Pink Floyd – Rebirth Of The Band (Apocalypse Sound AS 156)

Rebirth Of The Band (Apocalypse Sound AS 156)

The Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, GA. USA – November 3rd-5th, 1987

Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Signs Of Life, Learning To Fly, Yet Another Movie, Round And Around, A New Machine (Part 1), Terminal Frost, A New Machine (Part 2), Sorrow, The Dogs Of War, On The Turning Away, One Of These Days, Time, On The Run, Wish You Were Here, Us And Them, Comfortably Numb, One Slip, Run Like Hell

Pink Floyd played The Omni Coliseum in Atlanta on November 3-5, 1987 during their Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour and was professionally filmed by Calhoun Productions. Although it is unclear which nights these tracks comes from, Povey and Russell’s In The Flesh book states that the entire 11/5/87 show was filmed using twenty-three Panavision video cameras and the entire show was to be aired on European television but was cancelled at the last minute. Some tracks from this concert were subsequently used as promo videos.

This new Waters-less incarnation of Pink Floyd featured an expanded cast of players with Guy Pratt on bass, Jon Carin on keys, Tim Renwick on guitar, Gary Wallis on percussion and Scott Page on saxophone and guitar. These performances also featured five backing vocalists. Rachel Fury and Margaret Taylor were the original backing vocalists for the tour with Durga McBroom joining from November onward and Lorelei McBroom and Roberta Freeman recruited for the Atlanta Omni shows.

Some footage from this has been released before on DVD in various incomplete versions. The Calhoun Tapes (Digital Line) came out in 2003 and only featured seven tracks while Into The Vault, also from Apocalypse Sound, contained “One Of These Days”, “Us And Them”, “Comfortably Numb”, “One Slip”, and “Run Like Hell” along with various other material. The Complete Calhoun Tapes (no label) is more complete and has the same tracks as Rebirth Of The Band. While I honestly can’t say how Rebirth Of The Band compares to any other version, I can say this one definitely looks and sounds great. The picture and sound are perfect quality and is a pleasure to watch. 

Rather than a concert feel, the DVD plays more like a collection of live videos arranged to make up an almost complete show. Any interaction between Gilmour and the audience is missing and “Welcome To The Machine”, “Money”, and “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)” were played during these shows but remain unreleased. This live production also incorporates footage from their concept videos and is what was shown on the massive screen that accompanied the tremendous stage show.

“Echoes” served as the opener for the first few weeks of the tour but by now has been replaced with “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. With the exception of “Shine On”, the first half of the show focuses on the Momentary Lapse Of Reason LP. The entire new LP is played in the first half of the show with the exception of “One Slip” which will appear in the encore section. While I am a fan of this album (and “Learning To Fly”, “Terminal Frost”, and “On The Turning Away” do sound particularly good) this part of the show does start to drag a bit. This will quickly change during the second half where the classics breathe new life into the show starting with “One Of These Days”. “Us And Them” is a highlight for me with Rick Wright and Jon Carin covering both the piano and organ, sounding closer to the studio version than ever before.

Rebirth Of The Band is a very fitting title for this DVD which comes packaged in the usual excellent looking tri-fold cardboard case that Apocalypse Sound is known for with era photos and some background info surrounding the occasion. This version is definitely worth owning. Thumbs up to another job well done.