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)!