Pink Floyd Live in Montreal 1977: Top 7 Crazy Things I Witnessed (Photos & Clips)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 тра 2024
- Welcome Pink Floyd Friend.
Happy 46th Anniversary to: The Concert That Built The Wall!*
PINK FLOYD LIVE - Wed. July 6, 1977 - Olympic Stadium, Montreal
78,322 is the official attendance - a record that stands as of this typing.
*This event caused Roger Waters to decide that the next time Pink Floyd toured, it would be from behind a wall.
At 19, I traveled in a charter bus from Peterborough to Montreal to see this show. I was studying photography in college so I took my camera - a 1971 Pentax SP-1000. I ran down onto the field and claimed my spot - right in front of David Gilmour. Join me as I describe:
The Top 7 Crazy Things I Saw at Pink Floyd LIVE in Montreal, 1977
In the order they happened:
1. The Crush - of the crowd as it pushed me and everyone near me into the steel barriers when the intro of "Sheep" began;
2. Roger's Meltdown (Soft song + rowdy crowd + fireworks = bad mix.);
3. The Spitting Incident - When, why, and how it happened - during which song;
4. The Giggles: Roger Waters gets laughing and can't stop;
5. The Wrath of David: The usually placid David Gilmour was not amused when the house lights were slow to go off for the first encore ("Money");
6. Roger's Confession: Roger tries to calm the crowd but it doesn't work. He even tries sharing some private thoughts;
7. The (Sad, Sad,) End: As the roadies tear down the stage around them, Roger leads them (all but David) through one final blues jam. One by one, the players leave the stage. Roger, with Nick (on a snare and hi-hat), ends the concert with a perfunctory: "Good-bye!"
Thanks so much for checking out my video.
Please subscribe and ring the bell for updates.
And above all, be good to your critters!
Click here for Wray Ellis music: www.reverbnation.com/wrayellis - Розваги
![[NEW FILM] Pink Floyd - Live in Montréal, QC (July 6th, 1977) - Super 8mm film - SOURCE 2](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/d5uYoyFLqZs/mqdefault.jpg)
For years I have tried to imagine what this concert was like. The total breakdown of the link between artist and audience. You're storytelling made it seem like I was there. Nicely done!
Wonderful!
I was there, first row right at the barricade roughly facing Nick Mason and the band stood about 5 feet above us. I might be on that picture mylself. I don't quite agree with Roger Waters about the crowd's behavior. I was 17 at the time and all we wanted was to party and have fun, period. No rioting, no fighting, just misbehaving perhaps. True, we were getting crushed (well I felt it) and yes it was a very very noisy crowd. There was much pushing around sometimes, but nothing like nowadays' mosh pits. Guess what, the PA was just awfull and the sound reverberated everywhere. On top of all that, David Gilmour was in a bad mood and had is amplifiers cranked up which seemed to upset Waters as well. You can hear it on the recording, his guitar was howling like crazy. So Roger lost his cool. Simple. Overall, the show was OK, but the mood was gloomy. One song that stood out, in my opinion, was Welcome to the Machine, mostly because Rick Wright's synthesizer could cut through the noise. The security staff would hit on our fingers as we hung to the barricade and Waters could see that, so maybe he resented them as well. Memorable? Not really.
I was 14 years old and I was there at the big O. This was my first concert of many, many more. Thank you for the memories.
I love this so much. Im a old "soul" at 40 who missed all of the good stuff when all 4( and 5 with syd) were touring. So thank you for plugging a hole in my heart. Im guessing the closest ill ever be to a true floyd concert. RIP the lost memebers. Gone but not forgotten. Especially in this video. Thank you so much.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the kind comments.
I am producing a film on Roger Waters. Could I please use your quote?
Kind regards
Barry
My heart felt appreciation as well , YEAH 💗😊
@@FloydGuy1980 of course.
