A question about the Pink Floyd show?

General discussion about Pink Floyd.
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A question about the Pink Floyd show?

Post by space triangle »

Well, Some time ago(3-4years ago) I read a text on the internet about an Pink Floyd show played in the early seventies. If I remember correctlly, the show was '71 or '72. In that text, two young Pink Floyd fans/students at the time talked about their amazing experience at the show. They said the show went great and excellent, but everything was 'pretty normal' for the Pink Floyd standards. Until the band stepped on stage to play the encore, Echoes. According to them, the song started completely normally for the first 2-3 minutes and then suddenly a mass of light and a large smoke screen appeared on the stage. After 20-30 seconds, all of that pyrotechnics and lights calmed down. The Echoes still was coming normally from the speakers completely without any interruption, but the band was no longer to be seen on the stage at all! Everyone went completely confused and baffled in the audience. The band simply dissapeared! It all lasted for about 15 minutes(during middle part of the Echoes). And then a monster half-sphere rose up on the stage. A huge wall of a smoke and light flooded the stage again. And, the band was suddenly fully visible on the stage again playing the last minutes of Echoes as if nothing out of the ordinary was happened at all!

These two guys /students said in the text that they were absolutely not under any influence of acid. After the concert, they went to the stage because they concluded that it must have been a som sort of s stege with a 'double bottom', but found nothing extraordinary. They said also they asked one of a roadies/crew what happened during the Echoes, but he only smiled.

Does anyone know exactly which Pink Floyd show it was? And, could anyone maybe find that text on the internet again?
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Re: A question about the Pink Floyd show?

Post by drafsack »

When they played Radio City Music hall on the 17 March 1973 they rose into view up through the stage on an elevator at the start of the show. Unfortunately the encore was one of these days on that show. To narrow it down a bit the first time they played Echoes as the encore was 22.10.1971 in Seattle. From then on in during 1971 and 1972 they rotated Echoes, Set the controls and Saucerful as the encore
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Re: A question about the Pink Floyd show?

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I just found this interesting article about Pink Floyd show at the Kent University Ohio 20 2. 1973.

http://kentfloyd.blogspot.com/

At first I thought it was that article I was reading a few years ago. And I thought it was the show where they played that 'Echoes' encore. But, unfortunately this here wasn't it.

Anyway, in this article shares some very interesting memories too. By the several people who were at the show that night. For example this part about 'Careful With That Axe Eugene' is interesting and creepy: 'Now that was the first stunner. I remember for that song Roger had a tiny black light on his mic that they turned on and it lit up his teeth--creepy cool sheet'.
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Re: A question about the Pink Floyd show?

Post by Annoying Twit »

I find it fascinating to hear about these early shows. The first time PF played in a country I was actually in at the time was in 1988. So, I missed out on a lot. Clearly I have various live DVDs etc, but I like hearing from people who were actually there.
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Re: A question about the Pink Floyd show?

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This is it. Finally! It was the show at Porland's Memorial Coliseum, September 28th, 1972. :D

"Something remarkable, truly life changing had taken place. Pink Floyd was not only a show, but a major sociological event. I would not come to understand its importance until many years later.

There was no introduction. A few colored lights came on, and the floyd took the stage performing "One of These Days." It was great! We were finally watching our heroes on stage. Immediately after the song-which seemed a robust beginning, all of the house lights went out with the exception of a soft purple glow. This was freaky. Smoke and mist began to envelope the stage-freakier yet. A soft orange glow began to rise on a tower from behind. The sphere was very wide, and very large. It was like a planet or something. We couldn't make sense out of what was happening. Still, weirdness was going on. Towers like the ones at baseball stadiums rose, adorned with hundreds of lights. Just then, the Floyd began to vaporize, appearing out of the mist like apparitions. A soft, Roger Waters voice muttered the title of their next song into the microphone "This is called 'Echoes'." And the rest, as they say, is history.

At one point during the performance of "Echoes", the stage disappeared! Yes, believe it or not, in 1972, the Floyd had a stage behind what appeared to be the actual stage that worked like an elevator. Again, fog and smoke enveloped the stage and when it cleared again, Pink Floyd was no longer there. The music continued, for the next 15 minutes, but the band was gone, as was all of their equipment! At this point, it seemed that anything goes with this band. We could hear "Echoes" playing, drums, keyboards, guitar and bass, but there was no band, and no equipment. As the song finally wound down to an end, the stage was once again enveloped by smoke until all lights went down and the audience was left alone in the darkness".


I don’t know if it’s the exactly the same article I read a couple of years ago, but it’s absolutely about that same Portland show.

Ohh I want someone to invent a time-machine, and let me go to that show! <ii>
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Re: A question about the Pink Floyd show?

Post by drafsack »

During that phase of the 1972 tour a typical set list was: Set One: Dark Side Of the Moon. Set Two One of these days, Careful with that axe, Echoes and an encore of either Set the controls or Saucerful. The tower they are talking about had a rotating dish- on one side was a Surface they would project light onto and the other side was covered in mirrors. Check out the first part from the Roland Petit Ballet for an example of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=910YpK84HnI
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Re: A question about the Pink Floyd show?

Post by space triangle »

^^^
Thanks for the video 'drafsack'. I saw this Roland Petit Ballet a few times before, but it's always great to see it again. Now when I’ve watched the video again, I’ve focused more on just that tower which had a rotating dish. Very spectacular for the 1972.

And yes I know which set of a songs they usualy played 1972. First set was 'Eclipse - A Piece for Assorted Lunatics' - early(working) DSoTM. Plus 'Obscured By Clouds' and 'When You're In'. And, sometimes the 'Childhood's End' too. And the second set was that you already said in your post.
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Re: A question about the Pink Floyd show?

Post by Annoying Twit »

Again *jealous* The show looks great, and the ballet fits very well. Good to see Dave speaking French too.