The concert that Roger Waters said “destroyed” him
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Not every rock star is made for life on the road. There is a reason why even the Beatles were fed up with the touring life in the mid-1960s, and the idea of having to imitate perfection night after night in the studio in front of screaming fans was bound to tire someone out. Although Roger Waters The wall In a perfect commentary on what a live experience can be when taken to the extreme, he admitted that he was almost incapacitated trying to stage a replica of it in Berlin.
But if Waters really wanted to pull this off, he had to do it right. He was only a few years removed from leaving Pink Floyd, and while he still owned the rights to his conceptual masterpiece, how would he be able to construct the same gigantic setup during a milestone in history?
While the Berlin Wall was being torn down, Waters had already begun building his own wall, almost as a symbolic representation of the country overcoming its division. Although he stayed true to Pink Floyd’s original stage show, there were a few more surprises. With a replacement act playing “In the Flesh” at the debut performances, it was a tough decision to hire German rockers Scorpions for the first track.
In fact, the entire cast was absolutely star-studded, from Van Morrison to Cyndi Lauper to Sinead O’Connor. Musicians aside, the idea of having Tim Curry play the judge in the closing song, “The Trial,” is one of the most inspired decisions ever made. He’s played this over-the-top character his entire life, and seeing this vibrant presence help tear down the wall was like the cherry on top of the evening.
That didn’t mean everything went smoothly, though. During one of the main performances, technical problems led to Waters coming on stage to fix everything, even going so far as to do a light soft-shoe dance for the audience before everything was back up and running.
Although Waters was immensely proud of putting the show together, he didn’t mince words about how frightening it was to make such a big statement inches from patrolling German soldiers. He said: “It absolutely destroyed me. They came and asked me to do it in October. We left, I think, on July 21. And the months in between were an absolute nightmare. It wasn’t just about getting the permit. I mean, when we started talking about it, there were still guys running around with machine guns killing anyone who set foot on that piece of land.”
It also didn’t help that Waters didn’t get along with everyone on the crew. Although he was a fan of O’Connor’s voice, he later said that working with her was an absolute pain and he had no intention of ever repeating that with her around again.
Despite all the complexes, it’s hard not to be proud of such a colossal event, held to celebrate the years of separation that are finally over. And with David Gilmour leading Pink Floyd through arenas around the world, this was the moment when Waters went from being a humble solo artist to a superstar all on his own.
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