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Home arrow 2013 WALL TOUR arrow September 21st - STADE DE FRANCE, PARIS, FRANCE
September 21st - STADE DE FRANCE, PARIS, FRANCE Print E-mail
Stade de France
Roger Waters - Stade de France, Paris, 2013 ticket

Capacity: 77,800
Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: Avenue du Président Wilson, 93210 Saint-Denis, France. MAP

Website: www.stadefrance.com

 

COMMENTS

Roger's tour of The Wall comes to its conclusion at this impressive stadium in the French capital. Should be a spectacular end to the tour, and we're sure that quite a few Brain Damage visitors will be there!

The RogerWaters.com presales have taken place, with advance tickets available to those who had registered their interest in particular cities. General sale tickets are now on sale through LiveNation.fr and other official agents (exact dates and outlets can be found via Roger's website). The public sale will also see a limited number of VIP packages made available for each show on the tour.

YOUR HELP NEEDED! We want to cover Roger's concerts the best we can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. We'd love to see ANY pictures, tickets scans, reviews, newspaper reports, and anything else you come across for this show - we look forward to hearing from you!

SET LIST
FIRST HALF: In the Flesh, The Thin Ice, Another Brick in the Wall Part 1, The Happiest Days of our Lives, Another Brick in the Wall Part 2/The Ballad of Jean Charles de Menezes, Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Empty Spaces, What Shall We Do Now, Young Lust, One of My Turns, Don't Leave Me Now, Another Brick in the Wall Part 3, The Last Few Bricks, Goodbye Cruel World
SECOND HALF: Hey You, Is There Anybody Out There?, Nobody Home, Vera, Bring the Boys Back Home, Comfortably Numb, The Show Must Go On, In The Flesh, Run Like Hell, Waiting for the Worms, Stop, The Trial, Outside the Wall.

Well. Night twenty seven of the tour, the final show of the 2013 tour, and of The Wall Live as a whole. A real "end of an era" feeling to the show, full of emotion and, in equal parts, celebration and sadness at it all finishing here. Roger and the band have done a fantastic job, and the show in Paris was a fitting conclusion to everything. My extensive review is below, along with (hopefully soon) plenty of reviews and pictures from others who attended.

A couple of great photo galleries courtesy of the French press can be seen HERE and HERE.

There was also an interview with Roger on French TV relating to the show:

If you went to this show in the French capital, please let us know what you thought of the event, and if anything interesting or different happened if you've been to previous shows and can compare.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD's Matt

"Bonjour Paris, bienvenue, eh?" Thus spoke Roger in his welcome to the Parisian crowd this evening, but despite the cheery hello, everyone there - band, crew and audience alike - knew it was the final farewell (for now at the very least). Would we ever see Roger live again in the future? Only time will tell, but the crowd were certainly intent on not letting this show slip by uncelebrated. With possibly the largest crowd of all the modern-day Wall shows (the stadium was packed with some 80,000, plus guests including a certain Nick Mason) it was never going to slip by quietly!

When the 2013 tour dates were announced, an outdoor concert two-thirds the way through September in Paris seemed an optimistic endeavour, with the very real risk of poor, Autumnal weather to potentially spoil the party, especially for the show which was to conclude the tour. To a degree, I was also expecting another date to be added in a different location, somewhere a little more interesting or iconic than a modern build sports stadia in a northern suburb of the French capital, as the very final night. Undaunted though I bought my ticket and started planning for the event, hoping that the home of the Eiffel Tower would be good enough for Roger as the final resting place of the modern day, black Wall piggie. After all, the French have always been huge Floyd fans and enthusiastic followers of their various solo excursions.

So, on what turned out to be a very warm September afternoon, the fans - not just French but British, American, Dutch, Italian and many other assorted nationalities - made their way to the Stade de France. A quite impressive looking stadium, almost like a large alien craft that's landed, it was surrounded by assorted modern bars and fast food restaurants and temporary catering kiosks, along with leafleters and people from the local radio station, some of which were riding customised Wall Segway scooters.

