Roger Waters was unable to convince Nick Mason and David Gilmour to join him on the tour performing The Wall, but fans of Pink Floyd and the  monumentally successful album the group closed out the 1970's with seem willing to take what they can get.  The lingering economic hangover of the recession had no ill effect on ticket sales either, with Waters and his stand-ins for absent Floyd members selling out every available seat in cavernous the Air Canada Centre in Toronto for the opening night of the tour Wednesday (9/15).  Gilmour has said he will join Waters on one tour stop, but neither has revealed which.  The concert itself spared none of the technical theatrics that fans came to expect anytime the full band took to the road.  A disheveled man with a shopping cart bearing a 'No Thought Control' sign was rousted by a cop on the floor of the arena as the show was about to, no, had started. The wall grew on stage as the concert progressed, erupting in red confetti near the end.  There were dazzling sophisticated lights and effects - but also touching moments, as when images of people who lost their lives in the Iraq wars and in the 9/11 attacks were shown as Amazing Grace was performed on bagpipes.  Twenty five students from a local music school provided the chorus for the night's rendition of Another Brick In The Wall II - and the second President Bush got shuffled into the helter-skelter montage that also included images of Hitler and Mao Tse-Tung during Run Like Hell.  Whatever  disappointment Waters feels about his Floyd band mates opting out of the tour is probably not shared by his accountant.  Without having to split the net equally with the others, there will be much more for him to count.
TorontoSun.com

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