Feb. 28, 1980 review: Pink Floyd performing "The Wall" in Nassau Coliseum
One of the biggest I-was-there moments of all time. Feb. 28, 1980 Pink Floyd Turns Long Island Concert Into Morality Play UNIONDALE – “Tear down the wall,” the mass of kids shouted as they mobbed the meager entrances to Nassau Coliseum here. Scalpers were asking as much as $250 for a $15 ticket. Inside was the most elaborately conceived rock show produced – Pink Floyd’s stage rendition of their current No. 1 album, “The Wall.” Because the staging is so complex, this concert has become a national event. It’s only going to see a dozen American performances – seven in Los Angeles earlier this month and the five here, which end tonight. Passengers on the Columbia Records press bus included writers from Boston and Detroit. The album version of “The Wall” turned out to be the soundtrack for the stage version, with a couple additions, like a puberty scene. Onstage, “The Wall” became much more of a morality play. The plotline followed the traumatic upbringing of a...