With Roger Waters set to bring his mammoth production of The Wall to life once again for UK shows, it is a poignant reminder of its scale and spectacle to see the DVD re-issue of the 1990 Berlin gig.

The Wall has always been a significant musical rock opera and the original concerts were ground breaking. That said, the scale and significance of this particular production puts the original ones very much in the shadows.

To fully appreciate the gig you need to understand a little history. Following the end of the second world war Berlin was split into a variety of zones controlled by different countries. To try and stem the flow of people escaping from the East, the communist East German government began erecting a wall and shooting anybody who attempted to leave.

The building of the over 100 miles of wall started in 1961. Following political unrest and the reduction of the influence of the soviet super-power the authorities opened up the check-point in 1989 and the people flooded through to be re-united with friends and relatives. The swell of euphoric people began to mass around the wall and resulted in it being destroyed, initially piece by piece and then eventually with mechanical diggers. The end result was German unification.

The location of the gig was on the no-mans land between the East and West borders. A large piece of land destroyed by bombing during the war. The land itself was swept for mines prior to the gig as there was suspicions that there could have been many. As it was no mines were found but a number of munitions and a secret bunker were discovered.

As a result, Roger Walter's Rock Opera of isolation takes on an extra significance. During the gig a huge wall is erected between the audience and the performers. Through the songs Waters paints a picture of a fight with authoritarianism and control. Walters is ably assisted by what at the time were a list of both musical and theatrical celebrities, most significantly Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams, Albert Finney and Tim Curry.

In addition to the musicians and singers, the production was enhanced by not only graphics and movies projected on the wall but also inflatables including a huge pig and the iconic school master.

By the climax of the show the wall was completed and measured a stagering 170 meters long and 25 meters high. Parading in front were The Military Orchestra of the Soviet Army, a real coup (no pun intended) considering the East/West relations. Just shows what can happen if you wave enough money at the situation. During the DVD bonus feature, Waters and others involved in the production discuss how the show was put together and detail how much money it took to get the army band.

The dramatic conclusion to the show is when in a very short period the wall is toppled. The significance of this moment at that location cannot be understated. It's a shame there weren't more cameras covering the crowd rather than the stage, as I'm sure there would have been some very emotional reactions. On the subject of cameras, there are many long-range views over the massive crowd and then the close-ups of the performers themselves but nothing in-between. This is a shame as it would have been a good shot to get a better feel for the stage set.

With a paid audience of 250,000 and then an estimated 50-100,000 who were let in to avoid crowd issues, most of the audience would have seen very little of the performers in the show. So when you sitting at the back of what may seem the vast O2 arena on this year's tour, spare a thought for those perhaps 10 times further away in Berlin.

I have never really been a follower of Pink Floyd's music but this performance by Waters, even without the other members of the group showed me that I should have taken more notice when younger. It is certainly a great show, both musically and visually and one I would definitely check out live at one of the upcoming UK gigs. As to this DVD, it's one that should rank high in any music fans collection, however as this is a re-issue I would have expected a better price as there is no new production costs only the new packaging.

Waters is doing The Wall at six shows at The O2 arena in London commencing May 11th, three shows in Manchester and one in Birmingham..