As regulars here will know, on Saturday night - which was the occasion of his 71st birthday - Roger Waters presented the film of his Wall tour, as well as undertaking a Q&A afterward. BD contributor Peggy Shanks was amongst the lucky ones present, and kindly presents her report (and pictures) from the evening here...
When the announcement was made that Roger and Sean were going to be
premiering their film, "Roger Waters The Wall" at the Toronto International
Film Festival, I was shocked. It was a pleasant surprise but I hadn't
realized that the film was finished (we've been speculating about a concert
film since the fall of 2010). To learn that the premiere was happening just
a couple of hours down the road from us, and on a Saturday night, was really
exciting. I had never been to TIFF before and it's been about 17 years
since Mark had been so we weren't quite sure what to expect.
We got up
early on Sunday, August 31 and spent about 2 hours in an online queue,
trying to get tickets. Eventually, we had our tickets, 2 seats for the world
premiere screening. Honestly, we would have been happy to get tickets for
any screening of the film but this was what we'd hoped for; seeing the
movie, at the premiere, with Roger and Sean in attendance, on Roger's
birthday no less.
When we arrived in Toronto that afternoon, we went immediately to the box
office at the Elgin Theatre. A friend of mine is a TIFF pro and she told me
that we could collect our tickets at will-call, rather than go to the main
festival box office (which is located in the middle of a big TIFF street
festival on King Street). We were told that we couldn't get our tickets
until an hour before the screening but I spoke to a couple of festival
volunteers (who I might add are just so lovely and helpful) and learned that
we could line up in the ticket-holders line and then grab our tickets before
the doors open. The lines were interesting. The theatre is located on
Yonge Street and they had barriers all around the theatre, and across the
street. There was a barricaded section for folks who hoped to buy Rush
tickets, located on the south side of the box office. The line for ticket
holders was to the north of the box office. I'd been warned that the line
for ticket holders could snake all the way around the building (the Elgin
seats 1500+ people). There was a separate line, a second-tier VIP line for
folks who carry one of the sponsoring company's credit cards.
The screening was scheduled to start at 9:15 p.m. so we took off for a walk,
wandered around a bit and grabbed some dinner. At 7 p.m., we went back to
the theatre to line up. The line was huge but we were told that many of the
folks in the line were queued up for an 8 p.m. screening (which was
happening in the Wintergarden theatre - located in the same building as the
Elgin). When we first joined the line, we were around the corner. It was
pretty obvious to us which folks were going to the Wintergarden and which
folks were there to see The Wall. There was lots of tour t-shirts and
"trust me" hoodies in the lineup. Some folks wore VIP laminates from the
Ticket Master promotions of the tour. While we stood in line on Shuter
Street, folks across the street were lining up for a TIFF party in Massey
Hall. There was a DJ blasting dance music into the street. It was a very
festive environment but the folks in the line around us were not really
enjoying the music or the street theatre (courtesy of a young woman who had
clearly taken too much of something). Fortunately, this didn't last too
long. By 8:15 p.m. or so, we had moved up and were about 50 people away
from the box office. While we stood in line, TIFF volunteers were handing
out these lovely commemorative stickers [top left] and some of the TIFF staff kept
joking "ticket holders for the Wall, please line up by the Wall." It was
funny for about the first 3 times, less so each time we heard it after that!
Roger and Sean were scheduled to arrive at 8:30 p.m. and many folks in the
lineup started to push toward the red carpet area. Some of the people who
were standing near us ran up to try to get photos or have Roger sign
something when they arrived. It was interesting to see. I'd been told that
normally, the ticket holders are in the theatre before the red carpet folks
start to arrive and that once you got your seat saved, it was possible to
run back to the red carpet area to get photos. Last night, at the Elgin
anyway, this was not the case. I had printed off a couple of photos I took
at the show in Ottawa (June 2012) and thought if the stars aligned
correctly, we may be able to get one signed. When we saw the crush of the
crowd (many folks from behind us had run up to the red carpet), we decided
to stay put. The sound of people hollering Roger's name was a little
overwhelming. We were probably 40 feet from where he was and it was loud, I
can only imagine what it would have been like for him.
About 30 minutes before Roger arrived, a very small group of protesters set
up across the street. At first, it was just two young men, each holding a
bundle of pink balloons. I couldn't make out what was printed on them but I
had seen a couple of posts on twitter earlier in the week from folks who
were inviting people to come down to protest the screening. Another group
joined the balloon fellows and a couple of banners were hung over the
barricade, and a couple of men started shouting at Roger. Now, I'm not
going to wade in on any big political debate because honestly, I agree with
Roger's position on this particular issue. Personally, I think that if you are
going to print a banner and quote someone, you should try to get the quote
right. Also, you should look further at the quote and see it in the context
of the rest of that particular song. That's all I'll say. Once Roger and
the VIPs entered the theatre, the protesters turned on us, hollering at us
to rip up our tickets and calling us anti-Semites. Nice way to try to get
your point across.
