.THE WALL (all the lyrics!)
Roger Waters about The Wall
JULY 6, 1977- Pink Floyd plays the final show of its In the Flesh tour at
Olympic Stadium in Montreal. After the show, Roger Waters
begins to conceptualize The Wall.
JULY 1978- Waters presents The Wall to Pink
Floyd for the first time. Recording begins shortly thereafter.
NOVEMBER 30, 1979-The Wall is released.
FEBRUARY 7-11, 1980-The Wall is performed onstage
for the first time at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Pink Floyd will perform The Wall live a total of just 29 times.
SEPTEMBER 7, 1981- Shooting begins on the movie version, written by Waters and
directed by Alan Parker. The story of The Wall is
told with the music of Floyd and simple effects. It's about Pink, a burned out rock and
roll performer who sits locked in a hotel room. (Bob Geldof played this character.)
We witness of his crisis and of his internal trial, in a rainbow of images and sad events.
JULY 14, 1982- The movie has its world premiere at the Empire Theatre in London.
JULY 21, 1990- Roger Waters performs The Wall
at Potzdamer Platz in Berlin. Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Marianne Faithfull, Thomas
Dolby and other stars take part in the performance, which is a benefit for the World
Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief.
Pink Floyd Books
at Amazon.com (the Earth's biggest book store):
Pink Floyd:
Through the Eyes of...
Pink Floyd:
In The Flesh
Saucerful
of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey
In the old days pre-Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
played to audiences which by virtue of their size allowed an intimacy of connection that
was magical. However, success overtook us and by 1977 we were playing in football
stadiums. The magic crushed beneath the weight of numbers, we were becoming addicted to
the trappings of popularity.
I found myself increasingly alienated in that atmosphere of
avarice and ego until one night in the Olympic Stadium, Montreal. Some crazed teenage fan
was clawing his way up the storm netting that separated us from the human cattle pen in
front of the stage, screaming his devotion to the "demi-gods" beyond his reach.
Incensed by his misunderstanding and my own connivance, I spat
my frustration in his face. Later that night, back at the hotel, shocked by my behavior, I
was faced with a choice. To deny my addiction and embrace that "comfortably
numb" but "magic-less" existence or accept the burden of insight, take the
road less traveled and embark on the often painful journey to discover who I was and where
I fit.
The Wall was the picture I drew for myself to help me make
that choice.
(Summer 1995)
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