Ex-Pink Floyd bassist/ co-singer Roger Waters delves into some of his motivations for writing The Wall, specifically the war-related death of his own father at a very early age, and his father's loss of his own father in an earlier war. Very moving footage of Waters travelling to Anzio in the present day, to the actual scene of the battle in which his father died during, and going to his grandfather's grave with his own adult kids is shown between footage of several concerts, in the UK, Italy, Greece, and Argentina, edited together to give us a full and complete live rendition of all 26 songs from The Wall, as well as two extra songs (the unreleased More Bricks In The Wall, and a favourite of mine, What Shall We Do Now?) performed live, as The Wall is progressively built between Waters' band, and the audiences, and as animation and graphics are projected and dance on The Wall.
This is preceded by a very well done filmed intro by Liam Neeson, describing his reaction to hearing The Wall for the first time, and his experience seeing the subsequent shows Pink Floyd staged in London in February of 1980, which brought back memories of the two times in 2010 that I saw Waters perform The Wall (in Tampa and Atlanta). Complete with dominant, overbearing Mother, derisive schoolmarm, dive bombers, and cracking thin ice of modern life, and marching hammers, it was one of the most amazing concerts I've ever seen (second only to Waters' own Dark Side Of The Moon tours, from 2006 and 2007, which I saw in Cleveland, LA, Hong Kong and Shanghai, Dubai, Zurich, Rio, and Philadelphia- I even met Waters and his band a couple of times. Waters, his then sax player Ian Ritchie, and guitarist Dave Kilminster was especially cordial, even going so far as to walk around the stands before the show, talking with people and taking photos with fans)
It brought back incredible memories of foreign countries and peoples, who might not even know any other words in the English language other than the words to The Wall, which they belt out right back to the band every night. The Wall's songs of isolation and loneliness are what those millions of people have in common.
Comfortably Numb was a highlight, musically and lyrically; one of the finest songs ever recorded, and it sounds even better when performed live.
This partially autobiographical concert film is rounded off with an interview session with Waters and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason.
My only complaint, and it's a MAJOR one, is the film began with an incredibly lengthy intro, a grey brick wall, very slowly moving to the left, very slowly, to very slowly reveal the phrase, "Please take your seats the show is about to begin", which had various non-Floyd/ Waters songs playing while it happened, and lasted for nearly 20 minutes. It was like a bad opening act who overstayed their welcome.
