June 8th - WRIGLEY FIELD, CHICAGO, IL, USA
Wrigley Field
Roger Waters - Wrigley Field 2012 ticket
Roger Waters - The Wall 2012: Chicago

Capacity: TBA
Concert starts: 8:45pm

Address of venue: 1060 West Addison Street, Chicago, IL 60613. MAP

Website: www.cubs.com

 

COMMENTS

Roger's tour of The Wall arrives at this most historic of sporting venues. Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916! Now, Roger will be building a brick wall 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 went on sale on November 14th at 10am through this link to Ticketmaster.com. 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. Our thanks to Paul Bridgman for the concert poster to the right.

SET LIST - highlight the following with your mouse to read...
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, 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.

 

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!

Night fifty-one of the tour, and Roger and the gang arrive at Chicago's Wrigley Field. From the media, MSNBC were there and their reporter notes that "I recently heard Roger Waters perform The Wall. I still enjoy the music, but my reasons for appreciation have changed. The music still enables a little anger to bubble at the bottom of my soul, but a few decades will mellow a person. All that time has sanded down most of my angry edges. Seeing Waters perform The Wall now makes me want to shout the praises of a grizzled veteran who isn't ready to set down his ax. It's great to see Waters still out there building and tearing down the walls." Whilst their review is short, it is accompanied by some nice pictures.

The Chicago Tribune were also there, and they were also very positive about the show. "[Waters] unleashed massive inflatables that likely gave high-rise dwellers in Wrigleyville the shock of their lives. It's not every evening you see a fascist pig the size of a bus drift past your window bearing slogans such as “Trust me” and “Everything will be OK.” What's more, this particular pig covered more ground than any Cubs centerfielder in recent memory, eventually crashing in the grandstand behind home plate.

"Subtlety was not a strong suit in this rather cartoonishly broad evening of multi-media entertainment – those marching hammers are Waters' favorite instruments when driving home an idea. But even if the connection between rock stars and despots isn't particularly novel, Waters made it in memorably chilling fashion. As the familiar chords of “Run Like Hell” rang out, he led the crowd in a cross-armed salute, than swung his arms overhead, the fans dutifully following suit, as if to prove their leader's point. “Follow me! All together now,” Waters commanded. “Good! Enjoy yourselves!” Later he was firing a toy machine gun, wearing a maniacal smile, then removing his gloves with a self-satisfied smirk.

"It added up to one of the darkest evenings of “entertainment” that $250 could buy. There was just enough vulnerability and humanity, and a handful of truly memorable songs, to keep things from sliding into nihilism: the 15 dancing children who shooed away the demon-eyed teacher in “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2,” the poignantly unanswerable questions of the bewildered son in “Mother,” the desperate cry of “Bring the Boys Back Home.”

"It may be a relic of a more grandiose era, but “The Wall” still saturates the senses and invades nightmares like few stadium spectacles ever have."

If you went to this show in Chicago, 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, PICTURES and VIDEO by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Simon Wimpenny

It was an outdoor show tonight, and if the other outdoor shows were anything to go by, then it wouldn't start till around 8:45 due to the daylight. We wandered around the venue a while and then headed as high up as we could so I could get a couple of shots for some cool panorama pictures.

Roger Waters - Wrigley Field, 2012

Tonight's show did, indeed, start around 8:45pm. Just before the lights went down, Kami and I noticed two men standing on top of the roof in the back of the stadium just near the plane. Kami wishes she could have those seats just once! The sunlight had just gone off the right side of the wall, the venue was packed with people, and as the lights went down, I got that same feeling I've had so many nights — the knowing that it was going to be a fantastic show and a fantastic crowd.

The weather had been just right the last few days, and tonight was no exception. There was a gentle breeze, and although the sun had gone down, it was still warm in the air. It was an ideal night for an outdoor gig.

The band looked to be having great fun onstage tonight. While Roger was smiling and running up and down the entire length of the stage as he normally does, there was an extra spring in his step!

Roger Waters - The Wall Live, Chicago, 2012 Roger Waters - The Wall Live, Chicago, 2012

At intermission I went to get Kim and Joe and brought them down to the floor. I had a couple of 4th row tickets that weren't being used that a friend had given us. It was on the left side of the stage, but was a lot better than their existing seats! Kami went down on the front rail with Wendy and Jessica for the 2nd half of the show, and I stayed on the 12th row right on the aisle.

