Although knowing about Pink Floyd’s The Wall for a long time, it wasn’t until my 16th year on this planet that I actually came in contact with it, as the music teacher at my school used the film as part of his education plan. For this I am forever grateful to him, as I was hooked from the very beginning.

From that day and up until very recently, seeing this magnificent piece of music performed live always seemed like an impossible dream, but then it was announced that Roger Waters would be touring with The Wall again as a “…30 something anniversary…”, and we were lucky enough to get tickets for the Copenhagen show before they were sold out in mere minutes time.
Even with this, it didn’t seem real to me, and even though we here at Metalmoments warmed ourselves up well in advance by constantly playing the album, throwing the Berlin Live show from 1990 in the old VCR and the special edition DVD of the film in the you-know-what, it wasn’t until actually sitting outside Parken in the lovely sunshine the day had brought, while vaguely hearing the soundcheck playing various tidbits of the show through the thick concrete walls that it began to dawn on me the gravity of what was about to happen. And it wasn’t until I stood mere feet away from the stage and saw the man himself walk on through the firing of flares and to the sound of In The Flesh? that it hit me full impact what was about to take place. I got goosebumps all over I tell you!

This was my first time in Parken as well, and at first I thought it looked a lot smaller than what I had expected, but I guess a lot of space was occupied by the grand stage set-up, the enormous wall stretching from side to side of the building with a V-shaped hole in the middle where the band was. Later, I learned that there had been just shy of 50000 people in the audience, so I guess the stadium could handle more than its looks gave it credit for. Not that I know where all these people came from, because strangely enough it was never very crowded on our way in…
Anyway, as I said, up on the stage a large section of a wall was already built, with only the midsection missing so we could see the place where the band would be, and a kind female voice explained to us that Mr. Waters would appreciate it if no one would use flash for their cameras, as this would blind out the shows video-production, leaving us staring only at a white wall. To my great surprise, this seemed to be respected throughout the entire show!
After this, the music began…

Well, the setlist should be no surprise to anyone, but I knew Parken had a reputation of delivering the worst sound-quality in all of Denmark, and when the roof was on, it should be even worse.
Of course, this show had the roof on because it was required for the show, but even with this I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the sound wasn’t all that bad after all.
In fact, the surround sound effects they had put in at several times worked perfectly, and more than once I felt that the sound mix helped enhance the feeling that the music was providing. The technician crew certainly deserves big thumbs up for that!

But the sound alone was not enough to make a show, other things helped create an atmosphere as well.
The more things poor Mr. Pink went through, and the worse his state of mind got, was clearly visualized through the adding of more and more bricks in the great wall. Also here I was impressed by the meticulous work of the technicians and the stage-hands; the adding of bricks was perfectly timed with the expansion of the video production; never was there a brick without something showing on it, and never was there a brick missing where something was shown.
The visualization and video production was also the side which displayed the biggest part of renewal in the show; it had truly been pulled directly into the 21st century with the adding of modern graffiti to the wall, still stating slogans which helped enhance the overall feeling even more. In some parts of the show, soldiers and civilians who had been killed during wars throughout modern time was also displayed on the bricks; later I learned that people had had the opportunity to send these photo and info in of loved ones they wanted immortalized at the concert. Another very nice touch if you ask me.
Of course, the visuals weren’t confined to video-production alone, there were also giant puppets of the stories three great ‘villains’, the teacher, the mother and the wife, again perfectly made (I seem to return to this statement, don’t I?), as well as a few other things. Quite early on, an aeroplane flew by from the back of the hall and crashed behind the wall, giant flames shooting up at the point of impact; later a gigantic flying pig would spew religious and capitalistic symbols over our heads…

The Bleeding Hearts Band (not sure if he still calls them that) that Mr. Waters had gathered was highly competent and up for the task, even though they could seem a bit anonymous standing so far back, and gradually being covered by the wall as it was being built. This would all change however, when we arrived at the hateful, aggressive part with In The Flesh where they, in their black uniforms all came out in front of said wall, and performed so well I got goosebumps all over!
Especially the lead guitarist, Dave Kilminster, and the second lead vocalist, Robbie Wyckoff, really stood out, both at this point and during Comfortably Numb when they were standing performing on the top of the wall, as Waters was crawling below it.
Another interesting mention should go to one of the keyboardist’s, who was Harry Waters, Roger Waters’ son.
Of course, I don’t feel like I need to mention the level of authenticity and skill Mr. Waters himself brought to the show, this much should be self-evident… Still, I was impressed by how lively he was, and even though he has done this, and other shows, somewhere around a million gazillion times before, he was still able to thoroughly convince me of his sincerity as he spoke of how great it was playing for us, and how much he also enjoyed the show. It felt like it came straight from the heart.

Well, I’ve been nothing but positive up till this point, so was there really nothing bad about the whole thing?
At first thought, I would be inclined to say no, there wasn’t, although there was one thing I felt at least I could have done without…
Between the songs Goodbye Cruel World and Hey You (where you normally would need to change album) there had been placed an intermission of about 20-30 minutes. Even though I do understand the use for some people to use the bathroom, and certainly their reluctance to do so during the show, this threw me out of the mood a bit, especially since they played music (by other artists even) throughout the whole thing, and I wasn’t prepared to go anywhere. I loved my spot.
The wall itself was covered with the memorial photos I mentioned earlier, which seemed to be the only real connection to the actual show.
Anyway, the show was back on the road soon enough, and all was forgotten and forgiven…
Also, when it had to be done, I thought it looked great the way only one brick in the wall was missing for Goodbye Cruel World, in which hole we could only see the face of Mr. Waters as he sang, and how the song came to an end with the placing of this one final brick. It perfectly marked an end to this episode.
After the intermission, the wall stood there, intimidating and colossal for the remainder of the show, until we came to The Trial, which of course ended with the tearing down of it.
And down it came!
At this point, the excellent video production and the strange ways of ones mind had tricked me into believing that these bricks really were great solid slabs of concrete, and so when they began tumbling down out into the security pit, almost reaching the audience I must admit I flinched for a split second, before remembering it was all an act. This is how large an impact this show had on me...

So, how to round up something like this?
I’m not entirely sure, I’m not even sure I want to. I’m sitting here, a week later, and I still haven’t gotten the show out of my system, not by a long shot.
What I can tell you is that I’ll never be able to hear this music or see the film in the same way again. I would probably not even be able to see another show on the tour and feel the same.
This truly was the best concert I have ever been to, and nothing will ever beat it.

Setlist:

In The Flesh?
The Thin Ice
Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 1
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2
Mother
Goodbye Blue Sky
Empty Spaces
Young Lust
One Of My Turns
Don’t Leave Me Now
Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 3
Goodbye Cruel World
Intermission
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