Written by: Roger Waters

Directed by: Ken O’Neil and Roger Waters

Former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters is joined by Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Sinead O'Connor, Thomas Dolby, Marianne Faithfull, Cyndi Lauper, The Scorpions,Bryan Adams and many others for this live performance of THE WALL at (appropriately enough) the Berlin Wall.

In recognition of the fall of the Iron Curtain, Pink Floyd put on a huge concert at the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany on Saturday 21st July 1990.The event was planned and performed to commemorate the taking down of the Berlin Wall just over half a year prior, with Waters himself having declared he’d only want to perform a large scale adaptation of the album should the wall be destroyed – and let’s face it, ‘large scale’ is correct, because this outdoor show attracted approximately 450,000 paying attendees. This is a remarkable piece of work. Great performances by all those who took part at this rock opera.

‘The Wall’ is the finest piece of work by Pink Floyd and this was a great show, Wish I was there, well really. Extremely enjoyable concert that you can watch over and over again never getting tired of it, always learning something you didn’t the first time you watched it.

Before hitting off to the concert, the 30 minute ‘Behind The Wall’ documentary is a fantastic addition and a must watch before you head for the concert feature. The documentary includes a brief history of the Berlin Wall, which made the concert more meaningful. It also talks about the problems they had during the rehearsal and concert, and Rogers Waters efforts with insuring a perfect broadcast. It also shows how the idea and concepts came together for the concert. The entire production crew gives a retrospective glance through interviews, of why they put together the concert and the problems they faced. We also get a look at Set design, animations and previously unreleased footage.

Now we heard to the concert. First of all, ‘The Wall’ is a very controversial album in the annals of Pink Floyd. A Roger Waters-centric project, it is known for shunning the togetherness presented on previous Floyd albums, due to Roger’s domination and subsequent dismissal of keyboardist Richard Wright. 

A rock opera, ‘The Wall’ in concert depicts the dissention of a rock star plagued by a number of issues, whether it is due to environments, past experiences or relationships. He builds a metaphorical wall which forces him to become unresponsive to others and emotions, leading to him hallucinating his live shows as fascist rallies, before putting himself on trial as he realizes the error of his ways. It had already been performed live in the early 1980s as Pink Floyd used extravagant stage shows to tell the story of the album.

Roger Waters, the project’s mastermind, left the band in 1985, and while he has claimed to have reached out to his former bandmates to perform with him on this Berlin show, it wasn’t meant to be, and Waters relied on his own ‘Bleeding Hearts Band’, and a number of guest appearances to make ‘The Wall: Live in Berlin’ a huge experience.

The show starts with In the Flesh, which is also the first song from ‘The Wall’, (the band usually starts their concerts with this track) performed by German hard rock band Scorpions, followed by another German stage singer Ute Lemper who performs the first verse of ‘The Thin Ice’, before Roger Waters himself makes his first appearance on the second verse. The concert takes off with Waters taking on the classic Another Brick in the Wall (Part One) and The Happiest Days of Our Lives, whilst playing some pretty funky basslines, before Cyndi Lauper runs on stage and sings Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two) in her schoolgirl outfit.

Sinead O'Connor does a fantastic job singing Mother, though Joni Mitchells and Jerry Halls performance of Goodbye Blue Sky is low. Canadian singer Bryan Adams comes in singing Empty Spaces / What Shall We Do Now and Young Lust. By the sound and look of it, it’s a pretty good job. Jerry Hall comes in for the intro to One of My Turns with Waters joining in keeping up the tempo on the remaining songs Don’t Leave Me Now, Another Brick in the Wall (Part Three) and Goodbye Cruel World.

Paul Carrack gets the job to the unforgettable eerie Hey You, to the favourite portion of The Wall, Is There Anybody Out There?, Nobody Home and Vera, that gives you goose bumps in a live setting, with Waters’ dormancy reaching maximum greatness. The live version of Bring the Boys Back Home is nostalgic and so is the version of Comfortably Numb with Van Morrison. Those drop dead harmonies on the choruses, vibrantly tackling Waters’ distinguished verse vocals is awesome.

Roger gets back to the opener with the Scorpions for In the Flesh? As he turns into his dictator character and the German rockers stick around for Run like Hell and Waiting for the Worms.

Then comes the longest part of the show and also the big crescendo, The Trial featuring a plethora of noteworthy guests to play the individual characters, from Marianne Faithfull as the mother, to Ute Lemper returning as the wife, Tim Curry as the prosecutor, Albert Finney’s performance as the judge. The song captures the theatrical dramatization of the studio track perfectly, with Finney’s shouting “tear down the wall”, as an image of the Berlin Wall appears on the bricks, before the demolition occurs. The final track hits home with The Tide Is Turning from Waters’ 1987 album ‘Radio K.A.O.S.’.

‘The Wall: Live in Berlin’ is one of the biggest rock concerts ever produced, a big money-maker, with some feel-good vibes throughout. The original concert multi tracks have been given the full 5.1 remix treatment, by none other than the original recording engineer Nick Griffiths. This is an excellent mix and the overall effect is stunning when you add in the visuals.

The DVD comes along with a detailed booklet covering almost every aspect of the concert with a playlist detail of the guest’s artists and the songs they sang. The inner DVD inlay has a pencil drawing of the layout of the concert and the area the concert actually took. Quite a thing to check out before actually watching this DVD.

Recommended, especially if you are a big big fan of Pink Floyd.

Running Time: 110 minutes

Theatrical Release Date: 1^st January 1990

Released:  21^st August 1990

Audio: 5.1 2.1 Stereo

Format: PAL, DVD-Video

Rating: *****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira