THE WALL (5): a origem do conceito

Roger Waters looking at the wall

Depois de termos visto o conceito do álbum THE WALL, vamos saber mais sobre o contexto da origem da ideia.

"The reason why I designed this show in the first place, all those years ago, was because I'd become disaffected [resentful, rebellious] by doing gigs in football stadiums in front of large numbers of people, who I felt were not really engaged in the same thing I was engaged in", sintetiza o próprio Roger Waters, criador do conceito e autor das letras do álbum de 1979. "I thought of building a show where I build a wall to express the feelings of alienation I had from the audience."

No final da primeira parte do espectáculo, final do disco 1, há uma parede totalmente erguida e a separar a banda do público. Não é só a separação entre o artista e a audiência, é uma metáfora da separação entre Oeste e Leste, entre ricos e pobres, entre poderosos e fracos. «You start finding parallels in other people's experiences.»

Após o álbum The Animals, os Pink Floyd passaram a tocar em estádios para multidões. «The rowdy rock audiences of the US are the ultimate nightmare of an artist of sensitive disposition. For Roger Waters the task of trying to communicate his art to 80.000 concertgoers, many of whom were intent on getting high by any means necessary, was simply a bridge too far (Retrospectives, Pink Floyd's The Wall). Na verdade, com o álbum The Dark Side Of The Moon, a banda passou de audiências de 10 mil pessoas para multidões ruidosas. Foi um choque para Roger Waters, sobretudo.

«The moment that sparked The Wall happened at a show at Montreal's Olympic Stadium during the Animals tour of 1977. (...) During the break between a couple of numbers, this group [righ at the front] were shouting out suggestions for songs. When Roger's eye was caught by one particularly vocal member of the claque yelling, "play Carefull With That Axe Eugene, Roger", he finally lost patience, and spat at the offender.» David Gilmour diria anos mais tarde sobre o incidente: "I think Roger was disgusted with himself really that he had let himself go sufficiently to spit at a fan."

«After the gig Roger poured out his sense of frustration and alienation to Canadian producier Bob Ezrin and in his frustration he suggested he would like to build a wall betweeen the band and the audience. Ezrin's reply was direct and to the point, "well why don't you?"

"I hate audience participation", diz Waters nos anos 80, quando em digressão com o espectáculo The Wall. "I hate it when they want to sing along: it makes my flesh creep. Yelling and screaming and singing is great in church, but not at our shows, thank you very much." O tema e o espectáculo exigiam silêncio e concentração do público. Daí ter escolhido espaços mais pequenos para os concertos.

Esperemos que os fãs nos concertos da actual digressão The Wall não se ponham aos berros a cantar os temas. Eu, como espectador, a não ser que seja um concerto ruidoso ao ponto de não se ouvir a gritaria, gosto de poder apreciar a música. Gritem e dêem palmas no fim durante o tempo que quiserem.