As with most modern stadia, there were multiple points of entry but despite distributing fans to one of over twenty entrances, each seemed to have long queues for an inordinate length of time - some were clearly hoping the rumoured earlier start time was just that. In the event, the show didn't start at the advertised 8pm, with John Lennon's Mother blasting out at 8:18pm, so consequently the "flash forced off/Spartacus" part arrived at 8:40pm.

The wait for the start was well tempered and meant that the ambient lighting conditions were just about perfect. As the show was a sell-out, it clearly took some time to get everyone in, not least as reasonably thorough searches were undertaken - bags looked in, and a brief body frisk of everyone to check for forbidden items - which didn't seem to bother most. The pitch itself was divided in two for the standing ticket holders; the front was designated as "Golden lawn" and was as packed as it appeared the standard area behind was too. Some space remained at the very sides, but movement through the crowd (even going to the very back of the area, where normally it all thins out) was nigh-on impossible as I found out myself. I soon gave up! Indeed, so crowded was it that in the time between People Get Ready and the trumpet before In The Flesh? I saw three people carted off on stretchers by the First Aid team. The last of these was not on a stretcher as such but in a kind of wheelchair, gently shaking his head as it seemed clear he knew that he'd be missing the start at the very least. I really felt for him.

The explosive start to ITF? seemed to really catch many unawares. Ready for the show they might have been, but the fireworks exploding (and, it seemed to me, with some additional power this evening) came as quite a shock for them. Shock then turned to delight as Roger strode out, greeting the crowd, before gleefully putting on the long leather jacket and RayBan shades. He looked like he was home.

A thundering opening track brought the stadium to life. The enthusiastic audience - full of expectation and cheers as each pre-show song was played - kicked up a notch as the main event swung into life. The Another Brick sequence gave one final bunch of local children an evening they won't forget (as well as a rare t-shirt to treasure) as the crowd bounced to this rare Floyd hit single, a clear crowd favourite. The coda of The Ballad of Jean-Charles de Menezes didn't seem to strike the same sort of chord that it tends to hit elsewhere, with a less supportive reaction to Roger's views on the killing.

For what followed, I was pleased to hear Roger's pronunciation of French was similar to my attempts. "Bonjour Paris, bienvenue, eh?" Roger did a fairly short preamble to Mother, but did throw in a bit of the local language, not least in his urge that the crowd wish him, and the "poor, miserable, fucked up Roger from all those years ago" luck or they'd end up in deep "merde" (shit)!

A lovely part of synchronicity came during Goodbye Blue Sky. As the planes opened their bomb bays, and the symbols started tumbling out, at that precise moment a jumbo jet flew directly over the stadium. As it traversed the sky, I watched it move from stage right to stage left. With Roger's music filling my ears, a part of me hoped it was a special stunt for the show and symbols would start tumbling through the air...

A forceful What Shall We Do Now (a real shame this was left off the album) and Young Lust propelled things nicely toward a heartfelt Don't Leave Me Now, with Roger picked out carefully by the spotlights.

As ever, the wall seemed to quickly build and before long we were getting to the stage when the "screen" gets smashed and rapid, subliminal images bombard the senses. As The Last Few Bricks fell into place, Roger did his trademark little peek out of the wall to see the audience on the left of him, before bidding us Goodbye and taking us into the intermission.

The Fallen Loved Ones makes a wonderful, and touching sight, and seems to keep crowds in a particular mood, spirit or train of thought. This is key, of course, with some of the second half's subject matter - most notably Bring The Boys Back Home.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I'm sure that the "five minutes until the second half" announcement is a recent addition. It feels unnecessary and intrusive to the mood set by the intermission music, and it was always fun to see people jump as the second half resumed suddenly and loudly with Hey You. Always well played, it's the perfect track to match the incongruous nature of the situation. Each musician is perfectly lit, but completely hidden to the audience. Roger's original aim with The Wall as a concept was to perform the show completely obscured and this is always a fun moment to see, especially for those unaware who are looking to see where the band are.

