Roger Waters, The Wall Live 2011

Gelredome, Arnhem, 8 April 2011

In year 2011 we in Europe experienced massive tour from Roger Waters, performing The Wall live. It was continuation from same tour in North America in 2010.The tour dates announcement was gradual. At the beginning there had been only one date in The Netherlands, which in the end extended to three dates in a weekend at the Gelredome, Arnhem. It was the same location where Roger Waters held the Dark Side of the Moon show in 2007.

I had my ticket for the show on Friday, which was sunny and reasonably warm for Dutch spring time. I left early from work and arrived in Arnhem around 5 in the afternoon. As usual, the city public transport was geared up for the big show and within 5 minutes I arrived at the big dome.

I walked the half of the stadium to reach my entry gate. Lots of people were walking around, sitting on the grass enjoying the warm sun, and savouring the food from several stands. The other side of the stadium was much quieter. I stopped at the merchandise booth and bought the tour shirt. I was quite tempted to buy the “teacher” shirt as well, but 35 euro was too much for a shirt, which apparently had worse quality than previous Roger Waters tour shirts.

After standing quite a while in the queue, finally the gate was open and I entered the arena. The outer part of the wall was already setup on the stage and the circle projection slide at the center was impressively huge. The stage was very wide, accentuated by the wall that covered the whole width of the arena.

The standing area was already quite crowded. The front area was already full. I fixed to a spot in the center, slightly in front of the mixer desk. The audiences were mix. I saw lots of old people but there were also lots of younger generations. I wouldn't surprise if the show became a family event, proof of progressive rock re-generation.

The show was scheduled at 8 o'clock. The tribune seats were getting full approaching the showtime and we in the standing area became bit impatient. Finally it begun with formal announcement about no flash photographs to avoid quality degradation of the projections on the wall.

The crowd cheered when Roger Waters and the band begun the show with In The Flesh. As grand opener, this song was ended with fireworks and the crashed aeroplane.The band continued with more songs from The Wall meanwhile the crews slowly piled up the bricks closing the stage. Another Brick in the Wall part 2 was marked with children choir, who warmly thanked by Roger afterward. The inflatable schoolmaster stood menacingly at one side of the wall throughout the song.

Before playing Mother, Roger did short introduction speech. He thanked Dutch fans, loyal since the beginning of Pink Floyd era when they played Paradiso in Amsterdam. Mother was performed by Roger with his acoustic guitar in front of the wall, accompanied by old video shoot of himself from 1980 show and also the inflatable mother stood high till the end of the song.

Further songs employed nice projections to the wall. Goodbye Blue Sky with the animation about the war, followed by Empty Spaces with the flowers animation, both I believe were the original animations by Gerald Scarfe. Young Lust with shoots of hot girls, very suitable for this hard rocking song. 

One of My Turns and Don't Leave Me Now were sung by Roger, who wandering around the stage in front of the almost fully built wall.

During Another Brick in the Wall part 3, the wall only left 3 holes to view Roger and the band. The wall being used fully for projections meanwhile the band performed behind it. Finally, there was only one hole in the wall, from where Roger looked out to the audience and sang Goodbye Cruel World. Then it's closed, ended the first half of the show.

During the half an hour break the wall was being used to display the gallery of Fallen Loved Ones, initiative from Roger Waters that everyone could upload picture and short texts about a loved person lost in war. It was also time to pay more attention on the projectors hung above me that projected the gallery. There were around 18 projectors that synchronously beamed images to the wall, impressive technique.

The second set was started with Hey You, performed by the band completely behind the wall. The wall itself was projected and sometimes contained animations. Before Is There Anybody Out There?, small parts of the wall was opened for viewing the acoustic guitars duo.During Nobody Home, Roger sang the song alone in a living room that opened at the left side of the wall. After Vera, he appeared in front of the wall when they performed Bring The Boys Back Home.

Comfortably Numb surely was the best part of the second half. The animations on the wall was great, Roger gave his full performance, and the guitar solo from Dave Kilminster was deafening.

The Show Must Go On was performed by the vocalists in front of the wall. They wore the military-alike uniform with the hammers symbol, which was accentuated to the wall projection during In The Flesh, when Roger acted as general and shooting undesired audiences with his machine gun.

Run Like Hell was another crowds' favorite, with the hands clapping in unison. We also could spot the black pig floating around the hall in the mid of this song.Waiting For The Worms was performed with lots of animations about the marching hammers and Roger sang using megaphone.The show was going to the climax with The Trial. The animations were fully used in this song until finally everyone shouted together "tear down the wall", and in the end...the wall was collapsed.

The show was ended with all the performers appeared in front of the ruins and sang Outside The Wall. Roger warmly thanked the crowds, announcing each performers, and finally said goodbye.

All in all, this was a brilliant show; as in previous Roger Waters' shows, the standard was set really high. The sound quality was exceptional, with the quadraphonic surround sounds. The performers did their job perfectly, which is reasonable remembering they had toured The Wall since last year. The projections to the wall were great, brought the show really into live. As usual in The Netherlands, the crowds were attentive but not really lively. One final conclusion, which is more as a reminder for myself, if this show will come in DVD, buy it!

Set List

First Half: In the Flesh?, The Thin Ice, Another Brick in the Wall Part 1, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Empty Spaces, What Shall We Do Now, Young Lust, One of My Turns, Don't Leave Me Now, Another Brick in the Wall Part 3, The Last Few Bricks, Goodbye Cruel World

Second Half: Hey You, Is There Anybody Out There?, Nobody Home, Vera, Bring the Boys Back Home, Comfortably Numb, The Show Must Go On, In The Flesh, Run Like Hell, Waiting for the Worms, Stop, The Trial, Outside the Wall.