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Author Topic: Anyone on the 1973 Pink Floyd Tour?  (Read 30164 times)

Dan Mortensen

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Re: Anyone on the 1973 Pink Floyd Tour?
« Reply #40 on: April 10, 2018, 03:40:00 PM »

  Are you speaking of the tour using a 35 mm projector loaded with 35 mm sprocketed film on the front and 35 mm sprocketed 8 track audio on the back? ....

I don't think so; I don't recall a plane or wire, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. The pyro sounds just as professional, though.
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Ron Hebbard

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Re: Anyone on the 1973 Pink Floyd Tour?
« Reply #41 on: April 11, 2018, 11:16:17 AM »

I don't think so; I don't recall a plane or wire, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. The pyro' sounds just as professional, though.
Hamilton, Ontario is only ~40 miles down the highway from Toronto.  After the Toronto event was totally sold out, Hamilton was permitted to add a last minute, one performance, stop before the tour headed back into the U.S.  I recall many of us from IA 129 working more than 36 hours straight from in, through setup, a small amount of tech time to work out some timing finesse (for things like how long it took the plane to traverse its trip down the slack line, and then some of us tried to catch a little sleep next to our arc Supers and attempted to keep them dry while a little light rain fell.  As soon as it was dark enough, they rotated the circular screen (pivoted as if on a BBQ spit) and cued the projector.  This took place in the older Ivor Wynne Stadium with the four story press box on the south side of the field and the stage in the east end zone.  For the performance I was one of two spot ops at the top of the stage left seating with the four story press box towering up immediately behind me.  The top floor of the press box had been designed for television cameras and featured glass the full width of the fourth floor which could be slid open in sections or removed totally.  This was the floor where the tour anchored one end of their slack line with the stage end tethered to clear just below their circular screen when it was rotated on its BBQ spit into its viewing position.  The plane had a wingspan of approximately four to six feet and was preset in the top floor of the four story press box where it was to be clipped on to their slack line with a rescue pulley and released at just the right moment to traverse the line and disappear from view below the screen as best as they could synch' this with their projected imagery. 
Getting back to the various intercom systems, items being consumed by various members of the touring staff, and the hazy mental state of a least two of their staff members.
There we were mid performance attempting to stay dry, keep our arcs dry, and straining to hear our cues with one of the quad side stacks right behind us.  At some point their production manager attempted to ask his guy who's supposed to be up in one of the fourth floor booths if he's ready to clip the plane onto the line. 
This is when things got EVEN SILLIER.  The barely understandable voice announced he had decided to hang on to the plane's wings and ride it all the way down the slack line over two spots, the patrons in the south stands and the band.  The production manager was bellowing at him not to do it and the stoned voice kept saying he was sure he could hold his legs up high enough to clear the band. 
The line was not constructed to support this additional weight.  Neither was the plane.  They'd timed the plane's descent a couple of times prior to opening the field to the patrons but no one had any notion of how long the plane would take to traverse the  slack line which was now wet and already drooping lower with the extra weight of the water. 
Things got even sillier again with the production crew on their radios, the park's maintenance and security staff on their radios and the City of Hamilton Police and Paramedics all on their own radios but none able to communicate with anyone other than their own immediate comrades.  It rapidly became the Three Stooges meet Abbott and Costello as security gained access to the lower level of the press box at the top of the south stands and galloped up the stairs to the fourth floor whereupon none of them knew which of the half dozen rooms the guy was in and (of course) he'd locked all the doors.  Chaos reigned supreme on everyone's various radios.  My spot-mate and I were simultaneously attempting to run our spots, hear our cues, keep dry, keep my eye-glasses clear of drizzle AND watch what was going on four floors over our heads behind us.  I remember catching a glimpse of the fellow who was supposed to release the plane on cue hanging out the window gripping the plane with one leg out in front of him.  In the nick of time someone smashed through the door to his room and grabbed him before he launched himself.  I can't recall the precise details of the plane's descent but I think I'm recalling it travelling slower than rehearsed likely due to the slack line being water-soaked.  I clearly remember the unexpected concussive shock wave and its effect on my hearing and vision when it pummeled my chest around 4:00 a.m. during the out.  I was the full length of the stadium away at the same elevation disassembling the rear quad stack when the pyro was set off below the score board in the stadium's east end.  It was a very long day and definitely memorable.  Ivor Wynne Stadium was eventually totally demolished several decades later and rebuilt from the foundations up rotated ninety degrees on the site so that the stands are now on the east and west sides with the end zones on the north and south.  I've never visited the current site. 
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
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Dan Mortensen

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Re: Anyone on the 1973 Pink Floyd Tour?
« Reply #42 on: April 11, 2018, 02:46:27 PM »

Hamilton, Ontario is only ~40 miles down the highway from Toronto. 

Thanks for writing all that, Ron.

That was indeed a memorable day (or series of days).

You made me laugh. Repeatedly.
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John L Nobile

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Re: Anyone on the 1973 Pink Floyd Tour?
« Reply #43 on: April 11, 2018, 03:11:28 PM »

Great story Ron. And thanks for clearing up the facts for me. I remember wanting to go to that concert but had a gig that night. The way I heard the story was that the plane exploded on it's way to the stage. You've put the plane and the explosion in the right order and places for me.

Strange how stories get changed as they get retold.
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Ron Hebbard

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Re: Anyone on the 1973 Pink Floyd Tour?
« Reply #44 on: April 11, 2018, 08:36:06 PM »

Great story Ron. And thanks for clearing up the facts for me. I remember wanting to go to that concert but had a gig that night. The way I heard the story was that the plane exploded on it's way to the stage. You've put the plane and the explosion in the right order and places for me.

Strange how stories get changed as they get re-told.
There were of course zero explosives in the plane or press box.  The plane was purely a model weighted heavy enough to traverse the slack line by gravity alone and balanced to maintain a relatively sensible angle of descent while supported from its points on the single rescue pulley.  The plane was carried manually up to the highest level of the south stand, through the locked doors and up the four flights of stairs to the top level of the four story press box two or three times to finesse its timing prior to the patrons being allowed in.  All pyro' was on stage a safe distance from all patrons.  Captain pyro's rationale for his four a.m. detonation and demolition of the galvanized corrugated steel retaining wall was he wanted to avoid the hassle of declaring his surplus pyro' back through U.S. customs.  I don't believe he anticipated blowing the four to six foot diameter jagged hole through the retaining wall.  Neither do I think he anticipated being detained by the City of Hamilton constabulary.  He definitely startled neighbors who'd finally fallen asleep after the concert. 
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
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Mike Christy

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Re: Anyone on the 1973 Pink Floyd Tour?
« Reply #45 on: April 12, 2018, 05:54:26 AM »

Snort!  Old school, I got your old school baby.

Riley's PM2000 photo.. "We're Not Happy Unless You're Not Happy"..?? LOL! I need one of those...
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Re: Anyone on the 1973 Pink Floyd Tour?
« Reply #45 on: April 12, 2018, 05:54:26 AM »


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