The Camera Eye

Pink Floyd 1987-1994 From the Lens of the Amateur to the Professional

By Ron Fleischer & Richard Mahon

NOTE: The following concert videos are being graded as a guide to documenting the live performance history of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters. Past video reviews are posted at the following site - http://richardmahon.8m.com/sbarchive.htm

With the release of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, 1987 found Pink Floyd embarking on their first major world tour in ten years. In the past, collectors who sought live concert footage had to settle for 8mm or Super 8 film footage, since the home video boom had yet to arrive. The film footage was usually limited in various ways: many cameras did not incorporate sound with the visuals, and film cartridges had a limited capacity to shoot only between 3 to 5 minutes of film per roll, hardly enough to cover the average Floyd song.

But for this tour, a virtual army of amateur home video renegades sneaked cameras into show after show, documenting virtually every stop on the tour. The quality of these shows ranged from the ridiculous (one Italian show was shot from the back of a huge outdoor stadium without the aide of a zoom lens, leaving very little for the viewer to see aside from a sea of heads) to the sublime (the awesome Madison Square Garden shows in October of 1987, which we'll get to in a bit).

This was also before the Internet connected us all worldwide, so one had to pursue other options in order to obtain tapes. Goldmine magazine was a great place to make contacts and find video as well as audio tapes, and local record swaps boldly sold a wide variety of shows, with the best of the batch eventually weeding out the poorer quality shows.

Pink Floyd put on a visually dazzling show and it often took the right camera angles to take advantage of capturing all the sights. The lasers and stage droids always came across more vibrantly when shot from a straight-on view, while the cameras that were off to one side of the stage had better potential close-ups.

The best of these videos were the Madison Square Garden, New York shows. In fact, two of those gigs were videotaped by the same camera guy from virtually the same seat. The show on October 5, 1987 was a close, tight, left corner shot. While this video is one of the best from the tour, it afforded him the opportunity to prepare for the second show on October 7, 1987. At this show he pretty much knew what was going to happen and always had the camera focusing in on the right thing at the right time. The laser effects didn't fair too well, due to the extreme side view, but the tight shots of Gilmour and company were staggering!

The Auburn Hills, Michigan show on August 18, 1988 made for another great home video. This one was shot from dead center, straight back in one of the front balcony rows. Unfortunately, the tape starts at "Welcome To the Machine," but the effects and screen shots were awesome.

Other videos of note from the 1987-89 tour include:

Tour Rehearsals, Toronto, Canada - September 1987 - 56 minutes of professionally shot footage includes excerpts from the set-list. Highlights include a 12-minute rendition of "Echoes."

Tokyo, Japan - March 3, 1988 - A well shot video from the middle of the left mezzanine at Budo Khan Hall.

Philadelphia, PA - May 15, 1988 - While the camera didn't have a zoom lens the operator was close enough to the stage to provide a solid view of the entire stage set.

Monza, Italy - May 20, 1989 - Shot from the floor, the video is crystal clear. Though only 48 minutes long, the video also includes a couple of seconds of footage of Gilmour and Scott Page in the hotel lobby and a few seconds of a soundcheck.

Hamburg, Germany - June 16, 1989 - This video is probably the closest to the front of the stage. This video is also incomplete - the 1st set at 66 minutes.

The band decided to professionally film some shows and use certain songs as live music videos. "On The Turning Away," "Dogs Of War" and "One Slip" were taken from footage shot at Atlanta's Omni on November 4-5, 1987, but quite a few more songs were filmed and edited. There was a tape in circulation that included two versions of "Dogs Of War," "Run Like Hell," "Time," "On The Run," "Comfortably Numb," "Learning To Fly," "Shine On"and the first 54 seconds of "Yet Another Movie."

The band was not at all thrilled with the footage shot, arguing that it didn't capture the essence and feeling of the live shows. The cameras certainly did not flatter Gilmour, whose striped shirt drew as much attention to his girth as it did his guitar playing. Most of the shots were static (no moving camera) and the editing lacked a free-flowing rhythm. The aerial-cam shots were interesting, but added little to the overall videos. All but the three songs mentioned were eventually scrapped and some changes were made when the Nassau Coliseum shows (August 19-23, 1988) were filmed at the end of the US leg of the tour.

The Delicate Sound of Thunder was released on June 5, 1989 in the U.K.. With new director Wayne Isham at the helm, the filmed footage was slick, glossy, and was captured by more than a dozen cameras which seemed to be ALWAYS moving. There isn't one cut in the entire film either! Instead, shots segue from one to the other in a series of slow dissolves, adding the dream-like flow to the concert that the band was hoping to capture.