Great job putting all the pieces together, it's hard to imagine for many people today the O filled with 90,000 people which is well above it's seating capacity, I guess for context for others watching, this is the stadium specifically built for the 1976 summer Olympic Games held in Montreal a year earlier, and this stadium is actually somewhat outside the center of the city in a not-so-great area of the city at a kind of rough train stop, or at least it became that. That's just for context that surely people came to this concert from all over, not just around Montreal and other parts of Quebec but likely up from NY or elsewhere in Canada, and the band was that popular indeed, but the Stadium was built not for rock concerts but the opening ceremonies and track and field events. The following year (this year of 1977) the Montreal Expos had started using it as their home stadium. This was a Wednesday night and the Expos were on a road trip in Chicago playing a series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field (for trivia fans, the Expos lost the game to the Cubs 8-6). I point all this out because the O had a terrible PA system and the acoustics were dreadful unless you were right in front of the stage or in a narrow band otherwise everything came across as sheer noise anywhere else in the Stadium, but mostly people screaming, smoking weed, or setting off fireworks as you can hear and see here and elsewhere. That the audio from over 46 years ago is even this good is a remarkable feet, and I know there is Super 8 film footage out there of this concert and you can see people setting off fireworks etc. But, all this is now a far-gone memory, but a great table-setter for explaining how one man's creativity channeled so much of the experiences of this tour, especially this concert, and gave birth to the cycle that became the album The Wall. Waters has said as much, he hated what he had become over this incident, the disconnect between audience and band; and the realization of how quickly the chaos brought out dark and violent impulses, the dehumanizing of other people and where that leads, thematically, when tied together with other issues of unresolved anger, loss, and frustration. But that is another topic, yet it can easily find it's seed, or one of the primary seeds, right here, at this concert, explained through your retelling.
Thanks! I appreciate that. No, it wasn't a great night. I'm sure we all wanted it to be, but it wasn't. The next day, when I told my college buddies back home what happened at the show, nobody believed me. It was beyond credibility - for Roger Waters to spit on a fan...?! No way! (Sex Pistols, sure. NOT Pink Floyd...) So, I printed some of the shots I took (which were disappointing overall), then I simply stopped talking about that show. That's where my story remained for nearly 40 years. When Roger finally admitted the incident and it became common knowledge, I figured people would finally believe me. That was when I hauled out my negatives and decided the time was right to share them. The fact that people are thanking me for my story blows my mind. I'm beyond grateful. It's been a long road.
@@WrayEllis Oh I feel you, all the way. It felt like he was talking to us in 'Hey You" when he writes, "hey you standing in the aisles with itchy feet and fading smiles...etc". I was not at this concert but I was in Montreal during the construction of the O in late 1975 (and if you can believe it the construction workers walked off the job from May to the end of October, making it seem like it would not be finished in time at all for the opening ceremonies the following July), then visited the O in the late 80s for Expos games. I knew of this story with the spitting, but not the full context, not the specific audio and even a Super 8 clip taken within moments of the incident, where RW looks absolutely FURIOUS, and all the pieces that YOU provide really fill out exactly how this came together! And FWIW I did see RW on his sprawling In the Flesh tour in 1999 by which time all of this had passed (one would hope). To me, it must have seemed an absolute trigger for RW to be trying to pull off this 1977 concert at the very end of a world tour slog, from the fireworks going off near the stage, screaming and throwing things, and worst of all that the decisive moment of vulnerability comes when he was trying to sing Pigs on the Wing 2, a tender song of resolution in the studio recording's context. Even more telling is his beckoning the offending teen back with taunts for Waters to get his "revenge," and his further comment overheard that some of the audience DO want to hear the song and DO care (tying into the lyrics of PoTW itself), then he (Roger) can be overheard saying, "I don't care...well, I DO, but I wish I didn't." Here is a man singing (or trying to sing) a song of particular vulnerability and he literally gets abuse on the stage from a few deranged fans, who were almost certainly high or drunk anyway. I believe it tapped into his darkest impulses he later channeled into the lyrics (on