Grand Finale: Pink Floyd 6.7.1977 Montreal, Olympic Stadium

Als großer Fan der In The Flesh Tournee von Pink Floyd muss man dringend auf das legendärste Konzert dieser Tour, das sich am 6.7.1977 im Le Stade Olympique von Montreal ereignete, hingewiesen werden.

Finales Konzert vor 78.000

Dieses letzte Konzert der In The Flesh Tour in Montreal hatte es wahrlich in sich! Pink Floyd spielte vor der Rekordkulisse von über 78.000 Menschen. Roger Waters verlor bei dem Konzert mehrmals die Contenance. Er regte sich sehr darüber auf, dass aus dem Publikumsbereich immer wieder Feuerwerkskörper abgeschossen wurden. Er unterbrach bei Pigs on the Wing und forderte, dass diese Arschlöcher sich verpissen mögen!

Roger Waters: For f–k’s sake, stop letting off fireworks and shouting and screaming. I’m trying to sing this song! I mean I don’t care, you don’t want to hear it, you know. Fuck you. I’m sure there are a lot of people here who do want to hear it. So, why don’t just be quiet. You want to let your fireworks off, go outside and fire them out there. And when you want to shout and scream, then follow, go out there and do that. I try to sing this song that some people want to listen to. I want to listen to it.

Trauriger Höhepunkt war, als er einen Fan gegen Ende von Pigs anspuckte. Waters fühlte sich durch den in vorderster Reihe schreienden Fans und dessen Gehabe derart provoziert, dass er ihn bespuckte. Mehr über den Spitting Incident: Wray Ellis über Waters Spuck-Vorfall.

Trotz all dieser Themen merkte man der Band beim Spielen der Songs gar nichts an. Im Gegenteil, Pink Floyd spielten an diesem Abend die mitunter längsten Versionen von Dogs, Pigs und Shine on you crazy Diamond und Money! Sie improvisierten aus vollem Herzen. Und als letzte Zugabe nach Us And Them spielten sie einen Blues, eine Premiere auf dieser Tour. Allerdings hatte David Gilmour kurz davor bereits die Bühne verlassen und beobachtete das Restprogramm vom Mischpult aus.

All diese Ereignisse gingen nicht spurlos an Waters vorüber, es graute ihm vor sich selbst. Die Idee, in Zukunft vor einer schützenden Mauer zu spielen, reifte in ihm.

Roger Waters: I, personally, became so upset during the show that I spat at some guy in the front row. He was shouting and screaming and having a wonderful time and pushing against the barrier. And what he wanted was a good riot. And what I wanted was to do a good rock ’n’ roll show. (1979 BBC Radio interview)

MOJO: Danger! Demolition in Progress! THE FOUNDATIONS.

July 6, 1977. On the last night of the “‘Animals’ In The Flesh” tour at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, Roger Waters spits at a fan.

DAVID GILMOUR: I can remember not enjoying it much as a show. They’d just finished building this big stadium and the crane was still in there, they forgot to dismantle it and couldn’t get it out. I was so unenamoured that I went out and sat on the mixing desk for the encore — that might have not contributed to Roger’s mood. I think Roger was disgusted with himself really that he had let himself go sufficiently to spit at a fan.

ROGER WATERS: I’m not sure I hit him.

NICK MASON: Well, Roger is not exactly a man known for peace and love — But we were sympathetic, even if we didn’t feel as passionately as he did — those stadium shows *are* very strange. When we’re playing, we’re watching the audience, the same way the audience is watching us, and all you can really see is those front rows and — I’m not saying they’re all nutters, but what you tend to get, particularly if it’s what’s euphemistically called ‘festival-seating’ — ie no seats — is the people who are mad enough to be able to push their way to the front, the air-guitar players, the people who know all the words and rather sad ones who have been waiting all day and collapse just as the band comes on-stage.

DAVID GILMOUR: Roger never liked touring anyway very much, he was always rather tense and irritable. He was disgusted with the business in many ways, as we all were. The big change came with the huge success of ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ — the audiences liked to “interact,” shout a lot. Previous to then, even though we played large places, 10,000-seaters, you could hear a pin drop at appropriate moments. So it had been a shock — but four years on I was getting used to the idea that that’s the way it had to be.

ROGER WATERS: It just became more and more oppressive. Those places weren’t built for music, they were built for sporting events, and it’s not unnatural to experience a ritualisation of war, because that’s all sport is. What was going through my mind — my whole body — was an enormous sense of frustration, a feeling of what are we all doing here, what’s the point? And the answer that kept clanging back monotonously was: cash and ego. That’s all it’s about.

BOB EZRIN: I met Roger through his then wife Carolyne, who once worked for me. On the ‘Animals’ tour, they stopped in Toronto where I was living, and on the limousine ride out to the gig Roger told me about his feeling of alienation from the audience and his desire sometimes to put a wall between him and them. I recall saying flippantly, “Well why don’t you?.” A year, 18 months later I got a call asking me to come to his home to talk to him about the possibility of working together on this project called ‘The Wall.’

Konzert-Statistik:

• Tour: In The Flesh – Nordamerika
• Termin: 6. Juli 1977, Mittwoch
• Spielstätte: Olympic Stadium
• Plätze: 78.322 (Rekord in Kanada)
• Adresse: 4141 Pierre-de Coubertin Avenue, Montreal
• Tickets: 10 $
• Einlass: 18:00 Uhr | Showtime: 20:00 Uhr

Pink Floyd:

• David Gilmour: Guitars, Vocals
• Roger Waters: Bass Guitar, Guitar, Vocals
• Rick Wright: Keyboards, Vocals
• Nick Mason: Drums

With:

• Dick Parry: Saxofon, Keyboards
• Snowy White: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals

Setlist:

Set 1: ANIMALS

1. Sheep 11:00
2. Pigs On The Wing (Part 1) 1:30
3. Dogs 17:40
4. Pigs On The Wing (Part 2) 3:35
5. Pigs (Three Different Ones) 18:50

Set 2: WISH YOU WERE HERE

6. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1–5) 13:20
7. Welcome To the Machine 8:05
8. Have A Cigar 5:45
9. Wish You Were Here 6:30
10. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6–9) 22:05

Encores:

11. Money 10:50
12. Us And Them 8:00

Encore 2:

13. Blues 11:50

Gesamt ca.: 145 Min.