Amid Pink Floyd`s brooding, soaring sound, the disturbance generated by the band`s internal conflicts and the clamor around the group`s legendary live shows, beat Roger Waters` political heart.
It grew louder and more say in the group`s later albums The Wall and The Last Cut and again in Waters` solo work. But now, at age 67, and seemingly happier and more at ease than ever, Waters wears that spirit on his arm in his current live staging of The Wall.
t is very probably the most pointedly political rock spectacle ever to make hundreds of thousands of people. It only ended its North American leg and resumes touring in Europe in March, 2011.
And spectacle it is. A replica fighter plane flies overhead then crashes into flames; Fireworks barrage the stage; Sirens blare and the surround sound system is so neat that bullets and bombs seem to dismiss from all directions; Lighting effects simulate a helicopter search light that surveys the audience. And that`s exactly the 1st 10 minutes or so.
Later comes the nearly floor-to-ceiling-sized marionettes, the iconic Pink Floyd flying pig and, of course, the fence itself, built brick by white brick throughout the show`s first half. It spans not only the stage, but the full breadth of an arena.
The extravaganza literally takes your breath out and comes about as near to immersive entertainment as possible outside of a theme park. The conflict is that while Waters packs plenty of wow factor into the production, much of it works in serving to his pointed indictment of tyranny, conformity, complacency and, yes, " the walls" constructed by ideologies.
When Pink Floyd released The Wall in 1979, the album, written mostly by Waters, referenced rock star alienation. Now, in 2010, in this track-by-track live performance, Waters has transformed the process into a statement well beyond himself.
A chorus of local children line up across the point to sing "Another Brick in the Wall." They wear t-shirts that read:"Fear builds walls."When the song "Mother," on which Waters duets with a film of himself playing the song 30 years ago, poses the question"Should I believe the administration?" the words "No, f**** way" flash across the stage. Later, the show issues other equally blatant messages like "Big Brother is Watching You."
Waters takes his sharpest aim at the military, industrial and religious institutions that get used war in serving to their concerns. An animation of airplanes dropping bombs in the shape of corporate logos, dollar signs and the spiritual symbols of Christianity, Islam and Judaism proved controversial. The collocation of the Wizard of David symbol with dollar signs drew the Anti-Defamation League`s ire. Waters rebuffed charges of anti-Semitism but he did change the animation`s sequence.
The show`s most emotionally moving portion was the accumulation of photos and personal biographical details, sent in by fans, of their loved ones who had died in wars, including Iraq. The evidence of real people heightened the show`s underlying subject of war`s indelible impression on personal lives.
Not the least of which was Waters`. A photograph of his father virtually starts the evidence and the release of his father ignites the desolation and wrath that permeates The Wall.
But Waters was shaped not just by his father`s death, but besides his life. His mother was a conscientious objector and a Communist Party member before he entered the British infantry and died during World War II. Waters took on the political mantle as early as age 15, when he united the Cambridge Youth Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in his native England. These early years inform this spell as often as Waters` rock star era.
Waters` first effort to further politicize The Wall was the 1990 show in Berlin. He jammed the operation with special guests and erected the same white wall, brick by brick, on the land between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate, the neighborhood where the Berlin Wall, the twentieth century`s most vivid symbol of division, had just collapsed.I saw that show. While it was electrifying to be with 200,000 people under historic circumstances, the accuracy is that the product itself was messy. Technical glitches plagued it and lessened its impact.
This current interpretation of The Wall is a fuller expression of Waters` intent as an artist and as a person. Although I miss David Gilmour`s signature guitar and vocals at times, the show nonetheless lands a seamlessly executed wallop.
In the `70s, Pink Floyd was punk rock`s Public Enemy No. 1. (Reportedly Johnny Rotten wore an "I Hate Pink Floyd" t-shirt. Then, Pink Floyd represented the self-importance of old guard rock. The strongest criticism was that Pink Floyd was irrelevant.
Waters` current tour of The Wall renders that period mostly moot. He has expanded the album`s themes beyond his personal demons to admit those of a man that still cannot find peace, one riddled with institutions that choose a fear-driven, easy-to-manipulate populace.
Is Waters preaching to the choir? Maybe. Maybe not. One cannot accept that every individual in these 20,000 seat arenas shares his views. Many fans still relish Pink Floyd mostly as a complementary soundtrack for their mind-altering substance of choice.
It takes courage to assume your political heart on your arm in such a world and direct way. That greater position of Roger Waters steps forth in this show.
No comments:
Post a Comment