Sweet F.A.
You know what sucks? As a Pink Floyd fan, I am under the belief that the best and definitive way of experiencing their 1979 rock opera The Wall is via the live concert, in which a massive wall in constructed around the band as they perform and then torn down at the end. This was how the album was originally envisioned as a concept.
Yet it is also nearly impossible to experience. The live album recorded of the tour, Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81, is not available on most streaming platforms. The band filmed the Earls Court shows but they have never been released (with a few reasons cited, including the footage being destroyed, too dark, etc. but we know the footage exists because pieces of it keep surfacing over the years), and the shows will never be released as an official concert film until Roger Waters and David Gilmour agree on a release, which… is never going to happen.
So currently, the only way of watching The Wall Tour is via low-resolution multicam bootlegs filmed at the time and, as such, having gone through 40+ years of wear.
Which does make me wonder, though: With the rise of AI upscaling technology, shouldn’t it be relatively easy to take the bootlegs, upscale them, restore them (removing some of the film grain), and color correct them to make a watchable concert film?
In fact, I’m surprised nobody has done that yet.
Hmm.
