Editing The Wall (section)

== Tour ==
''[[The Wall Tour (1980–1981)|The Wall Tour]]'' opened at the [[Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena]] on 7 February 1980. Touring continued throughout 1980 and 1981 in New York, London, and Dortmund, Germany. In comparison to previous tours, the audiences were much smaller (Waters' having tired of large inattentive crowds).

By this time, Pink Floyd concerts had garnered a reputation for spectacle, which The Wall tour built upon. Most famously, as the band played, a {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=on}} wall of 340 cardboard bricks was gradually constructed between them and the audience. Gerald Scarfe was employed to produce a series of animations to be projected onto the wall.<ref name=":0">{{Harvnb|Blake|2008|pp=280–285}}</ref> At his London studio, he employed a team of 40&nbsp;animators to create Pink's nightmarish visions, many of which were re-used in the film version of The Wall.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schaffner|1991|pp=223–225}}</ref>

Unbeknownst to the audience, at the beginning of each show the real Pink Floyd would not actually be the ones performing. Instead, a "surrogate band" played, wearing hyper-realistic face masks of each of the real members. At the end of the opening number ("In the Flesh?"), the surrogates would freeze in place, and lights would reveal the real band behind them. The surrogates would then later re-appear without the masks as backing musicians.{{sfn|Mason|2005|p=198}}

Pyrotechnics were also involved. Most prominently, towards the beginning of each performance, a model [[Junkers Ju 87|Stuka]] aeroplane was flown over the audience, crashing and exploding as it hit the wall. This stunt caused a mishap during the first night of the tour, when it set the stage curtains on fire. The stadium had to be evacuated, but following the revelation of the surrogate band, Waters had difficulty convincing the audience that the fire was not also part of the performance. No serious injuries occurred.<ref name=":0" />

Throughout the show, three characters were realised as giant inflatables looming over the stage – Pink's schoolmaster, his mother, and his wife. During "In the Flesh", an inflatable pig also floated over the audience (a carryover from prior tours), this time sporting a crossed hammers logo to match the uniforms of the band and stage crew.<ref name=":0" />

Unlike prior tours, The Wall required precise timing and staging (allowing for little improvisation). For "Comfortably Numb", while Waters sang his opening verse, Gilmour waited in darkness at the top of the wall, standing on a [[flight case]] on casters, held steady by a technician, both precariously balanced atop a hydraulic platform. On cue, bright blue and white lights would suddenly illuminate him.<ref>{{Harvnb|Blake|2008|pp=284–285}}</ref> At the very end of each concert, the wall would be dramatically torn down, controlled carefully by tipping mechanisms in order to prevent the front rows of the audience from being harmed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mason|2005|p=252}}</ref>

Along with the songs on the album, the tour featured an instrumental medley, "[[The Last Few Bricks]]", played before "Goodbye Cruel World" to allow the construction crew to complete the wall. "Empty Spaces" was also replaced by a longer version of the track, "What Shall We Do Now?".<ref>{{Harvnb|Povey|2007|p=233}} The band also played "What Shall We Do Now?", which was kept off the original album due to time constraints.</ref>

During the tour, band relationships dropped to an all-time low; at one point, they stayed in four [[Winnebago Industries|Winnebagos]] parked in a circle with the doors facing away from the centre. Waters, however, used his own vehicle to arrive at the venue, and stayed in separate hotels from the rest of the band. Ultimately, Wright, returning as a salaried musician, was the only member of the band to profit from the tour, which lost about £400,000.<ref name="Blake285286" />