Aggravated Sox Fan Bob wrote:
good dolphin wrote:
Frank, as you would expect with Waters, the concert is as much theater as it is music. It's difficult to reduce the visual to words and the words that are used don't translate the experience very well to the reader.
They basically had a wall from foul line to foul line in the outfield. It was mamoth and used as the screen for projection. I had seats down the third base line a few rows up from the concourse that seperates the boxes from the reserved seating and the images were as clear as could be.
The lights went down and a cloud of pot smoke that existed for the next few hours engulfed the stadium. I'm not a smoker but I kind of like the smell. I had a few brews before and during so I was feeling it. It was a beautiful night, warm but not sweaty hot, really perfect.
Great opening with all kinds of pyrotechnics and an airplane running from the backstop and crashing into the wall.
The theme was really anti all establishment, not just facism or governments. They showed pictures of people, both soldiers and civilians of all nationalities who have been killed in recent wars. Air planes dropped bombs shaped like religious symbols, corporate symbols and national symbols....he looses me a little on the commercialization when I see the hordes standing around to buy t shirts and triple digit ticket prices
Had the Twins and got to watch Morneau triple in the 9th to tie up the game during intermission.
Came out of intermission with the full wall. They had a condo unit built into the wall that opened up while Waters sang...better than my house...had t shirts that said big brother is watching you with the br crossed out and replaced with an M. I wish mothers day was coming soon because that would have been a gift.
I heard the whole thing sucked. All the special effects were bullshit and splashing the Star of David all over a pig was enough to send one of my friends to the exits...and she has a damned thick skin.
I am not the most sophisticated consumer of live music but I think I'd be able to tell if it sucked and it did not.
I didn't really notice of the star of david on a pig (it was actually a wild boar) as it was full of graffitied images and didn't really stick out. I could see why it would offend. I would probably equate it with the offense I would take to balck jesus coming down off of the cross to nail madonna, a cross being posed in a jar of urine or a person ripping the picture of the pope, which is to say, I don't think I'd be highly offended.
This was not some gratuitous use of the image as both the cross and crescent were used in a similar manner. I was not even mildly offended by the use of the cross as I recognized that he was making a statement about the causes of war, one of which has been religion and specifically christianity (on a superficial level). The Wall is also a warning about heirarchical social systems that demand conformity through the use of rigid rules. Major organized religions are among these systems.
Contextually in the show, Waters transforms from the performer of earlier in the show into the fascist leader. He clearly sings the performer is back at the hotel and asks the tells the crowd this is not what was expected to be seen. He orders gays, jews, coons, spotted people, etc. to get up against the wall and recommends they be shot. All this occurs while the pig is floating around. It is appropriate for this character to be blasphemous at this part of the story but that does not make the story blasphemous (although it ultimately probably is). This isn't like a Springsteen concert where Springsteen is out there only as Springsteen. This is theater where Waters is out there in character and spoken/sung words may not be the ones he holds.
Also, the blow up pig floating around the stadium is a Pink Floyd staple. It didn't seem like he was trying to make a particular offense to judaism witth the pig but in retospect it is probably more ignorance. If he was choosing to really shock the world he would have put islamic symbols on the pig as their grouping would be even more offensive.
It's an interesting take that I had not considered.
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