During Hey You is the part known as Snowy's Note. This is a sustained guitar chord, very loud and traditionally very steady. However, at the Manchester show I noticed some deviation to this which I had put down to being a slight error or slip on the guitar. My views on this were completely revised with the Parisian Snowy's Note being even more varied and intricate. It'll have to be renamed Snowy's Notes now, I think! Nice to hear some improvisation slipping into this (by necessity) tightly ordered show.

Curiously, Is There Anybody Out There seemed to have a lukewarm reaction. Maybe something is lost in translation but the guitar work always goes down a treat, as it did tonight. It's also a good distraction for the arrival of the hotel room set, of course. One thing that has long puzzled me is that British singer Vera Lynn always seems to get a huge cheer from foreign audiences and this evening was no exception. Her career was chiefly in the UK, being the "forces' sweetheart" and all that, yet she seems very well known elsewhere.

It does make for a good preamble for Bring The Boys though. The striking imagery never fails to engage and touch in equal measures, and it would take a very hard heart indeed not to feel the emotion in the clips. The power of Bring The Boys also sets the scene perfectly for Comfy Numb.

This featured great, last show of the tour performances from both Robbie Wyckoff and Dave Kilminster, giving it their all for one final time.

As ever, the second half raced along. Before we knew it, Run Like Hell saw the final sacrificial pig lurch happily over the wall to terrorise the fans for a while until they got their revenge. In the meantime, the rest of us were Waiting For The Worms with Roger barking his instructions through the megaphone until, inevitably, it all becomes all too much for him and he calls for it all to Stop.

One final time then came for Roger to do his assortment of accents, whilst ducking for the rotating wall, during The Trial. He still seems to love this bit, along with the sentence of tearing down the wall...

The final collapse of the wall was pretty impressive, with a very haphazard fall - some really large areas falling as one, but then there was a very stubborn section to stage left that refused to fall for a while until it finally succumbed to the beating it seemed to be getting from behind. As expected the pig was led to slaughter, being turned into rashers by the crowd at the front of the general admission pitch standing (around half way back, behind the "gold" standing area). This really was the beginning of the very end.

In Roger's closing address to the crowd, he said "Merci Paris! This is definitely the last show of this tour and it may well be the last time we ever do The Wall anywhere. This has been a great place to finish; you've been a wonderful audience and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You made this such a memorable night - merci!"

The cheers kept on ringing out and Roger noted "this must be what it is like to be Zidane!" In explanation, Zinedine Zidane was one of France's best ever footballers. Now retired from playing (but working for Real Madrid), he was named best European footballer of the past 50 years by UEFA, and overall is one of the greatest players in the history of the game.

Roger continued: "I'm not really going to make any more speeches, I just like wandering up and down this stage in front of you guys!"

Outside The Wall then kicked in, with the band dancing off in a fun way - instigated by Graham Broad - making the most of their final moments on stage. With a few final, reluctant "Merci, au revoir" greetings, Roger eventually took those few, but clearly affecting, steps down to exit under the stage.

It was finally over.

The house lights remained dark for an unusually long time, enough for a significant number of the audience to wonder if there was a chance that the band could come back out for just one more ditty. As most of us suspected though this was not to be. Eventually the stadium was bathed in light again and we were left with the sight of a desolated wall, a stage ready for breakdown with the puppets hanging low, and many bricks in various states of disrepair. Some had managed to grab bricks after the fall, others had them handed out, so there were a number clutching their precious souvenirs as they headed out of the stadium.

Unfortunately, there were a few overzealous security guards who attempted to wrestle large pieces and complete bricks from people, despite the roadies actually passing them out into the crowd, which was a real pity to see. It turned a time of exhileration and emotion into anger and argument for those affected.