The Wall album) of the fascistic fantasy of being able to pick out offensive (through a lens of various types of bigotry) people in the audience and have then put up against the wall and shot. THIS incident, the spitting, is also described in far less detail, but represents an incredibly decisive moment, and to my knowledge outside of fanzines was first widely published in Nicholas Schaffner's Saucerful of Secrets, published summer of 1992, a full 15 years later. PF had kept many things about their inner workings quite close to the vest (other than the very public dispute over the legal use of the name when DG had to fight RW in court to release Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987 under the PF name). I can still remember reading that book IN the bookstore when it was released (as one did in those days) and reading about this incident, and how deeply it affected Roger. But absent all the context and details that you provide here..and also for what it's worth, please disregard some of the cretinous quibbling going on in some of these past comments trying to 'correct' your memory or add to it, critique it, whatever, they can make their own video recollections if they know so much about the incident, they should stop sh*tting on this wall (no pun intended) as you have made IMO a definitive and insightful summary of the events that sews up all the pieces, for me anyway. I think also for you, as a young man watching this horrific event unfold in front of you, must have been extraordinary and somewhat painful. One final thought, and I apologize for all the rambling, is the irony of your mention of the Sex Pistols below is (as I'm sure you've heard) that it was likewise in the same year as this concert that John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) was first spotted by McLaren in London wearing precisely an old PF t-shirt, except with the words "I HATE" scrawled above the name on the tattered shirt. How is that for coincidence? Talk about a band who hated (or intended to project hatred) their audience, the ultimate violent fantasy of *actually* murdering audience members as in Sid Vicious' music video for "My Way". And to think that the Pistols' members were the SAME age as you. I hope unpacking all of these memories on your channel here can provide some measure of closure to the experience now almost 47 years behind us. God bless.
How did Roger get up on the roof I wonder!!
The view of Montreal must have been spectacular!!
Brilliant. Thankyou.
Thanks!
Thank you. The best I've seen in ages.
Yes wonderfully done. Thru you I was there!
Thank you for sharing your photos with us, it brings back so many memories. I was in the stands with three of my friends during this show.
It was the very first rock show at the brand new Olympic Stadium in Montreal after the 1976 Olympics.
At that time, I worked at the Montreal Forum, and as an employee, I could attend all the events presented there for free, hockey games, rock concerts, boxing matches and others.
The Forum was at the time the place to see all the big names in music, including:
(The Beatles, Queen, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Rush, Metallica, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Kiss, Guns N' Roses, The Doors and even Abba, Leonard Cohen, Celine Dion and Maria Callas.
Being used to the crowds of the Forum (18,000 spectators), I felt slightly lost in this huge crowd of more than 80,000 spectators at the Olympic stadium.
A very noisy crowd that seemed more attracted by the event itself than by the music of Pink Floyd.
Much of the crowd seemed more of a "hard or heavy rock" type, than a Pink Floyd musical genre.
It must be said that the Pink Floyd show at the stadium was, according to local radio stations, (The event of the summer not to be missed).
I remember those days. Especially the concert where Guns N Roses were opening for the Beatles but Axel was being his usual self, refusing to sing because of his prolapsed rectum or whatever, so Lennon came out, knocked Axel out cold with one punch, shoved him off the stage, and did an impromptu rap version of 'I am the Walrus'. Speaking of beatdowns, alternative timeline beats alternative any day.
Amazing video. God bless you for this.
Thank you!
LOVE re-living this with you Wray - Thanks for your study of this - Jonathon
My pleasure. Glad you enjoyed it!
@@WrayEllis Also nice to know we were basically rubbing shoulders down in that madhouse
Hello, thanks for the video/sound! 😊
My pleasure.
Thanks Wray!
You started all this! 😃
I was five years old when I watched my uncle head off east on his motorcycle to see the show. "Where ya goin', Uncle Jim?" "To Cleveland to see Pink Floyd." I watched him peak the hill and disappear. "Enjoy the show." He came back days later talking about pigs in parachutes falling on his head. Too funny, turns out that was real 😂
Thank you so much for all this documentation! It’s invaluable to someone like myself who wasn’t born until 20 years later. What an astounding piece of history.
Then I've done what I set out to do. Thank you!
