Between 2010 and 2013, Roger Waters embarked on “The Wall Live Tour”, a large-scale re-imagining of Pink Floyd’s 1980 “Wall Tour” (and, to a certain degree, Rogers’ own early ’90s solo tour). Following six separate legs, 219 accumulative shows, and over $460 million in profits, “The Wall Live” reigns supreme as the highest-grossing tour for a solo musician. Now, Waters is bringing his grand spectacle to the big screen with a forthcoming documentary. As Rolling Stone reports, Roger Waters: The Wall is set to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September. Credited to Waters and the tour’s creative director, Sean Evans, the film promises an “exhilaratingly visceral experience” that parallels the record’s core themes of war and loss as it follows Waters during his lengthy travels. The film utilizes footage from throughout the tour’s four-year run, which included stops in the UK and Europe, the US, South America, and Australia. In a statement, TIFF director Piers Handling said, “Ever since The Wall was released, it has become one of the classic rock albums of all time. Its popularity continues and its message is still timely. Deeply affected by his father’s and grandfather’s deaths in the two world wars, Roger Waters has crafted a plea to tear down the walls that lead to misunderstandings and wars. This powerful performance film allows Roger to explore what The Wall still means to him as he performs it in front of tens of thousands of fans, and visits more personal places that resonate with meaning on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.” In the past, Waters said the tour may be his loftiest project to date. In fact, when he announced plans for a new solo album last fall, he raised concerns he could ever out-do himself. “I can’t top that tour,” he said. “First of all, you have to accept the fact that I’m not going to live forever … You just have to accept that when you do something as enormous as that tour. The hardest thing in the world is thinking of something to do, so going and doing it is a reward in itself.” The tour consistently garnered rave reviews, not only for Waters’ performance, but for the overall spectacle, which included a wall twice the size of 1980’s original. In a 2012 review, PopMatters’ JC Macek detailed the tour’s inherently cinematic scope: “As an immersive concert experience, however, The Wall is an entirely different beast. Its harsh, theatrical nature pulls the audience deep into its storyline and its visuals create the illusion of actually being inside a dynamic, frightening and engrossing movie. Yes, The Wall live is every bit as cinematic as its actual cinema-released counterpart film Pink Floyd – The Wall and will remain a milestone in Pink Floyd and Roger Waters history. The Wall Live has truly been more than a concert tour, but an anti-war, pro-music, theatrical, cinematic, brilliant, inspiring truly immersive, multi-media experience that compliments the history of The Wall and, perhaps, brings it one step farther in its story.” The TIFF is set to take place September 4th-14th. Rogers will be in attendance for the premiere, after which he’ll host a Q&A. Below, watch the entirety of the May 2012 concert at San Francisco’s AT&T Park.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 01:33:57 +0000