In the Flesh (Pink Floyd tour)

The In the Flesh Tour, also known as the Animals Tour, was a concert tour by the English rock band Pink Floyd in support of their 1977 album Animals. It was divided in two legs: one in Europe and another in North America. The tour featured large inflatable puppets, as well as a pyrotechnic "waterfall", and one of the biggest and most elaborate stages to date, including umbrella-like canopies that would rise from the stage to protect the band from the elements.[1]

In the Flesh Tour
Tour by Pink Floyd
Associated albumAnimals
Start date23 January 1977
End date6 July 1977
Legs5
No. of shows55
Pink Floyd concert chronology

This was the only tour in which Pink Floyd played songs from Animals live. Pink Floyd would never again play songs from Animals during their tours, but the flying pig still appeared with different designs. Only Roger Waters would continue playing songs from Animals live. This tour was also the only tour where Pink Floyd played the entire Wish You Were Here (1975) album.

History
Rotating flower-petal mirror ball, used to reflect spotlights during concerts from 1975 to 1977; displayed at the Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains exhibition

Pink Floyd's marketing strategy for the In the Flesh Tour was very aggressive, filling pages of The New York Times and Billboard magazine. To promote their four-night run at Madison Square Garden in New York City, there was a Pink Floyd parade on 6th Avenue featuring pigs and sheep.[2] Although the Animals album had not been as commercially successful as the previous two, the band managed to sell out arenas and stadiums in America and Europe, setting scale and attendance records. In Chicago, the band played to an estimated audience of 67,000; in Cleveland and Montreal, they set attendance records for those venues by playing to about 80,000 people.

This was the Floyd's first tour since 1973 not to use female backing singers. Augmenting the band were sax player Dick Parry (who occasionally played keyboards out of view of the audience) and guitarist Snowy White, who also played bass on "Sheep", "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and "Welcome to the Machine". Roger Waters played electric guitar on "Sheep" and "Pigs" and acoustic guitar on "Welcome to the Machine".

In the first half of the show, the band played all of Animals in a different sequence than the album, starting with "Sheep", then "Pigs on the Wing (Part I)", "Dogs", "Pigs on the Wing (Part II)" and "Pigs (Three Different Ones)".

At some venues, paper sheep and pigs designed by Tim Hunkin were fired over the audience and parachuted back to earth.[3] Some venues prohibited this, however.[3]

During "Pigs (Three Different Ones)", Waters shouted the number of the concert on the tour (such as "1–5!" for the fifteenth show) so recordings of the shows would be easy to distinguish from each other. The second half of the show comprised the Wish You Were Here album in its exact running order ("Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I–V)", "Welcome to the Machine", "Have a Cigar", "Wish You Were Here" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI–IX)"). This was the first time "Welcome to the Machine" and "Wish You Were Here" were played live, with the latter being played differently than the studio album. It featured an extended guitar solo, a reprise of the second verse and Richard Wright closing the song with a piano solo. The encores were "Money" and often "Us and Them" from The Dark Side of the Moon. At the Oakland, California show on 9 May they played "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" as a second encore, the first time it had been played since 1974 and the last time it was ever performed.

During the tour Waters began to exhibit increasingly aggressive behaviour, and would often scold disruptive audiences who yelled and screamed during the quieter numbers.[2] In the New York shows they had to use local workers as lighting technicians due to union problems with their own crew. They had several difficulties with the workers; for example, Waters once had to beckon one of the spotlights to move higher when it only illuminated his lower legs and feet while he was singing.

The final night of the tour on 6 July at Montreal's Olympic Stadium ended with Pink Floyd performing a second encore of "Drift Away Blues" as the roadies dismantled the instruments in front of the insatiable audience who refused to let the band leave the stadium. David Gilmour sat out the final encore as he was unhappy with the band's performance that night. Snowy White played a bluesy guitar solo in Gilmour's place. A small riot at the front of the stage followed the band's eventual exit. Earlier that night, Waters spat in the face of a disruptive fan;[4] The Wall grew out of Waters' thoughts about this incident, particularly his growing awareness that stardom had alienated him from his audience.[5] "It was a funny gig," recalled guitarist Snowy White. "It was a really weird vibe… I used to just do my job. But it was interesting to look across the stage and see Roger spitting at this guy at the front… It was a very strange gig. Not very good vibes."[6]

Tour band
  • David Gilmour – lead electric guitars (except as noted); lap steel guitar on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part VI)"; lead and backing vocals; bass guitar on "Pigs On the Wing (Part 2)" (second US leg only)
  • Roger Waters – bass guitar (except where noted); lead and backing vocals; electric guitar on "Sheep" and "Pigs"; acoustic guitar on "Pigs On the Wing (Parts 1 and 2)" and "Welcome to the Machine"
  • Richard Wright – keyboards; backing vocals
  • Nick Mason – drums; percussion

Additional musicians:

  • Snowy White – guitars (harmony lead on "Dogs", lead on "Pigs On the Wing (Part 2)", "Have a Cigar" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (link from Part VI to Part VII, dual lead on Part VIII and harmony lead Part IX, 12-string acoustic guitar on "Wish You Were Here"); backing vocals; bass guitar on "Sheep", "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and "Welcome to the Machine"
  • Dick Parry – saxophones, backing keyboards

Set list

A typical 1977 set list would include the following:
Set I – Animals:

  1. "Sheep"
  2. "Pigs on the Wing (Part I)"
  3. "Dogs"
  4. "Pigs on the Wing (Part II)"
  5. "Pigs (Three Different Ones)"

Set II – Wish You Were Here:

  1. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I–V)"
  2. "Welcome to the Machine"
  3. "Have a Cigar"
  4. "Wish You Were Here"
  5. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI–IX)"

Encore 1:

  1. "Money"
  2. "Us and Them" (added in February)

Encore 2:

  1. "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (performed once, on 9 May 1977, in Oakland, California)
  2. "Drift Away Blues" (with Snowy White) (blues improvisation performed once on 6 July 1977, Montreal, Quebec, in response to an aggressive audience)

Tour dates
Date City Country Venue
Europe – Leg 1
23 January 1977DortmundWest GermanyWestfalenhallen
24 January 1977
26 January 1977FrankfurtFesthalle Frankfurt
27 January 1977
29 January 1977West BerlinDeutschlandhalle
30 January 1977
1 February 1977ViennaAustriaStadthalle
3 February 1977ZürichSwitzerlandHallenstadion
4 February 1977
Europe – Leg 2
17 February 1977RotterdamNetherlandsRotterdam Ahoy Sportpaleis
18 February 1977
19 February 1977
20 February 1977AntwerpBelgiumSportpaleis
22 February 1977ParisFrancePavillon de Paris
23 February 1977
24 February 1977
25 February 1977
27 February 1977MunichWest GermanyOlympiahalle
28 February 1977
1 March 1977
Europe – Leg 3
15 March 1977LondonEnglandEmpire Pool
16 March 1977
17 March 1977
18 March 1977
19 March 1977
28 March 1977StaffordNew Bingley Hall
29 March 1977
30 March 1977
31 March 1977
North America – Leg 1
22 April 1977MiamiUnited StatesMiami Baseball Stadium
24 April 1977TampaTampa Stadium
26 April 1977AtlantaOmni Coliseum
28 April 1977Baton RougeLSU Assembly Center
30 April 1977HoustonJeppesen Stadium
1 May 1977Fort WorthTarrant County Convention Center
4 May 1977PhoenixArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
6 May 1977AnaheimAnaheim Stadium
7 May 1977
9 May 1977OaklandOakland–Alameda County Coliseum
10 May 1977
12 May 1977PortlandMemorial Coliseum
North America – Leg 2
15 June 1977Milwaukee United States Milwaukee County Stadium
17 June 1977LouisvilleFreedom Hall
19 June 1977ChicagoSoldier Field
21 June 1977Kansas CityKemper Arena
23 June 1977CincinnatiRiverfront Coliseum
25 June 1977ClevelandMunicipal Stadium (World Series of Rock)
27 June 1977BostonBoston Garden
28 June 1977PhiladelphiaSpectrum
29 June 1977
1 July 1977New York CityMadison Square Garden
2 July 1977
3 July 1977
4 July 1977
6 July 1977MontrealCanadaOlympic Stadium

Box office score data
List of box office score data with date, city, venue, attendance, gross, references
Date
(1977)		 City Venue Attendance Gross Ref(s)
15 June Milwaukee, United States Milwaukee County Stadium 60,000 / 60,000 $540,000 [7]
19 June Chicago, United States Soldier Field 67,000 / 67,000 $670,000 [7]
21 June Kansas City, United States Kemper Arena 12,115 / 12,115 $120,778 [8]
23 June Cincinnati, United States Riverfront Coliseum 14,500 / 14,500 $127,425 [8]
28 June Philadelphia, United States Spectrum 30,500 / 30,500 $269,085 [9]
29 June [9]
1 July New York City, United States Madison Square Garden 58,000 / 58,000 $608,000 [9]
2 July [9]
3 July [9]
4 July [9]

References
  1. Schaffner, p. 216-217
  2. Schaffner, p. 218
  3. "Pink Floyd's Flying Pigs and Sheep". Tim Hunkin. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  4. Maben, Adrian (Director) (18 April 2000). Pink Floyd Shine On: Interviews (VHS). Frantic Films. ASIN 6305855730.
  5. Schaffner, p. 219
  6. Turner, Steve: "Roger Waters: The Wall in Berlin"; Classic Rock No. 148, August 2010, p78
  7. "Top Box Office" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 89 no. 26. 2 July 1977. p. 44. ISSN 0006-2510.
  8. "Top Box Office" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 89 no. 27. 9 July 1977. p. 40. ISSN 0006-2510.
  9. "Top Box Office" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 89 no. 28. 16 July 1977. p. 39. ISSN 0006-2510.
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