Eventually, the line started to move and the folks in the second-tier VIP
line were allowed in. The folks in our line up were allowed in immediately
after and Mark and I split up, thinking that between the two of us, we'd be
able to find a decent spot to sit. When I entered the lobby of the theatre,
I looked over to my right and saw Roger and Sean standing about 6 feet away
(I could see the side of Roger's face and the back of Sean's head) standing
in a cordoned off area, being interviewed. As I walked past, some TIFF
handlers started moving Roger and Sean toward the inner lobby. I could see
Mark ahead of me about 6 people and the crowd was asked to stop so Roger,
Sean and a small group of people could get onto a beautiful old elevator, I
presume to go up a level to the stage. Once the elevator door closed, the
crowd was permitted to move ahead.
When we got into the theatre, we discovered that more than half of the seats
in the theatre were reserved for the credit card people. Mark always like to
sit as close to the front of the theatre as possible, no matter what the
movie. When he's attended TIFF in the past, this was never a problem and
normally, the first few rows are empty. Last night however, the first
section was jam packed. We made our way up toward the middle/back section,
on the right side of the theatre. I had been in this theatre once to see a
play many years before and knew that there wasn't a bad seat in the house
and our seats were great. We were in the theatre about 5 minutes when they
took the house lights down.
TIFF CEO Piers Handling came onto the stage to introduce Roger and Sean.
They both came up on stage and Roger said a few words about the film. He
joked that Sean was a mute but that they would both be around to answer
questions after the film finished. With that, the lights when dark and the
film started.
I'm not going to do a formal review of the movie. As with music, I know what
I like but I'm not a super technical film nerd so I certainly won't get into
too much detail about the film because I really think that folks should
experience it for themselves. I will say this, we noticed right away that
one of the shows they filmed was Quebec City. Mark had been at that show,
in July 2012, on the Plains of Abraham. We later learned that the other
show in the film (and they were edited together magnificently) was filmed in
Buenos Aires. I can honestly say that this was the best concert film I have
ever seen. Anyone who has seen the tour knows how visually striking it is.
I think it was a very ambitious project to try to capture the experience of
the Wall tour on film and Sean and Roger did it beautifully. As with
anything he sets his hand to, Roger does not disappoint. Nigel Godrich did
an amazing job on the music and it sounds better than I could have imagined.
The sound was absolutely flawless. Visually, it's stunning. The viewer has
an opportunity to experience the show from just about every different seat
in the house. One of the things I loved most about the Wall was that no
matter where your seats were, they were great.
Sean Evans had said earlier on twitter that "Roger Waters The Wall" was a
concert film with a twist. This was a great way to describe it. The
incredible concert footage is interwoven with a moving, thoughtful and
sometimes funny narrative provided by Roger. Without giving too much away,
I will tell you that my favourite part of the concert footage was during
"Hey You." I had always wanted to see what the band gets up to during this
part of the show. Watching them perform, hidden by the Wall, was a real
treat. The boys are clearly enjoying themselves and having fun with each
other, away from the audience. The other high-light for me came toward the
end, as Roger is introducing the band during "Behind The Wall." When he got
around to introducing Snowy White, everyone (including us) in our section of
the theatre cheered loudly. I wish he could have been there to hear it, it
only happened for him. I will say that this film demonstrates exactly how
talented every band member is, Roger & Sean have shown everyone in their
very best light, looking and sounding incredible.
Interestingly, the screening did not sell out and there were many empty
seats in front of us. As the credits were rolling, I grabbed my camera and
tried to get as close to the front of the theatre as I could to take a
couple of photos. I wasn't able to get as close as I would have liked and
they didn't put the house lights up like I had hoped that they would. From
my spot along the wall, I looked up and at the end of the row I spotted Jack
and Harry Waters. At this point, Roger was up on stage, thanking folks and
introducing some of the team members who were in the audience.
We heard that Roger and Sean planned to stay in Toronto the following day to
attend the Ryerson screening and I am certain that they will be working hard
during their time at TIFF as they try to secure distribution for the film.
At the moment, they have neither a distributor nor a release date set.
Someone asked about a DVD release and Roger commented that they need to get
the film out into the theatres before they can do that. I'm confident that
the eventual DVD (and I hope accompanying soundtrack album) will sell well.
They have really outdone themselves with this film. I cannot wait to see it
again.
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