A significant number DID manage to leave with their trophies though. As the crowds slowly streamed out into the night outside the stadium, many of which heading to the nearest RER/Metro stations for their onward journeys, bits of white cardboard could be seen in various sizes and states of disrepair. Some had huge chunks (with a few spray-painted on with messages such as "what wall?" - presumably done by bored crew!) and others had pieces not much bigger than a postage stamp, but irrespective, all seemed happy to have their own personal bit of the wall.

Despite massive queues even just attempting to get away from the stadium, let alone the RER station which was so full of fans that we felt like sardines, the mood remained bouyant. Happy, yet sad that it was all over. Some of us have been, off and on, focused on the Wall tour since the initial official announcement in April 2010, so it will seem strange for the lack of brick-related activity moving forward. Having said that, we do have the very real possibility of the live DVD hopefully soon, and we'll let you know as and when there's anything more concrete about this release.

This really feels the end of an era. Will we see Roger performing live again? He's got a small appearance in New York in November as part of the Stand Up for Heroes event, but other than that, he'll surely be taking a well-earned rest before pushing ahead with his new material. This he seems particularly excited by, at the moment, so hopefully he'll give it a strong focus. Once it is done, and released (again, that's me with my optimistic/hopeful head on) could we see him venture back on the road? Unless the new album has an almighty concept, which could result in a visual feast, I would suspect any future concerts or tours to be on a far smaller scale than The Wall - more akin to the In The Flesh or Dark Side tours.

In the meantime, I'm sure you'll join us in giving our thanks to Roger, his band, and his extensive team of management, crew and others, all involved in bringing us a stunning tour which exceeded all expectations...

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Philippe Vidal

Hi, back from the Stade de France, being situated on the Pelouse Or, I can only confirm how intense and emotional the show was.

Another great Pink Floyd event since my first concert in the Palais des Sports in Paris the 26th of June 1974 (and another plane crash on the stage!).

It was fun to see people in the "metro" with some pieces of the wall. About the speech at the end, I got the fact that it was maybe the last time that the Wall would be performed, but I didn't get the point that Roger said it was his last concert ever. [We too hope he comes back in the future, maybe touring his new album?]

CONCERT PICTURES by Guino Patrice/Angelo Misterioso

Our thanks to Angelo Misterioso from the Rockerparis blog for sending over these nice pictures from the concert. For more, visit the blog...

Roger Waters, Paris 2013 Roger Waters, Paris 2013
Roger Waters, Paris 2013
Roger Waters, Paris 2013 Roger Waters, Paris 2013 Roger Waters, Paris 2013

 

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Johan Banis

So that's it then. The Wall has finally fallen.

I haven't been to the Paris show. But I have been to the original London show, way back in 1981, and I have been to the Potzdamer Platz in Berlin.

And I saw The Wall in 2012 in Arnhem and in 2013 in Amsterdam.

Let me tell you this: this show is not about music. It is not about rock 'n' roll, neither is it a concert. It is Life. It is bigger than Life. It is about the dark side of the earth. The Wall is, in fact, a window through which the dark sided earth is painfully visible.

The Wall is truly a mirror in which mankind should look every other day.
That is what The Wall is. Mr. Waters should be nominated for the Nobel Peace prize.

I have been in f*cking tears, more than once, during these shows.

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Benny Hanselaer

I was at the Stade de France for the last Wall show and 2 weeks ago in Amsterdam Arena. I took three beautiful panorama pictures of the show which I wanted to share... one from the start, one from the intermission and one from the end.

It was a spectacular show, and in my opinion better than the Amsterdam show (in terms of sound and scale).

Roger Waters - Paris 2013
Roger Waters - Paris 2013
Roger Waters - Paris 2013

 

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTORS, Marc & Lex

With mixed emotions we start, very early in the morning, our five hours drive from Holland to Paris. We are with six persons who definitely want to see the Grande Finale of The Wall. Arriving in Paris we are happy to notice that the weather is very good. The sun is shining and with a temperature of 25 degrees celsius we are enjoying one of the last summer days at a terrace. Happily it will be dry and not as cold as the show in Dublin.

