h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So what was this incident at a concert that made Roger Waters feel so guilty and ashamed that he had to pen a whole album in recompense?

I heard Roger Waters mention the incident in a radio interview. Apparently it happened on their Animals tour. Chicken wire or a fence was put up in front of the band. (To protect them, not to keep them from escaping, presumably.) During a relatively quiet set involving just Roger singing with a guitar ("Pings on the Wing", I believe) a fan climbed up the barrier in front of him and screamed through the entire song. Roger approached the man and spit in his face.

In the radio interview, Mr. Waters then said that gave him the idea of building a wall between the band and the audience while they performed, until the band could be heard but not seen. I don't think they ever did THAT, but it did plant the first seeds of The Wall in his head.

See if you can find a bootleg of the original Wall concert. As the band played, the wall was built in front. Men in black jumpsuits - rather like the scene-changers in Japanese theatre - carried light styrofoam blocks and laid them along the front of the stage. Eventually, the wall was complete except for a hole at the top that Roger would holler out of. This also made a great backdrop for the Gerald Scarfe animations, and the puppets were dangled from the top of the wall.

Wow. Thanks for the information. I will try to find a copy of the Wall concert.

Good luck finding that tape-the existing bootlegs are VERY poor quality. It would be easier to get Roger Water's "The Wall-LIve in Berlin, 1990", a solo presentation of the wall that Roger did to commemorate the opening of the disaster relief fund. Unofortunately, since it's not the whole Floyd playing, you miss a lot-Roger had to pick guests to sing David Gilmour's parts of the album (Sinead O'Connor's rendition of "Mother" is downright terrible, in my opnion!)-but, it is performed in exactly the same format as the old Floyd version of the show, minus some pyrontechnics and the exploding model plane at the beginning.
-Dan
--"So, so you think you can tell..."

I've heard rumors that Pink Floyd is planning a release of the Wall footage from the original concerts. I don't know the release date. I'd always understood that there was NO filming of the concert except by roadies, but maybe the info was kept under wraps because of the Roger Waters/Pink Floyd copyright infringements.

While it may be true that a film documenting the live performances of The Wall, I'm surprised that no one's yet mentioned that there is a commercially available, official, and well-played (since it was released recently) recording of the The Wall concert(s) from the 1980-1 period. It's called, "Is There Anybody Out There?" and, despite the cost and over-done packaging (IMHO), is worth the somewhat elevated purchase price (typically $30-40 American). It's a very professional-sounding recording (which is not what I personally look for in a live recording, as it sounds too slick and produced for my tastes), but it is a good recording overall, I think.

The answer containing the line "pings on the wing" is an obvious topographical error yes? it is probably meant to read "pigs on the wig"

Most likely. Missed that typo somehow... Pigs on the wig? Pings on the wing?

I've got the album - great recording, and well worth the price. (only paid $30 US) Some great shots of the Wall concert in the booklet.

Haven't heard any more rumors about an official video tape, unfortunately. However: Pink Floyd has always claimed that there were no recordings made of the Wall concert, and here we are with an nicely mastered two-cd live recording. Makes me think that maybe there IS official film/video of the concert. Would have to be film of the concert - the problem with the video bootlegs is that the cartoons projected upon the wall are flickering (problem with video frame rate vs. film frame rate.)