It was a freezing cold night in London but around 80,000 of us managed to brave the weather and watch Roger & the band strut their stuff. But why oh why do these venues allow people to buy beer at the bars and then bring them in, disturbing everybody as they come and go. And why would a fuckwit want to buy, hold and consume a freezing cold beer when they are freezing their tits off anyway?
I had understood that there were no longer any lighting towers in the way of the paying public, but I was wrong as there was a massive one half obstructing our view. (Note:This was a lighting tower and not a projection tower).
The show was as slick as usual, however, it might have been my imagination but I think Dave K started out his Comfy Numb solo in the wrong key, or it might have been a bum note, either way it sounded slightly off to me. (Videos will no doubt prove me wrong!)
A few minor projection changes since I last saw the show, and special effects seem to have been ramped up a bit.
Robbie looked puffed out and sweaty at the end of the show, but he sang first class as usual and the rest of the band seemed to be enjoying themselves.
All in all a good show but it’s really like watching a familiar movie once you have seen it a few times.
Review by Col Turner
Above pictures thanks to Col & Caroline Turner
Show done. Heartfelt speech about being the best London audience he can remember. No sign of Mr Gilmour or Mr Mason.
Thanks Mark Reed
It was fab
Thanks Lorna Batt
The projection knocked the spots of the o2 shows. Surround sound amazing. Brilliant show.
Thanks Wembley Kid
Truly phenomenal show. To be honest the revelation that not all the video was live kind of put a downer on the stadium shows for me but during the show it didn’t seem really obvious and had I not known I wouldn’t have been any the wiser. Didn’t think you could top The O2 show I was at but I have to say the scope of the Wembley show blew it out of the water. I feel of sad though that this will probably be the last show Roger does in London.
Thanks KAOS 91
I went, fortunately the rain held off, allowing for a great show.
No sign of Gilmour, Mason, or mention of Rick, the only reference to the Floyd days was that he said it was the best audience he had ever played to in London, and something about it being good to be back in blighty.
I think half the stadiums hopes dropped when Robbie was revealed on the top of the wall during CN.
However, after 10 Wall shows, I think I am walled out (to quote a COD)!
Thanks Tim Hallam
This is the first stadium show I have attended. I acquired tickets when this show was first announced through the fanclub website and they were front row seating about two thirds of the way back which I thought would give us a great view. Two of my party of seven have never attended a Waters/Floyd gig. So it was with a heavy heart as we approached our seats that I saw that our view of half the stage area was blocked by the dreaded projection towers. The fact that these were the presale ‘best’ front row tickets made matters worse as we were on a level with the base of the tower – no hope of seeing over it as we might have done had we been about 10 rows up. I was more upset for the people who had never seen the show before as they had been excited about it for months. They still had a fantastic time and were blown away by the whole thing but seriously – its not on. I know our friends across the pond have had issues with this and I now understand where they are coming from.
As for the actual show – it was fantastic. The sound was amazing, it was a good atmosphere, the scale of the whole thing was incredible. Seeing Comfortably Numb belted out in front of around 50,000 people (Over 70,000 tickets were sold the week before the show. Ed) was sheer bliss and after Dave Kilminster finished his solo I can assure you the rapturous applause he received seemed to state that – although the main man was not there – nobody was that bothered. The response from all who I have spoke to was unanimous in approval – as usual, many stating it was the best gig they had seen. My own personal opinion – I think I slightly prefer the arena version. The sheer scale of the stadium version is something to behold but along with that scale gets dragged the inevitable chaos of it all. There was a constant stream of people wandering about in the pitch area, more intent on have a piss up then enjoying the show. One guy in front of us on the pitch had a pint in each hand and was dancing around look a loon with his underwear round his knees during Run Like Hell! A young girl who was working as a steward in front of us asked one chap politely to avoid a certain area and was told to fuck off. Inevitably, it lead me to muse on the whole reason this album and show was created in the first place and the sheer irony of the whole thing. Having said that, the vast majority of the crowd were respectful and really seemed to enjoy every second of what was going on, but I personally missed the intimate setting of the arena show, along with the fact that there are no obstructions if you want to sit! Anyhow, I’m rambling on here – suffice to say loved the show.
Thanks to xfilian
No seat at this one & not anticipating a good view, but have the freedom to roam. Dragged the wife & weans (to the best show they will ever see) & this was by far the best experience I have had at a Wall concert. Standing at the back of the pitch, the stage looked miles away with a sea of mullets getting in the way, this was however to be where I got the stadium sound I never got in Berlin, having had a seat near the front. This gig blew me away, the sound was fantastic & all my Roger Waters doesn’t sound as good as Pink Floyd thoughts just washed away. This was Roger taking his place, a master craftsman at the top of his game showing the music world how to put on a show.
If I though the first half was good the second half was to seal this gig as my best ever. In the middle of the pitch by now the sound was astounding, the Wall was complete & the projections along its length were mesmerising. If ever I have had a space cadet glow, it was during the second half of this show – fantastically brilliant!
Review thanks to Joe McGuire
At one point during Roger Waters’ pulverising performance of The Wall at Wembley Stadium, the former Pink Floyd member started duetting with a 50 ft high video of himself, filmed over 30 years ago at Earls Court when he performed the same show. Before he did so, he told the 70,000-strong crowd that he didn’t want to appear “narcissistic”.
Waters’ attack of modesty was amusing given that the entire 30 million-selling The Wall album is a vast autobiographical mush of his upbringing and worldview. The ‘Roger Waters The Wall Live’ tour, now in its third year, has seen the 70-year-old perform the rock opera over 200 times to close to 4 million people in arenas around the world. Bashful? The very thought is, like Waters himself, a bit rich.
But what a show. Beefed up for stadiums, the £37 million production was an immersive sensory extravaganza featuring huge Gerald Scarfe puppets, state-of-the-art animation, flying pigs, fireworks and the famous white wall that gets built up as the show progresses and knocked down at its climax. (The wall was so big that it made Wembley seem cosy).
Grey, lithe and in good voice, Waters prowled the stage looking like a grouchy Richard Gere. The sound was exceptional, the best I’ve heard at a stadium gig; loud, crisp and ‘in surround’. When a replica Spitfire flew across Wembley’s rafters and crashed into the wall in flames, it was the sound that rendered it not only believable but chilling.
Almost as extraordinary as the sound were the mind-bending animations. It was therefore baffling that when presented with probably the most advanced visuals in the world, half the crowd decide to watch them through the screen on their camera phones.
Musical highlights were a devastating Comfortably Numb and the moving, new Ballad of Jean Charles de Menezes, killed by police in the wake of the 7/7 attacks. Thematically it was bit all over the shop. On the surface The Wall is the story of an alienated rock star called Pink (Waters), who has an overbearing mother and hates school. Everything he goes through is “another brick in the wall” of life. But it is also about loss, war and grief.
Last month Waters sparked controversy by calling for fellow rock stars to boycott Israel for what he called its “crimes” and “apartheid”. The Wall in the show certainly appeared to make references to Israel’s West Bank wall: at one point a projected plane dropped hundreds of Star of Davids from its undercarriage as if they were bombs. It would be tempting to read some kind of message into this. However, given that the plane also dropped crucifixes, hammer and sickles, and the corporate logos of Shell and Mercedes-Benz, the only real message we could take from this was that someone in Waters’ graphics team has been busy. (Waters has also denied any suggestions of anti-semitism).
But The Wall was really about spectacle, not politics. Over 30 years after its release, it still sets the bar for stadium rock shows.
Review thanks to James Hall
Videos from this concert have been removed as Pink Floyd claim copyright on them