Venue : Philips Veranstal Tungshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany – November 14th, 1972
Setlist : Disc 1: Speak To Me, Breathe, On The Run, Time, Breathe (Reprise), The Great Gig In The Sky, Money, Us And Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage, Eclipse
Disc 2: tuning 1, One Of These Days, tuning 2, Careful With That Axe Eugene, tuning 3, Echoes, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Review :
Three different tape sources exist for this show in Dusseldorf. They are all similar in sound quality but two are incomplete with one missing the final song “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” and the other missing the final three songs. Sirene use the most complete of the three containing all of the music and tune ups between numbers. The sound quality is clear enough but very distant and thin sounding with the cymbals being particularly loud at some points. There are two cuts on the tape at: 40 into “Brain Damage” (missing about 1 min) and 10:21 into “Echoes” (missing about 1:30 min) due to tape flips. In their advertising of this release the label claims they have corrected the speed of the tape to be most accurate. None of the Dusseldorf tapes have been released on vinyl or on silver disc before so Dusseldorf 1972 is the very first commercial bootleg appearance of this show and joins a growing list of releases over the past couple of years documenting Pink Floyd’s winter tour of Europe (Eclipse On Hamburg, Boblingen ’72 on STTP, March Of The Dambusters, and Poitiers 1972).
The set list is the same as all the other dates in Germany with no surprises but there are always subtle differences and highlights in these shows. “On The Run” is the guitar and keyboard counterpoint but has a very heavy bass workout on this night by Waters. His bass seems particularly loud throughout the first set giving some of the numbers in Dark Side a King Crimson air. “Time” is a bit different from the studio version by lacking the power chords underneath the soaring guitar solo. Wright plays a very bouncy keyboard solo in “Money” and “Any Colour You Like” is very dramatic building in intensity until the transition to “Brain Damage”. The second half of the show is characterized by very long pauses for tuning and deliberate performances. The first tuning lasts a couple of minutes and “One Of These Days” actually sounds low key until the explosion of sound several minutes in. The tuning before “Echoes” (tuning #3) is quite lengthy and Waters plays the opening riff of “Sunshine Of Your Love” for the audience’s (and his) amusement. The tape ends abruptly after the encore “Set The Controls”.
Dusseldorf 1972 was originally supposed to be released with March Of The Dambusters on June 1st but was delayed for unknown reasons and released almost three weeks later on June 19th. The artwork is printed on the regular paper Siréne used for their older releases. It seems they have abandoned the glossy inserts they have been utilizing this year which is a shame since that really gave their already great releases a classy look. The front cover photo is a dramatic shot of the band onstage in smoke looking at the circle of flames behind the drum kit. The insert has a picture of the concert poster used to advertise the event and the back has a rather indistinct stage shot that serves merely as a backdrop for the track listing and other information. This isn’t the best sounding tape from the tour but is still very enjoyable and the concert is schizophrenic with the intense first half contrasting with the low key and laid-back second half. Another good job by Sirene and worth picking up. (GS)