I was at that concert! One speaker stopped working. I spotted a man walk along a catwalk at near the top of the stadium. He walked up to this speaker and opened a door and walked in and got the speaker working right at the moment when the music cascaded from one side to the other. A man walking up the stairs lost his balance and almost fell
HOLY CRAP YOU WERE THERE
Yeah him and 80k others.
Hey bucko, there's 7 billion people in the world and this was almost 50 years ago, so yeah it is pretty significant that he was there, is still here to talk about it, and has audio and photos from it. Get outta here if you're gonna be a jerk.@@caveman3096
Absolutely madness.. must of been a nightmare for Floyd to perform to the ability. However go's to show how big the Floyd are..
From a ufo band to a super group.. born in year 70
Love em.. change my live x
I saw Pink Floyd in Toronto back in the late 80's, and still to this day it was the most amazing concert ever.
In 1987, I was at the first show of the tour and the last show of the tour - both in Toronto. Funny - for the first show, the stage was dressed with fussy and detailed antennas and aerials sticking out all over. But for the last show, all that stuff was gone.
@@WrayEllis Ottawa was the first night of the tour. I was there in 1987. Skipped school
@@Ontariosound Yup opening night was good old Bytown, followed by 3 dates in Montreal, then a few US dates, and then they did Toronto, at the old CNE grandstand (which was an awesome show).
I was at the Spectrum Philadelphia, Pa. 2 weeks or so before this- our concert went on without incident!
did you take any pictures, a video or recorded the show in any different way?
At 17:27 at the beginning of Us and Them, the rowdy crowd in front is yelling “Assis-assis-assis “ which means “sit down ! “ in french….
In hindsight, this is definitely a concert most fans wish they attended. In reality, being there among the sea of rowdy, drunken party animals, I bet it was an awful experience. Especially if you're one of the few who actually wanted to listen to the music. Must've been infuriating.
It was pretty bad.
It was pretty bad.
Thanks Wray. You're pretty much the only person who has posted the full details of the infamous spitting incident. Cheers.
i was there!
I heard Roger was yelling at the pig that was "floating away" in the air.
The guy in yellow is Roger. He has a habit of looking out over the audience especially on that tour on the outside shows to see how many people were there. He hated large audiences and has said so multiple times in interviews. Plus he also said he did this on the Animals tour. He never believed the promoters, and with good reason.
Thank you so much for this, the mystery man on the stadium's roof cracked me up!!
I'm a young Pink Floyd fan, born long after their last tour but this video gave me a great insight on what the "Pink Floyd live experience" could've been like. I always swore to myself that if I ever get the chance to time travel, going to a Pink Floyd concert in the 70s would be the first thing I'd do (even if some drunkards and druggies kinda ruin the show lol)
Btw I always feel sad about the fact that the Floyd didn't film any of their concerts during that era. I think they were at their musical peak during this tour!
I think Roger was still laughing over the spitting incident... I wish I could have seen them back then..I wasn't able to afford to go at 16yrs old, I was just starting to work. Great story man. I love concert stories
He was wearing a yellow jacket that day
Wow!!!
Very compelling account from a first-hand witness whom was in the front row for this outrageous event.
Thank you, sir.
Mark Simon (USN, 1981-1989)
I recorded on my Sony Walkman the Floyd concert at the Olympic Stadium without Roger Waters (Momentary Lapse tour). David Gilmour whispers into the microphone during the night - "There'll be no spitting tonight" - classic
That is hilarious.
On the roof
Your presentation on 'the spit' is still wanting: to those not there, or unfamiliar with the show (recording), implies 'Pigs' ends after the 'incident': it didn't, DG continued giving a fine angry like extended ending conclusion to the song* ... more: it's also fully understandable exhausted / exasperated they all were: they had never expected the melee like 'listening' of the Stateside audiences: as Dave once said, beforehand they could hear a pin drop at their gigs: plus all the fireworks, especially from the just before FOUR States' Madison gigs (in one he - justifiably - gets angry about mis-singing POTW2 after one huge bang - think today, would likely immediately close the gig down!): *and to my close: my own feeling is that in this show, on the final playing of SOYCD pt 2, DG and SW render the song extended and most heartfully: as though he well knew, 'I've had enough, this is the end', and wanted to play his heart out on it: (on which BTW: even more sadness / irritation with 'PF' (management) they won't allow its release (all the gigs were Nakamuchi tape deck recorded) Despite yr 'crush' when there, boy do I envy yr experience that you saw / heard this gig!