The next pro-shot video came from the Venice show July 15, 1989. Offered as a pay-per-view to most of Europe, this video became a sought after tape by US fans who were not privy to the broadcast. Pink Floyd performed on a specially constructed stage which floated on a platform in the Grand Canal. The audience could either watch the spectacle from the shore or from boats that were anchored on the water near by. With all the trouble they went through to pull this event off, you would think that they'd play longer than an abbreviated 93 minute set, which lopped off the better part of "Shine On."

On June 30, 1990, Pink Floyd reconvened for the Knebworth show, a charity gig for the Nordof Robbins Foundation. This was another short set, with another less-than-inspiring performance. Candy Dulfer made a guest appearance, blowing an unimpressive sax solo during "Shine On", and Claire Torry reprised her original, and now famous, soulful vocal stylings for "Great Gig In The Sky." Unfortunately she apparently was having a bad night as her off-key delivery sounded like she was sucking on a lemon. Where the whole set was broadcast by the Westwood One Network, MTV showed most of the gig, only cutting out a few songs for commercials.

The Division Bell Tour, from the opening show in Miami, Florida on March 30, 1994 to the final show at Earls Court, London, October 29, 1994, was also well documented by home video. Where the previous tour did not deviate from its well-rehearsed set-list (apart from the early departure of "Echoes" being replaced by "Shine On,") The Division Bell tour had some surprises. The audience could see "Poles Apart," "A Great Day For Freedom" or even "Lost For Words" (on two occasions) and "One Slip" (on one occasion) depending on what the band had planned for each night. The addition of "Marooned" as an encore at the two shows in Oslo, Norway (August 29-30) was surely a highlight. Backdropped by a film of whales in poetic motion, the band performed superb renditions of their Grammy Award winning instrumental. As many as seven camcorder videos have surfaced from these two nights in Oslo.

But the biggest surprise was when the band added their groundbreaking epic, Dark Side of the Moon, in its entirety for the show's second set at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, Michigan on July 15, 1994. The tour had pretty much wound up in North America, and the band decided to debut it during the last three stops on the continent. Needless to say, this show became one that was much desired by video collectors, especially the Americans who were anxious to see what they missed.

Few videos from these three American Dark Side of the Moon shows have surfaced. Only the first three songs from the July 15, 1994 setlist were caught on tape--the second set either was never filmed or was never circulated. There is no video from the show that followed, the first of two nights at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, July 17, 1994.

However, three camcorder videos are in circulation from the final night, July 18, 1994. First, the complete show, 139 minutes, was shot from the upper deck of Giants Stadium slightly left of center. A second video is incomplete, 119 minutes, shot from the upper left side looking down on the stage. The video includes the complete Dark Side of the Moon set. The third video was made up of excerpts, and only 4:52 of the 42 minutes comes from the Dark Side of the Moon performance. This video was shot on the floor towards the right.

Other noteworthy camcorder videos to surface from the tour include -

San Diego, CA - April 14, 1994 - Shot from 20 rows back, this video provides a nice shot of the complete stage with excellent close-ups.

Oakland, CA - April 21, 1994- Shot from the 6th row. Though the video is obstructed at times, there are exceptional close-ups.

Yankee Stadium, New York - June 10, 1994 - Shot from the upper deck in centerfield with a tripod, this video does the best job of capturing the entire stage. The close-ups of the back projection screen are superb as the camera gets 'inside' the screen.

Kansas City, MO - June 20, 1994 - Shot on a tripod from the left side of the stage, the video is exceptionally clear.

Rotterdam, Holland - September 3-5, 1994 - This video is compiled from three nights in Rotterdam, two cameras at each show--quality footage from all angles.

When Pink Floyd wrapped up the tour with 14 shows at Earl's Court, London, they offered a live pay-per-view of the October 20, 1994 performance. Released as PULSE on June 6, 1995, many fans preferred the "warts and all" pay-per-view version, criticizing the overdubs and glossy production.

The only pro-shot footage that turned up that wasn't released was the footage from Foxboro, MA in May 1994. Just one song from this footage saw the light of day--"Keep Talking," which was shown briefly on MTV on July 28, 1994 as a music video.

No one can be certain if or when the band will ever tour again, but you can be sure that you'll more than likely be able to view any gig in the comfort of your own home. I'll also bet that the same annoying asshole will be sitting two seats in front of the camcorder, shouting and blocking the view of the camera as well. ; )

Ron Fleischer and Richard Mahon are staff writers for Spare Bricks.