After some beers we take the taxi to the Stade de France. Due to traffic problems we arrive a little bit late to collect our tickets. There are a lot of people waiting so there are some nervous moments if we will be in time inside the stadium. Luckily the show starts later and we take our seats in section H2 with in front of us some very nice hardcore fans from Norway and Brazil. The atmosphere is great and full of emotions. The stadium is packed with 80.000 fans!

Finally the show starts and it seems that the fireworks are heavier than normal. Well, maybe it's our emotional mood due to the last show but it all looks better than the other shows we have seen. Although there is some resonance in the first half of the show the sound is very good, in the second half the sound is superb!

The French public is very enthusiastic and this is what the last show deserves. The guys on the stage understand that tonight is the last show and give all they have. We can endless talk about all the highlights such as "Bring the boys back home" but for us there was one absolute climax and this was Dave's guitar solo in Comfortably Numb. No words to describe!!!

After the show Roger looks emotional and so are we. We say goodbye to our "neighbours" from Norway and Brazil and try to get the train. After a very long time at the station (there are so many people!) we arrive in Quartier Latin to drink a beer and discuss the concert. After only one beer we feel that the long day and the emotions made us tired and we decide to go back to the hotel. Again big problems with the transport because it's impossible to get a taxi. After a long walk we arrive very late at our hotel in the neighbourhood of the Eiffel Tower. After a short sleep we visit the Eiffel Tower and start our way back to Holland, tired but intensely happy that we have so many good memories...

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Dave Crook

There's not much to add that hasn't been said before except I took my 9 year old son to see it...he didn't know the whole album and he hadn't seen any films of it on YouTube etc etc...

When it had finished and we were walking to the metro line I asked what he thought... "Brilliant, can we go and see it again?"

No... Sadly I don't think we will be able to .... ever.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Phil Rutter

Just one simple statement from me:

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

Thank you Mr Waters for the show.

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURE by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Jean Paul

Roger Waters, Paris 2013Well, it is finished.

The last bricks of 'Wall' fell on Saturday evening at the Stade de France. I was previously lucky enough (had the opportunity) to have attended Roger's concerts, amongst which the very good Magny-Cours show in 2006, but this September 21st, 2013 will remain a moving experience.

An irreproachable sound quality, a public at peace and respectful, and Roger Waters in high-octane forms, in the singing as on stage, but especially very moving.

The interpretation and performance of the songs, and the musicians, were all excellent.

The wall fell and some fans left happy with pieces under the arm. The same goes for the pig, destroyed in the middle of the stadium, and ripped to smithereens. In brief, a little less than 80 thousand persons will not forget this September 21st, and I know about what I speak, because I was there, and I am still quite shaken.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Andreas Claus

Stade de France is located in the north-eastern area of Paris in Saint-Denis. I stayed at my friend's home in the south-western area. I was happy to be and stay with Jacky, Pina, Sara and Olympia and had a real good time. Jacky and I made it to Stade de France for his first and my numerous Roger Waters The Wall shows. For this final date of the 4-year lasting 'The Wall' tour, Stade de France meant this time much unexpected security. It started at the gates. Men and women had to separate to be body- and bag-checked. It felt like 20 to 30 years ago with such an obsolete security action. So I finally found my seat in this controlled area.

