The Wall - Live in Berlin is a 1990 live album release by Roger Waters of a concert staging of Pink Floyd's The Wall in Berlin, Germany on 21 July 1990. The event's purpose was to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. A video of the concert was also commercially released.
Held in Potsdamer Platz (a location which was part of the former "no-man's land" of the Berlin Wall), this concert was even bigger than the Pink Floyd era ones, as Waters built a 550-foot long and 82-foot high wall, which was broken down in the same show.[1] The show had a sell-out crowd of over 250,000 people, and right before the performance started the gates were opened which enabled another 200,000 people to watch.
The concert 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 recently founded by the late Leonard Cheshire. Unfortunately, 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. Waters 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". A few months after the interview was broadcast, the wall came down.
Set list
"In the Flesh?" by Scorpions
"The Thin Ice" by Ute Lemper & Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)" by Roger Waters; sax solo by Garth Hudson
"The Happiest Days of Our Lives" by Roger Waters
"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" by Cyndi Lauper; guitar solos by Rick DiFonzo & Snowy White, synth solo by Thomas Dolby
"Mother" by Sinéad O'Connor & The Band; accordion by Garth Hudson, vocals by Rick Danko & Levon Helm; acoustic instruments by The Hooters.
"Goodbye Blue Sky" by Joni Mitchell & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir ; flute by James Galway
"Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now?" by Bryan Adams & Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
"Young Lust" by Bryan Adams, guitar solos by Rick DiFonzo & Snowy White
"Oh My God - What a Fabulous Room" by Jerry Hall (intro to "One of My Turns")
"One of My Turns" by Roger Waters
"Don't Leave Me Now" by Roger Waters
"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)" by Roger Waters (followed by the medley The Last Few Bricks) & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
"Goodbye Cruel World" by Roger Waters
"Hey You" by Paul Carrack
"Is There Anybody Out There?" by The Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir; classical guitars by Rick DiFonzo & Snowy White
"Nobody Home" by Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir, guitar solos by Snowy White
"Vera" by Roger Waters & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir
"Bring the Boys Back Home" by The Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir & the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany song and dance ensemble
"Comfortably Numb" by Van Morrison, Roger Waters & The Band & the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir, guitar solos by Rick DiFonzo & Snowy White
"In the Flesh" by Roger Waters, Scorpions , the Rundfunk Orchestra and Choir
"Run Like Hell" by Roger Waters, Scorpions
"Waiting for the Worms" by Roger Waters, Scorpions and the Rundfunk Orchestra and Choir
"Stop" by Roger Waters
"The Trial" by The Rundfunk Orchestra and Choir, featuring:
Tim Curry as the Prosecutor
Thomas Dolby as the Teacher
Ute Lemper as the Wife
Marianne Faithfull as the Mother
Albert Finney as the Judge
"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.
Personnel
The Company
Roger Waters: Vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar on "Mother", rhythm guitar on "Hey You."
Scorpions:
Klaus Meine: Vocals.
Rudolf Schenker: Guitar.
Matthias Jabs: Guitar.
Francis Buchholz: Bass guitar.
Herman Rarebell: Drums.
Ute Lemper: Vocals.
Cyndi Lauper: Percussion, vocals.
Thomas Dolby: Synthesizer, vocals.
Sinéad O'Connor: Vocals.
The Band:
Levon Helm: Vocals.
Rick Danko: Vocals.
Garth Hudson: Accordion, soprano saxophone.
The Hooters:
Eric Bazilian: Guitar.
Rob Hyman: Keyboards.
John Lilley: Guitar.
Fran Smith Jr.: Bass guitar.
David Uosikkinen: Drums.
Joni Mitchell: Vocals.
James Galway: Flute.
Bryan Adams: Guitar, vocals.
Jerry Hall: Vocals.
Paul Carrack: Vocals.
Van Morrison: Vocals.
Tim Curry: Vocals.
Marianne Faithfull: Vocals.
Albert Finney: Vocals.
The Bleeding Heart Band
Rick DiFonzo: Guitars.
Snowy White: Guitars.
Andy Fairweather-Low: Bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals.
Peter Wood: keyboards, organ, synthesizers.
Nick Glennie-Smith: Keyboards, organ, synthesizers.
Graham Broad: Drums, electronic percussion.
Stan Farber: Backing vocals.
Joe Chemay: Backing vocals.
Jim Haas: Backing vocals.
John Joyce: Backing vocals.
Others
The Rundfunk Orchestra, directed by Michael Kamen.
The Rundfunk Choir.
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany song and dance ensemble (alternatingly credited on the 2003 reissue DVD as The Military Orchestra of the Soviet Army and as The Marching Band of the Combined Soviet Forces in Germany)
Paddy Moloney (member of The Chieftans. Listed in album credits, but contribution is unknown.)
removed astacut from description
awesome +1
I was actually at this one. Kicked azz. US Army Field Station Berlin. Thank you so much for this! Like a memory I can recapture and share.
you are both very welcome. i would have loved to have been there pink floyd is an amazing band ! my favorite album will always be the wall.ahhh brings back so many memories