Leaving From The Hangar, Landing On The Lagoon (
Lagoon opposite St. Mark’s Square, Venice, Italy – July 15, 1989: Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Learning To Fly, Yet Another Movie (Round and Around), Sorrow, The Dogs Of War, On The Turning Away, Time, The Great Gig In The Sky, Wish You Were Here, Money, Another Brick In The Wall part 2, Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell
Bonus Feature: Italian TV Report #1, Italian TV Report #2, Italian TV Report #3
Air Canada Hanger, Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada – August 7, 1987: Echoes(near complete), Signs Of Life(complete), Learning To Fly(near complete), Terminal Frost, Sorrow, The Dogs Of War(near complete), On The Turning Away, One Of These Days, Time, Wish You Were Here(near complete), Welcome To The Machine, Us And Them, Money, Another Brick In The Wall part 2, Comfortably Numb, One Slip, Run Like Hell (all songs are partial except where noted)
Samedi Et Compagnie (Broadcast
Forum Musiques (Broadcast
The main feature of Leaving From The Hanger, Landing On The Lagoon is the concert held on a barge in a lagoon opposite St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy near the end of Pink Floyd’s Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour. This abbreviated performance, lasting only 90 minutes, was seen by more than 100 million viewers as the show was a live satellite broadcast to 23 countries including the UK, Soviet Union, Israel, Yugoslavia, and East Germany as well as 200,000 fans who showed up to witness the event in person. The view must have been astonishing from across the lagoon considering Pink Floyd’s elaborate lighting rigs but also for the band looking back at the historic city during their performance.
There were various problems surrounding the show for fear of damage to historical buildings from loud volume to the lack of facilities for the visiting fans. The concert itself was considered a disaster for the city but for us viewers the show comes off as a well planned production. This newer version of Pink Floyd had a very polished sound and the new material was very industrial sounding. The show heavily featured the new tracks in the first half of the set and resorted to classics to end the show. The audio quality is amazing and the video is also excellent, dark but clear, and the band sounds very tight. In addition to Gilmour, Wright, and Mason, they are joined by Guy Pratt on bass, Jon Caron on keys, Tim Renwick on guitar, Gary Wallis on drums, Scott Page on sax and guitar with Rachel Fury, Lorelei McBroom, and Durga McBroom on backing vocals.
The broadcast opens with the “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” intro only and cuts right to “Learning To Fly” although I’ve read that “Parts 1-5” were played. Of the newer tracks, “On The Turning Away” most resembles the classic Pink Floyd style. After a good deal of the new album “Time” brings us around to the older material and the arrangement here is completely lacking “Breath(Reprise)” leading us directly to “The Great Gig In The Sky”. The breakdown after Dave’s solos in “Money” sees the band throwing in some reggae flavor before some impressive bass work from Pratt. They really stretch this one out and it is a definite highlight in this concert. The band uses a piece of “Another Brick In The Wall” as a tease (to huge applause) before the band kick into the full song. “Comfortably Numb” and “Run Like Hell” close the show and the latter features Gilmour and Pratt sharing the lead vocal as Dave and Roger did during The Wall tour. A superb performance alongside their stunning production makes this a very enjoyable viewing. Gilmour is smiling and the band seems to be having a lot of fun. I imagine with Dave at the helm there were probably less tensions than on previous Pink Floyd tours. The bonus Italian news reports are entirely in Italian and show some scenes of the city and people in their boats getting ready for the event.
The second half of this DVD presents tour rehearsals from almost two years earlier before the start of the Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour and is shot inside an airplane hanger to rehearse the show with full production. There is no audience except for Pink Floyd’s crew and maybe a small handful of friends or industry people and the majority of the footage is shot from a single camera angle far back near the mixing consol with what is certainly a soundboard feed. As listed above most tracks are incomplete but it’s great to see the band playing an almost complete “Echoes”. The video is very dark for the most part but gets better in greater lighting settings. As for the performance, they are still getting things together and trying stuff out but this gives great incite to what it takes to prepare for a major production tour. There are a few alternate angels from a remote camera for some of the songs starting with “On The Turning Away” lasting through “Time” and are closer to the stage but with a live camera mic and the sound is somewhat distorted and not as clear. The original angle with soundboard audio returns for “Wish You Were Here” and the sound becomes a bit unstable in a few spots. Overall, these rehearsals add a nice contrast when compared with the
The DVD also contains a few bonus tracks from French television broadcasts. The band is seen miming to “Let There Be More Light” and “Remember A Day” in black and white. The second bonus feature is from Musiques where the band also mimes to “Set The Control” before a short interview with Gilmour that has Dave speaking French followed by “A Sauceful Of Secrets”. Both of these features are taken from master quality tapes.
Leaving From The Hanger is another beautiful production from Apocalypse Sound which comes in a tri-fold cardboard case with some great shots of the band and an essay about the events surrounding the show and is another must have from this classy label.
