OMG - The Wall.

Thirty years ago I was stationed on the outskirts of London which gave me access to some of the best entertainment in the world.  I was lucky enough to see Freddie strut-his-stuff as the front man to the legendary Queen and, on another occasion, I head-banged for two hours solid as Status Quo worked their way through their iconic list of chart hits.  But, due to work commitments, there was a band that did eluded me - I missed seeing Pink Floyd performing ‘The Wall’.

Whilst I would not count myself as a massive Floyd fan, I have regularly listened to and enjoyed their music over the years and I have often dwelt on the thought that I wish I had seen that performance all those years ago - a unique opportunity missed - one of life's tick-boxes left empty.

Well that is what I thought - but last night I had the chance to do put things right.  It was the 6th night of Roger Waters performing ‘The Wall’ at the O2 in London and what a performance it was........ 

The message behind the music was as strong and as alive as ever and the visual backdrops had been brought right up to date as the fallen of recent conflicts, both civilian and military,  were also remembered whilst the audience were also reminded of just how good Pink Floyd’s music is.

Even though it was only Roger Waters performing last night from the original Pink Floyd line-up, and the other band members were not present or even mentioned, the performance was amazing and I can now say I saw ‘The Wall’.

As an after note, during the last part of the show, when The Wall comes down, there is an image of a piece of Banksy’ graffiti projected onto the stage backdrop.  Last year, when I was working in Palestine, I saw a very similar painting on the wall near a checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, also by Banksy  -  it is one of his paintings of a young girl with some balloons.  I don’t know why, but seeing that same graffiti last night at the concert completed some kind of loop in my life.........