Just after a while being seated there I saw Harry Waters and some other band members walked along my fence around at the side of the pitch and seemed to walk along the whole way at the fence to see the audience from a different angle before the show, which started later with a delay of 45 minutes around 20:45. In my seating area, there turned about 10 security persons trying to stop a smart-phone filming person. It didn't even seem to be a ridiculous over-reaction by them to a fan two rows in front of me. It was ridiculous compared to my other experiences with stadium securities for the last shows, where there was never such a kind of security-forced trouble for at least 16 people in my neighbourhood involved to help this one person!!! These security guys roughed up all these people in the audience around this one guy and disturbed the whole section of "The Ballad of Jean Charles de Menezes, Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Empty Spaces". The audience even called them Gestapo and Nazis. These security guys were absolutely in a wrong film, by whomever they might have been advised to spoil a part of this final Roger Waters show.

My friend Jacky and me were wondering if that's always the case with any event in Stade de France, or if and why it may have only been so tight this time? I mean, it could have been thought- and peaceful by a security, but they? We both never have been to this place.

To come back to the actual show: Roger spoke a passage in French between 'The Ballad of Jean Charles de Menezes' and 'Mother'. Certain projected phrases were also in French, similar to other country's concerts. But there were still some special things like the local kids dancers. To me it's never a choir as it's announced again by Roger this time. I don't think the kids ever sing and are only dancing live to a choreographical style they were trained for many hours over weeks to contribute to the rhythm and music of "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" as perfect as trained!

The show went on as usual, but still under the shock of the possible security return-bash. Security was staring into the rows of the tribune tier most of the time for no reason, but they happily didn't come back in set two until the end.

There was nothing else special for this show. Roger thanked all the people for his last (presumably ever) "The Wall" show and introduced the band as usual: Graham Broad, Jon Carin, Harry Waters, G.E.Smith, Robby Wyckoff, Kipp Lennon, Marky Lennon, Pat Lennon, Sgt. Joe Joyce, Snowy White, Dave Kilminster.

After the show was over, there was the usual big delay after queuing for the Metro. But we made it to 0:30 to Jacky. After a long night, talking about Valérie Lagrange, who he will get to see soon on a birthday party. By the way, Valérie Lagrange played in La Vallee, one of my favourite Pink Floyd albums, and will make her way from New-Guinea. So I will be in touch with Jacky to maybe hear some news about her...

The setlist of the music played by tape before, during intermission, and after the show, is still on my want list. So I like to ask anyone who reads this, what it consisted of, because someone who was there might know and have written down a set list? Hope anyone who was at the shows all past 4 years long might be able to respond on that.

Take care and happy many returns to Roger for all of us...

CONCERT REVIEW by BD's Ed Lopez-Reyes, with PICTURES by Marie Lopez-Reyes

Every tour has a discernible ebb and flow, usually commensurate to the degree the band will improvise and change sets from day-to-day. On one end you have the likes of a Grateful Dead tour (and its latter-day imitations), each night boasting a different collection of songs reflecting the band's mood, while on the other end you have a tour like Roger Waters' 'The Wall Live,' in which the set has to follow a rigid structure throughout.

In the latter type of show, execution becomes quite seamless over time and it becomes harder to detect a vibe unless you've seen the performance a few times: it's been known for some time now that Paris would be the last gig on this mammoth production, so expectations were high and many were curious how Waters and his band would deliver or whether the show would be noticeably different in any way.

Three things stood out during this performance: first, the band seemed to have been given latitude for improvisation; secondly, the show's delivery carried punch and was consistently strong – remarkably so; thirdly, strong emotions finally pierced through the 'wall' of professionalism during the last quarter of the show: not impeding its more than well-practiced, choreographed, and familiar effort but lifting it to a fitting height as three years (anniversary years, that is – technically the tour spanned four years) of colossal work came to a close in front of an enormously moved and enthusiastic audience.

One could suspect that Waters has an affinity for French-speaking audiences. Among this tour's strongest shows are its two continental finales: an American finale in Quebec City and (now) a European one in Paris – in both cases, the audiences were incredibly passionate and it may be that Waters has developed a keen sense of audience/performer rapport within this particular cultural boundary.

