DELICATE SOUND OF THUNDER

The first live effort of the post-Waters era so far. Looking back into their discography, it is the second one after Ummagumma in ... 1969 ! Bearing in mind that "Live In Pompei" does not include any audience and that "The Wall - Live" was only released in 2000 (but performed in 1980 / 1981).

Everything that the Floyd undertakes in those days is enormous. To give you an idea, they had to hire fifteen persons to physically bring eight hunderd (800) hospital beds on a beach to shoot the cover only ! (reminds me the "Animals" story).

This tour was supporting "A Momentary Mapse" of course. On the first CD, the only non "Momentary" is the opener "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". This version is not the best one I know but is good. It will be superseded on "Pulse". Then we have five tracks from their last studio album (considering that "Yet Another Movie" + "Round and Around" are only one track. But except "Sorrow"and "On The Turning Away" nothing is really vital here.

Second CD covers four albums : only one number each for "Meddle" and "WYWH". Two from "DSOTM" of which "Money" which is their only hit from that album but is not my fave but. It is apparently for lots of fans. The album closes with three of the best numbers from "The Wall".

The sound is of course very good, and the show was gorgeous (have a look at the video /DVD).

During this tour, in their concert in West Berlin, there were several arrests as the crowd was shouting for the wall to be destroyed.

The tour was due to last for eleven weeks, but since tickets were selling like crazy, it lasted for more than 22 months !

The Floyd will be the first band to play at the Castle of Versailles. But, still the best is to come : a live concert in Venice. The band was playing opposite to St. Mark's Square : 200,000 thousand people watched the concert and more than 100 million viewers saw it on the television! The concert was almost cancelled two days before the official date. The superintendent of monuments declared that the vibration could damage the buildings. The Floyd played at reduced volume to avoid any trouble.

The battle with Roger was rageous though.

"You see, this is part of what's been going on for years. Roger's very good at belittling people, and I think over the years he managed to convince Rick completely that he was useless and more or less convinced Nick of the same thing. And they both did not play a major part on that record. But we put a touring band together, and by halfway through the first leg of the tour, Nick was starting to believe in himself again. And by the time we did the live album at the end of the first year, they were both playing absolutely great, and the drumming on the live album is all straight Nick. And Rick's playing is great."

"We'd spent a lot of money fighting him (Roger). We had to have a team of lawyers in every city ready and briefed in case it was suddenly in front of a judge and we had to get someone there in twenty minutes. It never happened, but we had to be prepared for it".

Both quotes are from David.

I will rate this live effort with three stars.