Berlin 1972 (Siréne-106)
Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany – May 18th, 1972
Disc 1 (48:47): Speak To Me, Breathe, On The Run, Time, Breathe (Reprise), The Great Gig In The Sky, Money, Us & Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage, Eclipse
Disc 2 (71:28): One Of These Days, Careful With That Axe Eugene, Echoes, Set The Controls To The Heart Of The Sun
Pink Floyd’s show in Berlin on May 18th is the first of three appearances in a very short tour of Europe. The two following this, the May 21st gig in Germersheim and the May 22nd show in Amsterdam, have already been released by Sirene as Double Bubble (Siréne-008) and as Amsterdam Rock Circus (Siréne-062). (A fourth show at the Bièvres Festival in Bièvres, France on June 25th is sometimes said to have taken place but no definitive evidence has surfaced).
Berlin 1972 is a mix of two audience sources. The first audience source is fair and has circulated on cdr as Lords Of The Universe and German Tour 1972 Vol. 1. The second tape surfaced several years ago and is good to very good and clear. It is slightly hissy in quiet passages and contains several cuts.
Siréne use the better source for the majority of this release and edit the first tape source to fill the fifteen second gap for the tape flip in “Us & Them” at 2:45, the first five minutes of “One Of These Days”, and a four minute gap beginning at 6:28 in “Echoes”.
There are also several dropouts during “Echoes” and “Set The Control For The Heart Of The Sun” but nothing major. This is the only show of the three where the band played the Dark Side suite. It was dropped from the other dates since they were festivals. Gilmour sings in a strange voice for “Breathe”. At first I didn’t know if it was him or not but he sounds as if he has a cold.
“The Great Gig In The Sky” ends with a heavenly melody on the church organ that segues into the opening for “Money”. “One Of These Days” is their best stage number and is overwhelming in this performance. This isn’t the greatest tape but the editing and mastering job by Siréne is handled very well and it’s possible to enjoy the entire show despite the imperfections.
