The Wall – Live in Berlin

History

The concert was staged on vacant terrain between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate, a location that was part of the former "no man's land" of the Berlin Wall.

The show had a sell-out crowd of over 350,000 people, and right before the performance started the gates were opened which enabled at least another 100,000 people to watch. While this broke records for a paid-entry concert, seven days earlier Jean Michel Jarre had set a new world record for concert attendance, with his free Paris la Defense show attracting a live audience of two million.

The event was produced and cast by British impresario and producer Tony Hollingsworth. It was staged partly at Waters' expense. While he subsequently earned the money back from the sale of the CD and video releases of the album, the original plan was to donate all profits past his initial investment to the Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief, a UK charity founded by Leonard Cheshire. However, audio and video sales came in significantly under projections, and the trading arm of the charity (Operation Dinghy) incurred heavy losses. A few years later, the charity was wound up, and the audio and video sales rights from the concert performance returned to Waters.

The production was designed by Mark Fisher and Jonathan Park. The stage design featured a 550-foot-long (170 m) and 82-foot-high (25 m) wall. Most of the wall was built before the show and the rest was built progressively through the first part of the show. The wall was then knocked down at the end of the show.

Waters had stated on the first airing of the making of The Wall on In the Studio with Redbeard in July 1989 that the only way he was to resurrect a live performance of The Wall was "if the Berlin Wall came down". Four months later the wall came down.

Initially, Waters tried to get guest musicians like Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton but they were either unavailable or turned it down. Both Rod Stewart, who was to sing "Young Lust", and Joe Cocker were originally confirmed to appear but when the original planned concert date was put back both found themselves unavailable. Also, on the same 1989 interview with Redbeard, Waters stated that "I might even let Dave play guitar." On 30 June 1990 backstage at the Knebworth Pink Floyd performance at Knebworth '90, during a pre-show interview, David Gilmour responded to Roger's statement on an interview with Jim Ladd by saying that "he and the rest of Pink Floyd (Nick Mason and Rick Wright) had been given the legal go-ahead to perform with Roger but had not been contacted." Two days later, on 2 July 1990 Waters appeared on the American rock radio call-in show Rockline and contradicted his Gilmour invite by saying, "I don't know where Dave got that idea". Also Rush drummer Neil Peart revealed in a 2013 interview with Classic Rock Magazine that he tried to get involved to play drums but Roger turned him down in favour of Graham Broad.

In the end, Hollingsworth (with Waters assisting) brought in guest artists including Rick Danko, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of The Band, The Hooters, Van Morrison, Sinéad O'Connor, Cyndi Lauper, Marianne Faithfull, Scorpions, Joni Mitchell, Paul Carrack, Thomas Dolby and Bryan Adams, along with actors Albert Finney, Jerry Hall, Tim Curry and Ute Lemper. Leonard Cheshire opened the concert by blowing a World War II whistle.

This performance had several differences from Pink Floyd's original production of The Wall show. Both "Mother" and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" (like in the 1980/81 concerts) were extended with solos by various instruments and the latter had a cold ending. "In The Flesh" (also like the 1980/81 concerts) has an extended intro, and "Comfortably Numb" featured dueling solos by the two guitarists as well as an additional chorus at the end of the song. "The Show Must Go On" is omitted completely, while both "The Last Few Bricks" and "What Shall We Do Now?" are included ("The Last Few Bricks" was shortened). Also, the performance of the song "The Trial" had live actors playing the parts, with Thomas Dolby playing the part of the teacher hanging from the wall, Tim Curry as the prosecutor, and Albert Finney as the Judge. The show officially ended with "The Tide Is Turning", a song from Waters' then-recent solo album Radio K.A.O.S. The Wall's classic closing number, "Outside the Wall," was affixed to the end of "The Tide is Turning."

The Wall – Live in Berlin was released as a live recording of the concert, although a couple of tracks were excised from the CD version, and the Laserdisc video in NTSC can still be found through second sourcing. A DVD was released in 2003 in the USA by Island/Mercury Records and internationally by Universal Music (Region-free).

Hollingsworth's company Tribute, a London-based "good causes" campaign company, sold worldwide television rights, with 52 countries showing the two-hour event. Twenty countries showed up to five repeats of the show and 65 countries broadcast a highlights show. There was also distribution of a double music CD and post-production VHS videotape by Polygram.

Setlist

1. "In the Flesh?" by Scorpions
2. "The Thin Ice" by Ute Lemper & Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
3. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)" by Roger Waters; sax solo by Garth Hudson
4. "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" by Roger Waters
5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" by Cyndi Lauper; guitar solos by Rick Di Fonzo & Snowy White, organ solo by Peter Wood, synthesizer solo by Thomas Dolby
6. "Mother" by Sinéad O'Connor & The Band; accordion by Garth Hudson, vocals by Rick Danko & Levon Helm; acoustic instruments by The Hooters.
7. "Goodbye Blue Sky" by Joni Mitchell & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir; flute by James Galway
8. "Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now?" by Bryan Adams, Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
9. "Young Lust" by Bryan Adams, guitar solos by Rick Di Fonzo & Snowy White
10. "Oh My God – What a Fabulous Room" by Jerry Hall (intro to "One of My Turns")
11. "One of My Turns" by Roger Waters
12. "Don't Leave Me Now" by Roger Waters
13. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)" by Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
14. "The Last Few Bricks"
15. "Goodbye Cruel World" by Roger Waters
16. "Hey You" by Paul Carrack
17. "Is There Anybody Out There?" by The Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir; classical guitars by Rick Di Fonzo & Snowy White
18. "Nobody Home" by Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir, guitar solos by Snowy White
19. "Vera" by Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
20. "Bring the Boys Back Home" by the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir, Band of the Combined Soviet Forces in Germany & Red Army Chorus
21. "Comfortably Numb" by Van Morrison, Roger Waters & The Band & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir, guitar solos by Rick Di Fonzo & Snowy White
22. "In the Flesh" by Roger Waters, Scorpions, the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
23. "Run Like Hell" by Roger Waters and Scorpions
24. "Waiting for the Worms" by Roger Waters, Scorpions and the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
25. "Stop" by Roger Waters
26. "The Trial" by The Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir, featuring:
27. Tim Curry as the Prosecutor
28. Thomas Dolby as the School Master
29. Ute Lemper as the Wife
30. Marianne Faithfull as the Mother
31. Albert Finney as the Judge
32. "The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)" by the Company (lead vocals by Roger Waters, Joni Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams, Van Morrison and Paul Carrack.) & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir.
33. "Outside the Wall" by Roger Waters

The Company

The Bleeding Hearts Band

Others