Pink Floyd

Rrbill2 Apr 27, 2022

This was the second-to-last show of the band’s grueling 5½ month “In the Flesh” tour which concluded with a final performance two days later in front of over 80,000 people in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium on July 6th. That was the infamous show in which Roger Waters spat in the face of an unruly fan, inspiring him to write “The Wall” in response to his growing feelings of alienation from his fans. No doubt the preceding four shows at MSG with their rowdy firework-throwing fans set the stage for the blow-up in Montreal later that week.

I was just a 17 year-old kid at that July 4th show, and fortunately (although I didn’t think so at the time) sitting in the back of the upper level in the “nosebleed section”. This protected me from all the cherry bombs and M-80’s that were being hurled from the front seats of the upper level to people seated in the lower level below. Although the constant barrages of fireworks lead to the famously testy Waters delivering several angry outbursts toward the audience and threatening to stop the show, Gilmour’s response was to only play that much louder and - in the words of one reviewer - blow the roof off the Garden!

If you were there, you won’t forget the sights (Giant Floating Animals!), the smells (Major Cannabis!) and the sounds (Shine on You Crazy Diamond!) of that show.