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PINK FLOYD - ANIMALS - CLEVELAND - 1977
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In 1977, I was 19 years old. I had just graduated from Lorain High School in 1976. I went to see Pink Floyd at the Cleveland Municipal Stadium. I still remember it well. It was Saturday, June 25th. Several of us piled into a van and drove out from Lorain. We got there a few hours early and cooked out in the parking lot. There was quite a mob squeezing their way into the stadium. We headed straight to the center of the field to claim a spot.
The panorama of people filling the stadium numbered around 83,200. We spread out our blanket and tried to settle down among the hoard. The day was cloudless and very hot, and we didn’t have any cover from the direct sun, being we were dead center of everything. Music was playing through the four giant speaker stacks around the stadium, set up for quadraphonic sound. The crowd was so thick; people were stumbling over each other, some due to the fact that they were stoned out of their minds. One guy, who seemed barely coherent, was being led by another person through the sea of people. One of the guys with us, who was sitting on the ground, decided to play with his head, yelling “Ow! yer steppin’ on me…hey watch it dude!” The poor guy was nowhere near our buddy, but he tried to maintain as he stumbled by.
Eventually, relief from the heat showed up in the form of a storm. It was a little more than we needed. A deluge came down so hard and we were all drenched down to our socks. On the way back from a restroom visit, I saw that people had actually picked up the edges of the astro-turf and propped it up to make shelters from the rain.
Here, you can see how the turf was pulled up to make shelters from the rain.
We got back to our spot and the show still had not begun yet. It was getting late and we wondered if the show would be canceled because of the weather. The announcer said they were going to perform a test on the sound system by playing “pink noise”. A loud static roar emanated from the quad system. It was almost defining. It lasted for a few minutes and then suddenly stopped. The band was still not on stage. The sun was low in the sky and people were getting antsy. Then, the sound slowly started building again. We thought we were in for a few more minutes of the annoying noise. Then, quite suddenly, the sound became very loud and emanated from the sky above us. We all looked up to see the nose of a very large airliner, coming ridiculously low, right over the stage end of the stadium.
83,000 people looked in the air as the plane just cleared the top edge of the structure by what had to be less than 50 feet. The plane was gone in less than three seconds and Pink Floyd was on stage playing the first note of the concert. An amazing roar of approval went up from the vast sea of fans. The show had begun and we were in for one of the most amazing evenings of our lives.
The jet went by so fast, but someone was lucky enough to catch a picture of it as it pulled up and away
Here is a computer simulation of how low the jet flew over the stadium
During the show, we were entertained with amazing lights and smoke. A giant round projection screen displayed crazy dream like segments and surrealistic cartoons. The quadraphonic sound was amazing. The music swirled around us and bounced back and forth in all directions. A series of inflatable figures rose one by one from behind stage. The pig dad, the pig mom, the pig kids, pig dog, pig car, pig refrigerator all floating large behind the band.
This shot was taken during the show. The balloons are lighted from inside
The picture below was probably taken during set up before the people arrived.
In the still air, the smoke hovered above as a giant pig floated over the crowd, making its way toward the stage. It’s menacing, deeply etched expression, was only made more ominous by its probing laser eyes that cut red shafts through the smoke. As the song ended, the pig was left dangling overhead. Then, the pig turned around and began to head to the back of the stadium. An announcer warned that whoever had hold of the pig had better let go, or the show would not continue. This message did not go well with the 83,199 people who did NOT have hold of the pig, so the pig was released, and it was properly retrieved, and the show continued.
A $3000 fireworks display was included, and back then, it was a lot. Some of the fireworks exploded into sheep shaped parachutes with weighted feet. They floated down into the sea of flailing arms where they instantly deteriorated, ripped to shreds by eager fans. I heard that the feet were filled with commemorative coins of the show. In the picture below, you can just make out the sheep in the sky off to the left.
After playing “Animals”, the show continued with another entire album, “Wish You Were Here” and for an encore, they played the songs “Money” and “Us and Them”. The crowd went wild. The overwhelming experience left us raving about what we had witnessed, while we made our way to the exits, and sang songs from the show.
It was a long struggle getting back to the van, and another long ride through the traffic to get out of Cleveland. I’m not sure when we got home, but by that time, we were almost dry again.
I guess I am one of the lucky ones. Even though we were all influenced by some of the refreshments and other recreational substances we brought with us, I kept my head at a level where I could enjoy the show with full attention, and remember a good portion of it quite clearly. I will never forget it. Through the years following, I have been to many other great concerts, but none of them ever left the impression of the Pink Floyd “Animals” show. As one might say, back then, “It was FAR OUT!!”
THE SHOW:
Sheep
Pigs on the Wing
Dogs
Pigs on the Wing part 2
Pigs (three different ones)
Shine On you Crazy Diamond
Welcome to the Machine
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts VI-IX)
ENCORE:
Money
Us and Them
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