I think I understood from an interview with Gilmour that I watched , that they did film quite a bit of their shows and that he hoped at some point they’d be compiled properly & released
I’ve always been convinced that they’ve got a high quality video of the entire Animals show in their archives, and Roger is the only one against against its release
And if there wasn’t video, a high quality audio recording must exist. The setlist for those shows was like a 70’s greatest hits package where they did all of Animals in the first half and then played all of Wish You Were Here and parts of Dark Side in the second set
@@jennifersman7990 Soundboard audio very likely. Video not very likely
I was waayy up there. That’s all I can say, “i was there” lol
I have this bootleg from this show actually a bunch from this tour. The venom in Roger's voice calling that kid just before he spits on him is very clear. I'm surprised he went to the front. Drugs are a crazy thing sometimes.
A notorious event, I should say, in light of "The Spitting Incident", and what their next concerts would ultimately reflect...ALIENATION.
WELL DONE, SIR!
I'd suggest that you might consider writing a book on the event.
Roger waters
Watching this video and hearing you talk about your experience has made me understand why Waters was so upset at this gig. The crowd sounded really rowdy. I also didn’t realise that he’d previously had beer thrown at him before he spat at that guy. It doesn’t make it acceptable but definitely makes it more understandable why he was so worked up!
Syd Barrett? *I am saying this watching at 3:10
Yes - "Where's good old Syd?!" (shouted by someone in the crowd) is a reference to Syd Barrett - who had left the band nine years earlier.
I'm sorry to trouble you but your setlist is missing two songs. Pink Floyd also played Have A Cigar and the Wish You Were Here title track in between Welcome To The Machine and Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9.
I think the "SpiderMan" might have been a security guard who was overlooking the stadium to see how many people were really there. Judging by Roger Waters's rant at the security guys in yellow shirts at a Los Angeles gig on the 26th April 1975 at the end of Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part IX, Canadian and U.S. security guys often wore yellow shirts or yellow jackets at stadium events in the '70s.
If you listen carefully during Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part 7, you can tell that David Gilmour also had the giggles along with Roger at the same time!
I think David Gilmour rage quitted because the rowdy audience had completely ruined his Us And Them performance on top of the earlier spitting incident during Pigs (Three Different Ones) that resulted from the earlier disruptive rabble.
I was there, but my seats were up in the gods. The sound was pretty bad. Funny I have no memory at all of Roger stopping the show after the fireworks went off during Pigs On The Wing, or egging on the kid he spat on. Only found out about all this years later. Of course now I know every word of these incidents by heart as I've heard and seen them so often on UA-cam. But since this led to the genesis of The Wall, I consider myself privileged to have been there.
Wasn't the spitting incident when Roger calls at the inflatable pig (if there was one)? During the 'The Wall Live' performances the inflatable pig was there too and Waters screams at it. Something like "He's not a nice pig but he's a biiiiiiiig pig".
