Capacity: 19,800
Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: 40 Bay Street, Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2X2. MAP

Website: www.theaircanadacentre.com

COMMENTS

Roger's tour of The Wall kicks off in Canada, and more specifically, the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Our thanks to BD's own Elliot Tayman for the ticket scan shown to the right.

The RogerWaters.com presales began starting Wednesday, May 5th. Starting May 3rd, American Express Cardmembers could get advance tickets, with seating available to Gold Card, Platinum Card and Centurion members. US fans could also get early access to tickets via iTunes beginning Thursday, May 6th, by purchasing the 1982 film The Wall from iTunes by April 26th. For both the American Express and iTunes presales, please note that the presale offers were available in select markets and ticket quantities were limited.

General sale tickets went on sale on Monday, May 10, via Ticketmaster.ca and Ticketmaster.com. The public sale also saw a limited number of VIP packages made available for each show on the tour.

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Do not read on if you don't want surprises to be spoilt, regarding what the band played, and what happened as the night unfolded!

The Air Canada Centre in Toronto is just recovering from the first night of the Roger Waters The Wall live tour, and what a night it was! As BD contributor Marina Cattai told us: "I just came back from the first concert of the tour and I can say that I have no words to describe it. It was just AMAZING!"

Naturally, Algie the pig couldn't resist going on the road, and is back in his black wall garb, but as you'll see from the pictures to the left, and below, which are courtesy of BD contributor Johnny P, he wasn't able to escape the graffiti artists who managed to decorate him on previous tours. A wonderful, menacing look, which we are looking forward to seeing if the designs change from show to show. Time will tell...

Even the Canadian press were enthusiastic with their praise. 660News, calling the show an "awe-inspiring spectacle", noted that "Roger Waters treated Toronto fans to his first performance of 'The Wall' in more than 20 years on Wednesday, mixing bits of vintage stagecraft with all-new flourishes in front of a sold-out crowd".

The Star also reviews the concert, and is a bit more picky, although notes "good on Roger Waters for recognizing – and humbly deferring to – what a massive contribution to the rock canon he made in The Wall."

There's also a large report on the ABCNews website, of which this gives a flavour: "Roger Waters tore down the house Wednesday night in Toronto as he kicked off the 30th anniversary world tour for Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'. He walked out to thunderous applause beginning with the first track of the seminal concept album, 'In the Flesh', and the adulation never stopped. Synchronized pyrotechnics, Orwellian imagery and marching hammers culminated with a plane flying into the wall and bursting into flames. And that was just the opener.

"Many times when classic rock artists perform, there's an air of nostalgia, but not with Waters. Not only does the material seem fresh, it also appears 2010 is the right time for this tour, probably because of the technology that catapults it into the stratosphere. Throughout the nearly 2 1/2-hour performance, the wall fills with imagery making the large arena feel almost cozy. Thanks to the width of the wall, which spans the Air Canada Centre, and the constant saturated, crisp projection, there doesn't seem to be a bad vantage point. It's almost like seeing a staged musical in an appropriately sized theater.

"Waters has taken the theme of isolation and applies a global perspective to it. Sometimes it's entertaining; other times it gets a bit political, though never divisive. If there's one central them, it's that of humanity."

Reviews and pictures from BD contributors (including Timothy Richards, whose picture of Roger can be seen to the right - click the thumbnail) have now been added to this page, as best as we could manage to; unfortunately we're not able to use everything submitted, but we'll do our best to! There's also a massive selection of pictures in a posting that Kevin/pf2thewall has posted on our sister site's forum - click here to go to the start of them. Remember though - the pictures, videos and reports below will give details of the show, so don't look if you don't want any surprises to be spoilt! You've been warned...

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Lee-Ann Wylie

For more of Lee-Ann's great pictures, visit our Facebook page!

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Jens Dam-Libach

First show of The Wall last night in Toronto was a mind blowing experience. In all ways.

The band was loud, raw, explosive and lush in sound!!! Roger was in great form and was obviously enjoying himself. Great band especially Jon Carin's Run Like Hell performance stood out as THE highlight of the show. Kilminster was lush in sound and delivered the guitar parts and solos extremely well. Hats off!!! Snowy was not much in front this time, but was great when he was delivering. The new guy needs a few more shows to nail his parts, but will be fantastic I'm sure.

Gilmour vocalist did a fantastic job.

Graham's drumming was such a treat and extremely raw and explosive.

What can I say about the show??? Words can't really describe it. But it was amazing to sit through. The full blown wall backdrop was lush and extremely powerful. Mr Screen was beautiful to sit in front in so many ways. The political stuff was perfect and spot on and definately brought tears to my eyes when combine with the lost ones feature sent in by the fans and general crowd.

Looking forward to the next ten shows I'll be attending here on the North American leg of the tour.

