AUGUST 4th - MUNICH, GERMANY
Olympic Stadium
Astronomy Domine,
Learning To Fly, What Do You Want from Me, On The Turning Away, Take It
Back, Great Day For Freedom, Keep Talking, Sorrow, One Of These Days,
[Intermission], Shine On Pts. 1-5, Breathe, Time, Breathe (Reprise),
High Hopes, Great Gig, Us & Them, Wish You Were Here, Money,
Another Brick Pt.2, Comfortably Numb, [Encore] Hey You, Run Like Hell.
Reader Review by Matthias Stürner
This was my very first Pink Floyd
concert (I'm only 21) and anticipation was high... maybe too high: this
wasn't a very good show. It seemed lifeless and wasn't played with much
fun. The sound quality was very poor during the first half, at least in
the second row (which is my favourite place at concerts because you
have a great view of the stage). Gilmour's guitar was extremely loud
and sometimes you couldn't tell it from his vocals. Also, the backing
singers and the quad sound were completely inaudible. Perhaps the sound
crew had problems with the odd roof of the Olympiastadion, but
fortunately things got better in the second half and one could really
enjoy it because the volume was about half as loud! The musical
highpoints were Shine On (with its great new film), Time (with its
fantastic computer animation) and Us & Them.
Gilmour's solo during Comfortably
Numb was quite good, but again getting a bit too loud to really enjoy
them. I was disappointed by the laser show which seemed to be cut down
compared to the last tour and only had green and gold lasers. The
Planetarium in Munich has a better laser show, I have to say. I also
think the mirror ball in the audience isn't the best special effect. I
prefer it in front of the circular screen. And why do they keep playing
Another Brick Pt.2? This song really sucks, but everybody around me
just freaked out over it! All in all it was a good show though.
AUGUST 6th & 7th - BASEL, SWITZERLAND
St. Jakob Football Stadium
Shine On, Learning To
Fly, High Hopes, Take It Back, Coming Back To Life, Sorrow, Keep
Talking, Another Brick Pt.2, One Of These Days, [Intermission], Dark
Side of the Moon in its entirety, [Encore] Wish You Were Here,
Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell.
Reader Review by Patrick Müller
After all these years of
waiting, I was finally able to see Pink Floyd LIVE! Although the show
was to start after sunset, I arrived at noon hoping to meet Dave
Gilmour and his guys at one of Basel's grandest, The Plaza Hotel. But
where was the band? A roadie (one of many lurking around) told me that
the band flew home to England after their Munich, Germany gig on the
4th and they would not arrive to Basel before 6pm. My friend and I hung
around the bar and were later able to eavesdrop on the conversation
between the boss of the hotel and a Pink Floyd manager. All we heard
was that one member of the band brings his family along and there was
also talk about the president's suite. We tried to question this Pink
Floyd manager (Jane Sen?) about the whereabouts of the band, but she
wouldn't tell us anything. Now it was time for me to get to the stadium.
When I arrived, the first thing I
noticed was a cable hanging across the stadium and a model plane at the
one end. The show started with Shine On and Learning To Fly, then Dave
said "Good evening. We got a few surprises for you tonight." They sure
did as the second half began with Dark Side of the Moon in its
entirety! I never thought they would play Brain Damage/Eclipse since
both song's are Roger's, but they did. It was really cool!
The show on the next day was
completely different. Since the plane was not there anymore I realized
they would not play Dark Side again. They started with Astronomy Domine
and continued on with a show like the American tour described in BD.
The second half starter of Shine On did use the new film whereas the
day before they did not. Overall, two great concerts. It was all worth
the wait and I'm already looking forward to seeing the show in Lausanne!
Reader review by Matthias Stürner
Even before the show began
it had a very special feel to it. The crowd was almost completely made
up of people my age (teens, Munich was more of an "evening for the
whole family" with an average age of about 35) and lots of people were
smoking joints. At the entrance of the stadium, we looked overhead and
- no, not an albatross hung motionless upon the air, but one of those
Spitfire model planes (it was very big, it actually looked like a real
Spitfire and had "PF 13" written on it). The show began on time (Munich
was delayed almost an hour!) with Shine On. The sound quality was
really very good, crisp and clean right in the front row. The band
really enjoyed themselves and had fun, and even Nick Mason boasted a
special drum technique which was not the usual crescendo, but rather
every second beat was accentuated or something like syncopated. This
time however, when they played One Of These Days to end the first set,
the pigs didn't fall off the speakers as they did in Munich.
The second set started with the
familiar heartbeat sounds which led into Speak To Me while the Quad
sound system kicked ass! Then Dark Side LIVE! I couldn't believe it! A
dream can come true! By the way, it was one of the best ideas to
replace Scott Page with Dick Parry and to bring in Sam Brown who was
marvellous, again. Thank God, Money was performed without this new
shoes/aliens intro film, which I think is rather silly.
