Animals At The Omni (Eat A Peach EAT 140/141)
Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia, USA – April 26, 1977
Disc 1 (51:25) Sheep, Pigs On The Wing 1, Dogs, Pig In The Wing 2, Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Disc 2 (42:15) Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5), Welcome To The Machine, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6-7)
April 1977 was a busy time for Rock fans in the Atlanta area, they had two concerts by major rock acts within a few days time both at the 16,000 seat Omni. On the 23 Led Zeppelin was in town and on the 26 Pink Floyd brought their In The Flesh tour to the Coliseum, the latter is of course the subject of this new release from the Eat A Peach folks. There is a single audience recording that circulates and has been the subject of a fan produced title, Southern BBQ. The recording is easily in the very good to excellent range, clear and atmospheric with no real speakable hiss. There is a nice mix of instruments and vocals yet it is just a tad flat in the frequency range, there are some occasional audience comments but nothing distracting and the atmosphere is perfectly captured. The only real issue with this tape is it is incomplete, the taper used a single 90 minute tape so there is a cut at 12:42 during Pigs (Three Different Ones) due to tape flip, the sound quality takes a bit of a dip for the remainder of the song and the end of the second part of Shine On You Crazy Diamond cuts at 6:51 in the 7th movement, so the song and the sole encore of Money was not recorded.
The set list for the tour was standard, the only thing that would change would be the encores, so the first half of the concert features the Animals record played in full. The band had played 20 plus shows around Europe and the UK during January through March 1977 so the show was well settled. The two previous dates were outside gigs in large stadiums, this concert is the first indoor show of the American tour, certainly the band was happy to get into an indoor venue. The recording begins with just seconds before the bass line of Sheep is audible, the sound is clear from the start and the animal noises can be clearly heard and enjoyed, the ending of Sheep has some great slashing guitar from Dave. The audience is respectful during Pigs On The Wing and seem really sedate compared to other stops on this tour, when Dave starts the opening of Dogs there is little if no fanfare. Love the middle section, Rick’s keys seem to drift and hang in the air, the sounds of the hounds barking, really nice version of the song slick with a great dramatic ending. The natives seem to enjoy the concert and get a bit noisy during the second Pigs On The Wing and into the beginning of Pigs (Three Different Ones). I like Nick’s drumming on this song, it is really upbeat and the group play a stellar version of the song, really strong first set.
The second half is made up of Wish You Were Here, much to the audiences delight, the quality is just a bit below the first disc, less bright and more bass yet still has great clarity. Dick Parry joins in on the sax for the latter part of Shine On, the little jam at the end of the piece has the audience cheering as the “machine” arrives…very atmospheric. The group stretches out as Snowy White leads into a nice jam during Have A Cigar with some great lead playing and the audience is rocking along with the music. The radio dial bit is crystal clear, a massage commercial gets a loud cheer from the crowd, gotta love anything from Revco. Wish You Were Here gets the loudest applause of the evening, the recording fades during the first vocal section on the second half of Shine On. While not as smokin’ as some of the performances latter in the tour, a very precise and well played concert.
The packaging is a mini LP sleeve with live shots superimposed over the Battersea Power Station and a floating pig, in homage to the Animals record sleeve. Each member is given a picture on the CD sleeves, Dave and Nick on the first, Rog and Richard on the second. There is an insert with liner notes by The Lazy Goalkeeper as well, a most glorious looking package for a first time on silver concert, and deservedly so. Another great title by the Peach label, who have delivered very consistent releases from the Pink Floyd.
