It was forty years ago...

As most of you older people did back then, you pinched from your older brother (or sisters) record pile in order to learn how to be cool, like them. Such was my introduction to Ummagumma then Meddle, by Dark Side, I was buying my own records, as I was (rightfully) banished from getting anywhere near my older siblings record collection. My first Floyd live show was in the Boston Gardens to see the Dark Side tour, sometime in 74' (I think, after all it was 37 years ago!) They were the only band to ever get awesome sound out of the bat-cave known as the "Gardens" even the Grateful Dead's famous "Wall of Sound" show had echo and reverb problems. PF used five stacks of speakers, all mismatched to my untrained eyes. two on either side of the stage, two either side, mid-theater, one huge stack, way in the back, centered. They did this swirling surround sound thing with the mix that I never heard with any other band. They had the model jet (in flames) come down from the rafters and crash on-stage, the Boston Fire Department flipped out and tried to close the show down (I heard PF got a huge fine, because they were ordered not to do that part of the show as a fire hazard, but they did it anyway). They had a second performance the next night where they didn't/couldn't repeat the jet scene. They had a big circular screen, opening with an extreme close-up of a human iris, as the camera backed away more and more intricate color patterns emerged until you could finally see it was an eyeball, man the crowd was on their feet going wild. NOBODY put on a show like Floyd, nobody. Between the sights the sounds and the music, everyone else comes in a distant second. Their shows kept getter better and more intricate, but I'll never forget that first taste. To this day, 37 years later, it remains my favorite show of all time, and I've seen hundreds of other performers and performances. Just from a pure rock perspective, SRV's 1991 performance in Lowell's Memorial Auditorium, rocked the house.

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Wow, I'm jealous, I really wish I was at a concert going age at those times. I was born in 77' so by time I was going to live shows the age of cheap tickets and cool concerts was over. Sad.