All around the stadium one could
see the lightning from approaching thunderstorms, looking like another
special effect and fitting perfectly into the show. Luckily, none of
these storms moved in and ended the gig like in Houston. Us & Them
was great as usual and finally merged into Any Colour You Like. WOW!
They played it much the same way as in the old days (check out the
bootlegs!), i.e. different from the album version, not 9 minutes long
but just around 5. It featured Wright's descending scales (he looked a
bit embarrassed during this song and obviously needed some encouraging
smiles from Gilmour before he started to play).
They segued into Brain Damage, my
favourite Pink Floyd tune, with Gilmour handling Waters' vocals. It
featured films showing people like Khomeini, Reagan, Bush, and even
Bill Clinton playing Saxophone! The insane laughter on quad was
incredible! The finale was Eclipse, accompanied by films of explosions
and -surprise- a total eclipse of the sun. Although they played most of
Dark Side at "regular" shows, it's completely different to listen to
them in the right order. The total is so much more than the sum of its
parts!
Obviously, many people didn't or
couldn't appreciate the event because there wasn't the roaring applause
I'd expected. I wonder if people were simply shocked by nearly one hour
of music without a break. People should scream, whistle and shout after
a song, not during it... one drunken idiot behind us kept screaming for
Money all through the show, even after they had actually played it! And
finally the show ended with Echoes - no, just kidding! This was of
course the greatest concert I've ever been to. It was absolutely
magical and well worth the 80 Swiss francs we paid for our black market
tickets each.
AUGUST 13 - HOCKENHEIM, GERMANY
Hockenheim Ring
Astronomy Domine,
Learning To Fly, What Do You Want From Me, On The Turning Away, Take It
Back, Sorrow, Great Day For Freedom, Keep Talking, One Of These Days,
[Intermission], Shine On, Breathe, Time, Breathe (Reprise), High Hopes,
Great Gig, Wish You Were Here, Us & Them, Money, Another Brick
Pt.2, Comfortably Numb, [Encore] Hey You, Run Like Hell.
Reader Comments by Matthias Stürner
This might have been one
of the largest concerts of the tour with some 100,000 people in
attendance. Nevertheless, the sound was great throughout. The songs
from The Division Bell sounded better than ever, especially Keep
Talking which was far better than on the album (which isn't one of my
favourite Floyd albums indeed).
SEPTEMBER 9 - STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Stade de la Meineau
Astronomy Domine,
Learning To Fly, What Do You Want From Me, On The Turning Away, Take It
Back, Coming Back To Life, Sorrow, Keep Talking, One Of These Days,
[Intermission], Shine On Pts. 1-5, Breathe, Time, Breathe (Reprise),
High Hopes, Great Gig, Wish You Were Here, Us & Them, Money,
Another Brick Pt.2, Comfortably Numb, [Encore] Hey You, Run Like Hell.
Reader Review by Jan Kertzscher
Finally five long years of
waiting had come to an end for a confirmed Floyd fan who has never had
the chance to attend what has to be the ultimate realization of a rock
concert. There were four concerts being staged within 170 miles from my
home near Stuttgart, of which I would have the opportunity to attend
three of them. But, as luck would have it, I missed the fourth show in
Basel where Pink Floyd performed a complete Dark Side... Murphy's Law
was in complete control!
The show began right on time with
Astronomy Domine. On the one hand, this oil-bubbling classic is a treat
for every Floyd aficionado, but on the other hand Shine On would have
started the show if all of Dark Side were to be performed. Confronted
with this disappointment, the perfect sound quality was a great comfort
to me remembering the problems that affected the beginnings of the
Munich gig when Gilmour's guitar cleaned your ears. The remarkable
thing about the musical side of this tour is that almost all live
versions are way better than on The Division Bell (e.g. Keep Talking)
or Delicate Sound of Thunder (e.g. One Of These Days, Us & Them),
but I'm still desperately waiting for the day they drop Another Brick
Pt.2.
Another positive surprise was the
good mood the band and especially the jeans-wearing David Gilmour were
in. He talked to the audience much more (in nearly fluent french!) than
during the German gigs, admitting that the people almost sing better
than he does and then began to sing the French National Anthem! Soon
after, the 50,000+ audience in the somewhat overcrowded-looking Stade
de la Meineau moved into the highest of spirits making more noise
shouting and trampling than at the Hockenheimring-100,000+ crowd.
In comparison, the only steps
back from the last tour were, in my opinion, that the mirror-ball was
no longer in front of the distinctive round screen, which I liked
better, and there are only some red lasers on Take It Back and
Comfortably Numb and no blue or white ones at all. What remains of
these awesome events is the hope for another tour in a few years and
over 100 awesome pictures (of course my height of 6' 7" was helpful in
taking them)!
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