The second half of the show once again flew by, and before I knew it, we were all clapping to a great version of Run Like Hell! At the beginning when Roger first utters thank you, then shouts THANK YOU, he's started to really get into the act. He ducks down, getting ready to really shout it out, and how on earth he doesn't strain his voice when he does this, I don't know! When the projected flag is shown on the wall and Roger grabs his machine gun to shoot it down, watch to see what G.E. Smith does! He now ducks down so as not to get hit by the “bullets” that Roger shoots! I will try to get pictures or video of this next show. I mentioned in an earlier review that the graphics had changed when Roger breaks the wall into hundreds of pieces. I took the following video which shows how they've changed. It also shows the amazing performance from Dave, which was totally flawless.

As the band came on to perform Outside The Wall, the crowd went crazy—shouting, screaming, and making so much noise that Roger was unable to get a word in. He tried several times to start to speak, but he was just drowned out by the crowd. This went on for at least 5 minutes before they settled down, and Roger was finally able to introduce the band. All the band members looked stunned by the reaction of the crowd. The show, the atmosphere, the crowd, and the perfect performance were simply fantastic. It has to be in my top 10 of the best Wall shows I've seen so far.

Jon Joyce wore his Cubs t-shirt. Pat was wearing a Chicago Cubs shirt, too. Roger was given the one below, as well, so I'm guessing the whole band received one!

Roger Waters - The Wall Live, Chicago, 2012 Roger Waters - The Wall Live, Chicago, 2012 Roger Waters - The Wall Live, Chicago, 2012

It was not only a fantastic night because of the show, but because of the people we met with at the preshow as well as the people we saw the show with.

Roger obviously felt the same as we did since he called into a local radio station around 1am to tell everyone just how much he enjoyed the show! He'd obviously had a couple of glasses of wine, and it's certainly an entertaining 5 minute listen. Click the link below to hear the interview:

- Roger calls late night radio station WXRT

- Make sure you check out Simon's excellent blog at SimonWimpenny.blogspot.com where you'll find full details of all his travels, along with more pictures and videos.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Don Manaugh

I was picked back in November through the Roger Waters presale so my tickets were picked up at will call the day of the show. Really cool looking Wrigley Field/Chicago Cubs ticket, not the same ole Live Nation ticket. My 20 year old Godson took pictures and videos and yes, he was blown away from the whole show as was I.

I saw the Wall show twice back in 2010, opening night at the United Center in Chicago and a month later in St Paul, MN but the Wrigley Field show was absolutely flawless. There was also a phone call from Roger Waters to radio station 93.1 WXRT in Chicago around 1am after the show with Roger expressing how great the band, crowd and venue were for this show.

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, David Eschbaugh

Roger Waters - Wrigley Field, 2012 Roger Waters - Wrigley Field, 2012 Roger Waters - Wrigley Field, 2012

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Sam Giacobbe

Well, we are back and still recovering from the two shows [Chicago and Indianapolis]. The show at Wrigley Field was intense. Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium and the wall was stretched in the outfield from flag pole to flag pole... it was freaking huge.

The show itself was outstanding - they were projecting live videos of Roger and the band members 'live' during the show on the left and right sides of the wall. The projections were absolutely incredible. The place was packed and rockin'...

Roger did a new song and dedicated it to a young Brazilian student engineer that was going to school in London. He was the subject of mistaken identity and was shot by the London Police several times in the back of the head. Roger became very emotional when he was describing the incident that led him to writing this new song.

Some of the projections were different from his North American tour in 2010 - they were much more graphic now. We stayed in Chicago over the weekend then headed out to Indianapolis on Sunday for the Monday night show with the tickets that I bought through Brain Damage to help with site running costs.

This show was indoors and also awesome. The Wall was not as big but the sound was absolutely off the charts. Roger was so energetic... I don't know where he gets all his energy from night after night. What an incredible performer.

The seats we had in Chicago were on the floor - center stage - row 14. The seats in Indianapolis were upstairs, so we were able to see the show from two separate views. Whatever we missed in the first show, we were able to see in the second show... and I still don't know if we saw everything because there is so much going on...

This was our fifth show in 20 months, and I wish we were going to five more... seeing him is such an incredible experience. If anyone that is reading this has not been to a show... GO... you will NEVER regret it - it will last a lifetime with you...

CONCERT REVIEWS and PICTURES by other BD CONTRIBUTORS

Hopefully coming soon - we welcome all contributions!

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!

Last Updated ( Friday, 22 June 2012 )