Roger Waters: The Wall: Live in London (Special Edition) (DVD), Mercury, Music & Performance

Former Pink Floyd vocalist/bass guitarist Roger Waters leads an all-star lineup of musicians and actors performing The Wall in its entirety at Germany's Potsdamer Platz on July 21, 1990. This mind-boggling logistical and technical undertaking to benefit the Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief occurred at the Berlin Wall site just eight months after its collapse. Pink Floyd's original full-production 1980-81 "tour" for The Wall only included a few dozen shows in the United States and Europe, and this performance recreates it. Waters obviously serves as the concert's focus, and gives a solid vocal and theatrical performance. His Bleeding Heart Band anchors the music, and guitarists Rick DiFonzo, Andy Fairweather-Low, and Thin Lizzy veteran Snowy White handle David Gilmour's work admirably. Special guests include Bryan Adams, the Band, Paul Carrack, Thomas Dolby, James Galway, Jerry Hall, the Hooters, Cyndi Lauper, Ute Lemper, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Sin?ad O'Connor, Scorpions, East Berlin Radio Orchestra, East Berlin Radio Choir, and the Military Orchestra of the Soviet Army, along with conductor Michael Kamen who also worked on the original album. "The Trial" sequence features Marianne Faithfull, Tim Curry, and Albert Finney. Musical highlights include O'Connor and the Band on "Mother," Mitchell on "Goodbye Blue Sky," and, in particular, Morrison on "Comfortably Numb." All the main performers gather on-stage for the finale, "The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)," which appears on Waters' 1987 album Radio K.A.O.S. ("Outside the Wall" -- the actual end of The Wall -- plays over the closing credits.) The Wall -- Live in Berlin is an overwhelming yet entertaining spectacle that serves to remind of both the healing and the uniting powers of music. ~ Bret Adams, All Music Guide