Roger Waters tears down `The Wall'

Roger Waters tore down the house Wednesday night in Toronto as he kicked off the 30th anniversary world tour for Pink Floyd's "The Wall."

He walked out to thunderous applause beginning with the first track of the seminal concept album, "In the Flesh," and the adulation never stopped. Synchronized pyrotechnics, Orwellian imagery and marching hammers culminated with a plane flying into the wall and bursting into flames. And that was just the opener.

Many times when classic rock artists perform, there's an air of nostalgia, but not with Waters. Not only does the material seem fresh, it also appears 2010 is the right time for this tour, probably because of the technology that catapults it into the stratosphere.

Throughout the nearly 2 1/2-hour performance, the wall fills with imagery making the large arena feel almost cozy. Thanks to the width of the wall, which spans the Air Canada Centre, and the constant saturated, crisp projection, there doesn't seem to be a bad vantage point. It's almost like seeing a staged musical in an appropriately sized theater.

The first half of the show sees the wall going up brick by brick, and by the last song, "Goodbye Cruel World," the massive structure is complete.

Tour designer Jeremy Lloyd says the wall stretches 240 feet across and is more than 35 feet tall. Once built, the wall consists of 424 bricks, of which 242 are built, assembled and ultimately knocked down throughout the course of the show.