I reckon the man on top of the Stadium is either Jesus or his Dad God, looking down in admiration for 'Creating The Greatest Band of all Time'..!! And chuckling and thinking to himself "WOW Now I realise I am The Creator of the Universe as no other thing in this Infinity could make this happen to such an Incredible extent..!! I'm 54 and from Liverpool where Pink Floyd are a rite of passage growing up..!! ! I was lucky enough to 1st see Floyd at the Earls Court Pulse Tour concerts in London in October 1994..!! ! was sitting in the top balcony on the left hand side looking towards the stage and sitting directly opposite the Giant Mirror Ball which came down from the ceiling in Comfortably Numb... Even though its nearly 30years ago the concert still sends shivers down my spine..Never have I seen a concert on that level Musically and Visually than the Pulse Concert, every single song they played could have been made into a Movie due to the effects and visuals that will never ever be bettered either back then or since..!! MIND-BLOWING putting it mildly..!! The only other concert that I've seen that came very close was the Roger Waters concert I saw in Birmingham in July 2018 from The Us And Them Tour..!! Absolute Theatre specially from the beginning of Set 2 when Roger opened with Battersea Power Station rising up from the ground 200feet long and 200feet high from the front of the stage to the back of the Stadium, and got to see Roger play 2 tracks off my favourite Floyd album Animals..Dogs🐕 and Pigs🐖 (3 Different Ones) and Comfortably Numb as the Encore with the Giant Lazer Pyramid..!! Words don't come close to doing it justice and then got to see Roger again this year again in Birmingham from the 'This Is Not A Drill Tour' and all my dreams came true as he played the final song off Animals Sheep 🐑
Hello, there is a new video from the 1977 Montreal concert that recently came out showing Roger Waters spitting during Money, a Pink Floyd assistant who was on stage confirmed that the famous spitting was during Money, who is telling the truth?
Truth?! I don't care who says something different - I'm telling you what I saw UP CLOSE. By the way, in that film clip, you can see me right at the very beginning - with the camera bag and jacket. The (huge) spit that I saw (and coaxing the kid up to the stage) happened during "Pigs 3". Since I was back by the sound board during "Money" I can't say what happened then. But, it isn't a matter of "Truth" for me. It's what I saw and will never forget.
I believe you Wray. Thank you for your testimony
I am producing a film on Roger Waters. Could I please ask permission to maybe use a small clip of this video?
Kind regards
Barry
Do you have any personally taken photos from the gig? If so, could I use them if used it will be credited to you.
Kind regards
Barry
I was there and I was told it was a hari krishna
Not wishing to be critical here but have you not already made 2 other videos on the same subject?
Is this not your counter attack on the new 8mm video that shows Roger spitting at a kid during Money not Pigs?
I'm confused. (easily done).
Whats your thoughts on the new footage please?
Nowhere in this new film is Roger unleashing a foamy steam of sploosh onto a young man in a denim jacket. That's exactly what I saw happen during Pig 3, just before they took their first break - as I've always described it.
By the time they played Money, I was back by the sound board and can't say what Roger was doing. If you think this new film shows the spit - that's up to you.
This film simply doesn't depict what I witnessed. I tell this story for the benefit of those who weren't there - but are open to hearing from someone who was.
@@WrayEllis I reckon Roger probably spat a couple of times. Shame Nick, Rick and Dave dont recall it either. Hopefully full footage will show up before we all peg it.
It was definitely towards the end of Pigs (3DO). Right after he yells "good boy... good boy!!!!!"
Pretty strange how we have film of Rog spitting in Money and apologizing not too long after with no reaction during Pigs, yet he spat during the partially pre-planned rant in Pigs, isn’t it? However, I really enjoyed the video anyways, as it’s still a pretty nice account of the show. Good job with the video even if I disagree with where the spit was.
I seriously dig the video format
Thanks. Just telling you what I actually saw. I guess you had to be there.
@@WrayEllisI was pretty much right beside Wray, and he has it right. Funny how people who weren't there are claiming different - lol
I heard David was so disgusted that he left the stage and walked through the crowd to the back of the stadium to see what the crowd was hearing.?????
video well done. why in the SIGMA dvd we see waters spitting during money??
Ask SIGMA.
They spliced a money shot in just for the truly hard-core fans. Rog, ever a raging Sex Pistols fan, sometimes got carried away when he was channeling Sid Vicious.
Roger sounds wasted.
I thought he spat in money? Weird
There's a film clip on YT claiming to have recorded the spit during Money. Not true. It really happened at the end of Pigs 3 - just before the first break.
He did spit in Money, you've got a film of that showing the exact moment. Wray is just unfortunately misremembering it.
@@WrayEllisI just looked at the clip. Idk man I slowed it down really good and even I can see him lunging to spit. Your story is good but this footage is irrefutable.
I'm so confused because of you listen to the whole show on UA-cam he Cleary spits during Pigs.
@@robbygood3458 How come can you even hear it?