ROGER WATERS

Burswood Dome
Friday, January 27, 2012

Five years after he dazzled whatever Perth Oval was called at the time with his Dark Side Of The Moon show, Pink Floyd mastermind Roger Waters returned to our shores with an even bigger proposition, The Wall.
In a rare feat, Burswood Dome looked amazing upon entry as hundreds of large cardboard bricks filled the massive space to create a wall, the basis of one of the largest stage shows this city has ever seen. To say the show started with a bang would be a major understatement, but somehow it would also be literally correct. The silver haired black-clad rocker brought it on from the start. In The Flesh? ended with its own Australia Day Skyworks display after a small plane crash landed on the wall to create a flurry of explosions.

Unlike most classic-era travelling bands, this show featured more than just a few historical updates. Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 saw a reprise which included lyrics and imagery referring to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was an innocent man shot by police in the wake of the London Underground bombings in 2005, and the visuals during Run Like Hell satired the overuse of the lower case ‘i’ in modern day electronics.
Throughout the show, dazzling images were projected onto the bricks, whether it was headshots of fallen soldiers, animation lifted from the 1982 feature film adaptation (such as the iconic marching hammers), footage from the original 1980 Wall tour (which Rogers sung along to on Mother), or the spectacular 3-D visuals created just for the tour.
With such a visual feast on offer, you would be forgiven for thinking the music would take a back seat, but the band was made up of dream session musos including familiar faces GE Smith (formerly of Hall & Oates and the Saturday Night Live band) and Pink Floyd Wall-era touring member Snowy White, who recreated the album so well that it may have even sounded better in parts.
Even though your usual stadium rock is pretty darn scripted, The Wall was more of a theatrical production than a rock concert for the most part. Heck, the speakers featured recorded audience chants so the crowd knew what to do. The lucky kids who chanted “We don’t need no education” on stage were just a part of what resembled a cheesy Rock Eisteddfod, but what a Rock Eisteddfod it was! Now if only someone can convince the other ageing rock stars of this world to brighten up their shows with 10 metre high walls and flying remote control pigs...
_MATTHEW HOGAN