I was tonight in Arnhem and spoke to some people of the Gelredome. it wasn’t a ‘capacity crowd’ at all.
In 2011 there were more than 30.000 in the Gelredome, tonight there were ‘only’ 8.000 people.

It was indeed a very ‘intimate’ Wall show and because of that a bit weird for me in the beginning.
During Brick 2 camera shots were shown on the wall which were clearly not from the show. You saw people singing and waving and that was at that point not happening at all in Arnhem. Also there were far less people than shown on the wall!

All in all; during the first half the crowd was very ‘sedate’ (is that the word?), the second half was great with a lot more interaction between the band (Roger!) and the crowd. I loved it and had tears in my eyes during the ‘side three’ songs and I was really into the Wall during the rest of the show.

The band played flawless and there were some minor changes in the projections which were new to me. (Mother)
When I walked to my car I couldn’t help thinking it was perhaps a perfect dress rehearsal for the ‘real thing’.

Above review & picture thanks to FransT

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After getting over the shock of just how empty the venue was, the second thing i noticed was the projectors mounted at the rear of the venue. Unlike the 2010 and 2011 shows where they were suspended from the ceiling and a lot of the outdoor shows in 2012 where they were on top f towers in the middle of the venues, they were all now about 10 feet high along the back wal of the venue, 36 in all.

This gives a great effect when the shows is on and you look back behind you, it also casts a show of the pig onto the wall which again gives it a great effect.

Philippe and Kevin decided to stand half way between the mixing desk and the stage, i was going to do the same until i saw how empty the rail was! I headed down t the middle on the rail and met up with my friend Raymond Steeg.I hadnt seen him since the 2006 Gilmour shows and it was nice to see some of the show with him. I say “some” because the place was that empty that as you can probably see from the pictures, i was running around all over the place taking shots and then returning to my place on the rail.

I have to be honest and say that i was expecting a lot more changes than there actually were. There were a few subtle ones here and there but on the most part it was the show that we’ve seen for the last few years with the addition of Rogers tweaks to the projections and music here and there.

The six pre show music tracks were identical, starting off with Leadbellys “Take This Hammer” and ending 18 minutes later with The Impressions “People Get Ready”. Pink was led out by the two guards and looked around at the sparse audience to the Im Spartacus speech before being dropped onstage and then kicked onto the photographers below by Roger after donning his black leather over coat (I’m sure Roger gets huge kick out of doing this to the press guys!)

Pyros were pretty much the same but bearing in mind it was an indoor venue, I’m sure these will be stepped up for the outdoor shows like they were in 2012. The Stuka came down right on Q and crashed though the wall with fire and smoke as before.

At first i thought the crowd were a little quiet due to there not been many people but there was certainly enough people to make more noise than they were doing and all through the first half they seemed to be very subdued by the whole experience.

After In The Flesh i was buzzing, it was back!! The Wall live was on again and all the memories from the last 3 years came flooding back, al the memories of things to come in the show, the nuances, the solos, the smiles the smirks, damn I’d missed it, and didn’t really realise how much until it was bang in front of my face again! It was a great feeling knowing this was the first show of many and all the shows i had yet to see but most of all all the people I’d be meeting up with again and the memories we’d be creating.

After In The Flesh when they start projecting the fallen loved ones on the bricks it was immediately noticeable how much better the projections were. They were almost 3D! the images were so much brighter and there was so much more detail in the images.I’d heard from my friend Shane (who’s in charge of the Pyros) before the gig that would be blown away by the new projectors. He wasn’t wrong at all, as they were now mounted at the rear of the venue they had to be a lot more powerful to throw the images onto the bricks and still be seen at the outdoor shows when it was still daylight at the start of the shows (Although tomorrow nights show in Werchter which is an outdoor one doesn’t start until 10:00pm!)

There was a slightly different start t Another Brick with Graham doing a lot more drum rolls a the beginning. The “new” Jean Charles De Menezes track is still present and nothings really changed on that. Again, i have to say i was just continuously looking for changes in the projected images but they just weren’t there!

One thing i did notice is that the bricks look to be a lot more refined of a fit together than they were, there were very few gaps that let any light through whatsoever, maybe it was as they were all new and it was the early stages of the tour, we’ll see how they go together as the tour goes on i guess.

Dave K mentioned a couple of days ago that Roger had said to the guys that he thought they sounded the best they had ever done and i have t agree with that, the sound in the venue was incredible and the band were ever so tight playing together.

Hey You again showed you just how bright the new projectors were, the projected bricks on the wall the full length had much more detail in them and were so much brighter. Robbies voice sounded as good as every and Snowy absolutely nailed his 20 seconds long note during the track. When Is There Anybody Out There was half way through i turned around and walked to the rail right in front of the hotel,it really was that simple to do, there was no pushing, no crowd to fight through just lots and lots of space and i had the whle rail to myself until 30 seconds after the room came down out of the wall and the rest of the people realised and joined me!

I headed back to the middle as the room went up and again took my place on the rail. One thing they have changed back is the way the wal breaks as Rogers hits it during Comfy Numb. I was never a fan of wat they did to this late on in 2011 and 2012. The changed the way it broke up and made the rocks a lot bigger and rather than shatter outwards it all seems to fall down towards the floor. They’ve changed this back now and the shattered rocks are smaller and whilst they still fall downwards a little it as a lot better effect now that it did last year, im hoping they dont mess with it again!

Daves solo on Comfy was again absolutely flawless, it just never ceases to amaze me how powerful it sounds and how insanely loud it gets. (Dave, please mess up just once so it’ll give me something to write about!:)

Run Like Hell, If it aint broke then don’t fix it! It was never broke yet Roger continues to fix it and it just gets better and better. The brighter images make the 3D pop out a lot more and the silhouette of the pig on the wall looks great. Although the crowd had started to get into the show a little more, even after a couple of mic problems for Roger shouting the Thank You and trying to get everyone to clap in unison they just didn’t get into it as much as I’d hoped for.Roger has a nice new shiny machine gun! he’s still not back to the adlibbing talk at the beginning which i mss a lot but he has certainly been practising his video synching and moving the same as the green screen images that were shot in New York last year and are projected on the sides of the wall trying to make it look like its a live feed!

Dave’s guitar sound sounded great but he did look to be having a couple of problems, continually turning around and trying to adjust his amp during the firs couple of minutes of the track. I’m guessing its just opening night niggles and I’m pretty sure these will be al ironed out within the first couple of gigs.

Oh how I’ve missed having a little Wall wind!! it wasn’t till i had my camera up to my eye ready to snap a picture of the falling wall and i felt the air rush past my face that i remembered just how good it felt! Its good to be back:) The wall fall still looks as good projected onto the sides of the wall and the live LIVE feed is still used for the guys as they come out and perform Outside The Wall, Harry for some reason looking very Australian wearing his tilly hat!

All in all it was a fantastic show, very unique and as i said earlier, it was more like a select few had been invited to a dress rehearsal and for the people that realised this it felt like our own personal show. This show is a MUST see, its the last time you’re gonna get to see it so if you haven’t bought a ticket yet or are wondering whether to go then DO IT!!

Above review & pictures thanks to Simon Wimpenny

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