I'm in awe!!!!!

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Johnny P

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Chris Loma

Just got home from the best show I have ever seen!!! Waters and Company delivered on what truly is an amazing show! The visuals, sound, all very EPIC! Every person in the audience was on their feet. Waters I thought sounded terrific!! Vocal lessons have paid off for the old boy! The wall is absolutely enormous and man did it ever come tumblin down. On some of the first row of people in fact. If you can get tix to any of these shows go see a mastermind one last time do things that will leave you feeling Comfortably numb...WOW!!

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Marina Cattai

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURE by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Rob Peets

The show was spectacular... I have to admit I got a little misty eyed as "In The Flesh?" began, and a couple other times throughout the show, like many this has been a life long dream of mine. The music was solid, it's the Wall live as we know it, with some new flourishes here and there... and very well performed, kudos to everyone involved! The only mistake came in the form of mic volume in opening couple verses of Mother, and while concerned, Roger took it in stride and showed that he was happy when his mic began responding as it should. Roger's voice sounded great, I was actually a little surprised at times... he did a little miming/half singing for the "Bring the Boys Back Home" and "Waiting for the Worms" loudspeaker sections but the rest was live vocal. "The Trial" was well sung and he injected a little humor into the wife character by giving her an outrageous French-ish type accent. I loved GE Smith's slide solo section... and the breakdown pseudo-improv at the end of "Run Like Hell" was sweet. Also I have seen Comfortably Numb performed live by various members of old Floyd over the years and this was the best version... combined with the wall and the new visuals, it just wins. When David joins Roger for whichever gig he chooses that audience will be in for a real treat!!

The updated visuals make this the best version of the Wall ever done, by far. It's like taking the 1980 shows, and adding the latest tech... it's everything and more than I expected. Some of the overlaid brick effects were mind-blowing, during "the last few bricks" it looked as if certain bricks were being pulled away, behind, the wall. Words can't describe the effect... and this type of thing was done a few times in different ways. The imagery really does add many new, exciting elements to the whole overall concept and ties in well to the reality we live in today, I felt moved at times by the images I was being offered... I found it mostly optimistic, with a "we can learn from this", kind of vibe. Also some of the old Scarfe animation has been updated with 3D elements and a new rendered Golum like character. The puppets/inflatables were brilliant, the "Nobody Home" room was awesome, honestly at times I was transported back to 1980, especially when the wall came down... it's exactly how I imagined it would be, perfect. It's also interesting that the hoodies the band and Roger wears for the "in the flesh"/surrogate band sections are the ones for sale in the merch booths... pretty cool, and I'm wearing one now. :)

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Jeehoon Yu

The greatest show on earth:

Finally, 21st century version of The Wall unveiled. Roger Waters kicked off The Wall tour at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. I feel lucky that I witnessed the first show of The Wall 2010-11 tour. It was certainly the most spectacular concert in rock history.

Roger and his band, the wall itself, props, sound effects, visual images... Everything was fantastic.

The 20,000-seat centre was packed. It must have been scalper's dream concert. If you miss the show in your town, you may regret it for the rest of your life. Here's what happened at the ACC on September 15th, 2010:

*Venue regulations: Big cameras were not allowed. Only small size ones were allowed.
*Running time: The show started at 8:03pm and ended at 10:35pm.
*The sound: Overall, much sharper and heavier than the previous Dark Side tour.
*Highlights: You may not agree with this: In The Flesh?, The Happiest Days, Another Brick Part 1, Mother, Empty Spaces, Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell, The Trial.

Roger's microphone did not work properly for a minute or so on 'Mother'. Snowy White's solo on 'Mother' was killer! Dave Kilminster's long solo on 'Comfortably Numb' was fine. I mean, not as good as David Gilmour's trade mark solo. Kilminster is a talented player, but he is not Gilmour.

*Visual images: Superb, but too much digital graphics.
*Merchandise: T-shirts were hot items. I got one for $40. Program($25)? No good. I bought it, but I was totally disappointed. Posters looked alright.
*Media reviews:
"Students share The Wall with rock legend Roger Waters" (Globe & Mail: theglobeandmail.com)
"It's The Wall, not the Roger Waters show" (Toronto Star: thestar.com)
"Roger Waters builds a dazzling Wall" (Toronto Sun: torontosun.com)
*Taking pictures: Don't miss Spitfire crash. As you know it happens at the end of 'In The Flesh?'. If you have floor seats, keep watching your right hand side. Happens so quickly. I missed my shot.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Dan DeLuca

AWESOME SHOW! Wow. I didn't think he was gonna go so big... My expectations were so high I was worried (even though I knew with Roger I shouldn't be) that I just couldn't be as great as I thought. Big mistake.

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Beckett Garner