Whatever it is, Parisians all poured into Stade de France like this was their first 'Wall' show – and for many it may have been, but for a tour that has been around the block a few times now it would be surprising if the 72,000 people in attendance (according to reports) were all new to this – it definitely felt like it, however, and this set the stage for one of the most powerful performer-audience dynamics – not just on this tour but for practically any.

Roger Waters - Paris 2013 Roger Waters - Paris 2013
Roger Waters - Paris 2013 Roger Waters - Paris 2013

Among the most aggressive and notable improvisations this evening: drummer Graham Broad's fills were epic – and it must be stated that, out of this outstanding team of musicians, Broad deserves a great deal of credit for pulling this musical narrative together with some of the most powerful and elegant live drumming you could possibly witness. On this evening in Paris it was evident Broad was giving it his all.

Both Robbie Wyckoff's and Waters' deliveries were sprinkled with moments of uniqueness that were palpably from the heart: Waters' parts sounded particularly different at certain points, giving new texture to bits and pieces that have always begged for something more… like those moments when an extended note evokes a chilling and goose-bump-inducing vibe in the audience. Paris was full of these moments, which is what makes it one of the most remarkable evenings a fan could have been a part of (and which could assuage concerns over the balance of pre-recorded bits during the show).

Throughout the night it seemed the very distinct musical personalities of Dave Kilminster, Snowy White, and G.E. Smith were strongly evident – of all the performances witnessed this side of the 'wall,' Paris boasted some of the most unique-sounding guitar deliveries with Kilminster's precise technical approach, White's wall-of-sound delivery, and Smith's bluesy edge all as pronounced as ever. It was evident by the time the first fireworks went off that this band had grown confident over the last three years – given the weight of the musicians behind the original 'Wall' it was great seeing Waters' band take latitude over this work by projecting itself into it like it hadn't in many or all of the shows preceding it.

Another noticeable item: this must have been one of the loudest 'Wall' shows on this tour – it may be that the French take a more liberal approach to ordinances or that the stadium's relative isolation from more suburban and residential areas allows for greater agency over this – it just seemed to make the performance that much more powerful.

So was there anything particularly different about this show, something fitting for the end of such a grand thing in Pink Floyd's history? There was no special appearance (despite Nick Mason’s presence at Stade de France); there were no additional fireworks, no special songs like in Australia's and Mexico's encore bit. But about the time Waters raised his fists and slammed them on the wall for 'Comfortably Numb,' lights beaming over Kilminster as he performed another perfect solo, there was an escalation in audience response: it felt like the audience was beginning to grip tightly onto something that was truly coming to an end.

This was noticeable through the rest of the show but it was at the very end, when Waters spoke and mentioned that this was definitely the end of this tour and quite possibly the last time 'The Wall' would be performed in its entirety, that a very powerful feeling swept through this entire stadium: clearly this audience didn't want to let go. Unlike many, if not most previous nights, as the band waved goodbye, took a bow, began to walk to the harmony of "Outside the Wall," and disappeared behind the stage, a notable difference was that it didn't sing during those last few seconds backstage as it usually did. Instead, it just finalized the instrumentation for "Outside the Wall" – something that, somehow, in some difficult to describe way, was quite fitting for the end of this tour. There was something emotive about the fact that there was no vocalization over the melody during those last few seconds of the show.

With that, the lights at Stade de France flickered as the stadium fired illumination up again and security began prodding everyone out. Many audience members stood there, taking it all in for as long as they were allowed to – others reached over the front row barrier for pieces of 'The Wall.'

You could sense many walking away wondering whether it had been enough. Somehow it makes sense that it came to an end this way. There was not much more to be said – just the question of what it will be like to tell future generations of this incredible spectacle that sojourned the world, closing yet another chapter in Floyd history as it moves closer and closer to an inevitable final curtain call for the band's history as a whole.

CONCERT REVIEWS and PICTURES by other BD CONTRIBUTORS

Hopefully coming soon - we welcome all contributions!

Last Updated ( Saturday, 05 October 2013 )
 
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