I've been wanting to see Pink Floyd in concert for many years, I've been a fan for about 25 years. The band is of course never going to completely reunite because two of the founding members are dead. However, I did see my favorite band member perform my favorite Pink Floyd album last night. Roger Waters performed the wall in it's entirety in a grand over the top spectacular multi-media extravaganza at the Times Union Center in Albany.
I saw and experienced so much last night that I could go on and on but, I'll sum it up as succintly as possible with a bulleted list..
WARNING! SPOILERS FROM HERE ON! DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE GOING TO THE SHOW AND YOU DON'T WANT THE SHOW RUINED!
Last night in the show there were (Note: measurements are just estimations on my part):
- Larger than life characters: a 60 foot teacher puppet that had spotlight eyes that lit up and changed from clear to red and was impressively mobile, graceful and busy with movement from every angle (even his hair moved), a "Mother" balloon that was about 30 feet high with red eyes that lit up, a 40 foot "Wife" balloon/puppet complete with red neon lips that lit up.
- A 40 foot wall that went up before your eyes, it was completed by intermission. Projected upon it were very stunning well choreographed, high def. visuals, that messed with your depth perception. It spanned the width of the entire Times Union Center. At times it seemed as though the wall was moving and a living breathing thing, it of course came crashing to the stage at the end
- Amazing music from a legendary album. I've been listening to "The Wall" since I was 13 and the album shaped my teenage years. So seeing this show meant more to me than just fulfilling something on my bucket list. My "inner child" was enthralled the entire show.
- Being in the presence of a music legend. At 68 years old Roger Waters still has it vocally and he makes it all look effortless.Although, they did change the key of a few of the songs performed later in the show, but still, he dazzled with his voice. I've always said he is arguably one of, if not the, best voice in rock music ever.
- A black inflatable pig blimp as Greg Haymes from the Times Union said was "the size of a bus" that had red light up eyes and had various symbols of oppression and sayings on it, which I was sure was going to land in the crowd at a few points.
- A four foot tall "Pink" doll,
- "Stormtroopers" complete with hammer logo banners,
- Roger Waters "shooting" the crowd with a machine gun during the "dictator" section of the show ("Run Like Hell", "In the Flesh", "Waiting For The Worms")
- A ten foot long model of a WW2 plane that crashes in to the wall
- Pyrotechnics (Flames for when the plane crashed in to the wall, and 'fireworks' shooting up from the stage and down from the scaffolding behind the stage)
- The legendary "Pink Floyd" circle hanging over the stage behind the band (I thought it looked a tiny bit oval)
- Ten (I think there may have been more) local teens on stage wearing black t-shirts that said "Walls build fear" singing that famous chorus from "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" "We don't need no education..."
- A small room with a chair, a window with a great view of an unnamed city, and a flat screen TV that folded up in to the wall ("One of my turns")
- During "Comfortably Numb" the singer who was singing David Gilmour's parts Robbie Wyckoff was raised to almost the top of the wall as well as the guitarist who played David's guitar parts, David Kilminster (you could see them about mid-thigh up)
- Amazing lighting effects
- Realistic sound effects
- And last but not least. Roger Waters admitting he was "grumpy" and "fucked up" around the time he wrote and the band recorded "The Wall"
I've been to many concerts in my lifetime, 50+ ever since 1984 and the only concerts that come close to what I saw last night were Garth Brooks (Fresh Horses tour) and KISS (reunion tour and Psycho Circus 3D) and they are a very very very very very very very far away in the list of great concerts I've been to compared to what I saw last night. I feel as though I was changed last night. Don't know how, but I feel I am a better person for it.
As always, thank you for reading.
