tons of money, yes, but with modern technology and much more flexibility. 

     Waters, 67, has spent a good part of his post-Pink Floyd career suggesting (sometimes rather pointedly) that he was Pink Floyd’s main man and the band that sometimes records and ventures out on the road – guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason plus whoever – was Floyd lite. We tend to agree. Waters and Gilmour had a bitter fallout, though they’ve occasionally played together since the breakup – most famously when the Berlin Wall came down at the very site - and Gilmour will reportedly join Waters’ band for a “Wall” show in London later this year. But Waters was the primary songwriter/architect of the post-Syd Barrett Floyd and while Gilmour’s spacey-blues guitar licks were golden (Waters has used three guitarists on previous tours to get the Gilmour sound), he’s not the dark genius Waters is. There’s a lot of violence and anger in Waters’ music. A lot of catharsis, too.
    His dad was killed in WWII when he was an infant and he’s never forgotten it. Waters maintains he’s lightened up some, that age has leavened some of the rage. (He certainly will concede he’s a control freak, but then again, why shouldn’t he be? This is his baby and very likely the last time he’ll tour with it.) “The Wall” is a magnificent, nasty, piece of work, but he’s reportedly broadened its themes (via the visuals) and updated them somewhat. What works for me, musically: There’s a masterful juxtaposition of the acoustic and the bombastic electric, a keen sense of melody, and the over-riding idea that expressing joy is not a necessary part of making music that sticks. There’s another side of the world, a darker, more despairing place and with Waters’ work there’s a real sense of community, if you will, in the sharing of unpleasant realities. If you’ve ever felt powerless, the songs on “The Wall” can make you identify many other like-minded souls. Classic songs from the album; “Run Like Hell,” “Comfortably Numb,” “Mother,” “Another Brick in the Wall,” “In the Flesh?

Tiecket prices haven't been released yet, but we do know Roger doesn't work cheap.

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