Live 1970-71 Cymbaline Sound EFX

[DesertRat]

I’ve always enjoyed listening to this bit, I wonder if they still have the raw sound on file somewhere, would be a fun thing to include on a disc of extras one day! I even tried making my own version once, maybe it’ll come in handy one day if I ever form a Floyd tribute group that re-enacts 1970 shows!

[omayyad]

I must say that I'm mildly disappointed. Given some of the audience reactions and Roger introducing it as a song "about a nightmare" (Fillmore West 29-04-70), it feels like the lads missed an opportunity for a nice touch of melodrama. Now if Nick could only invest in a quadrophonic sound system, it could be a highlight of his next tour. I can dream.....

[Simond]

I saw them do this 2 or 3 times back in 1969 and 1970, once as part of Cymbaline and also as part of The Man/Journey shows when it was used but not as part of Cymbaline. I'm sorry to say that I have no recollection of anything sinister happening with the lighting. So far as I recall, it didn't change and the band remained on stage. The Azimuth Co-ordinator threw the sound around the hall, making it seem as if the person was trapped in a sort of maze, that's all. Whether or not they made more of it in later shows, I don't know.

[rontoon]

It's not an explosion, but rather a series of doors opening and slamming shut.

The band just stood still during this sequence, no visuals. Just like the KQED footage.

[omayyad]

This is a question that has niggled me since I first heard a 'Footsteps' tape back in 2008. I tended to picture the whole house going dark to enhance the atmosphere with the possible addition of the band being in an understated backlit glow. This may be all fanciful nonsense and I'd love to hear an eyewitness account of this early coup de theatre. it certainly has a great deal more appeal than flying pigs.....sorry, Rog.

[BobbyTheKoala]

In 1970 and 1971 Pink Floyd commonly played the song Cymbaline live. In the middle of the song the band stops playing and a quadrophonic tape of footsteps and a loud explosion fills the venue.
In bootlegs you can hear audience members reacting in various ways, silent, laughing, shocked; I’ve also heard someone yell “I’m scared!” in Pepperland 1970. There isn’t any circulating footage of this portion of the song, and I’ve never heard people really talk about it; did they change the lights for this portion of the song? Did the band leave or stay on the stage? If the band did stay on the stage, did they just stand there? Were the audience members only reacting to the quadrophonic sound or was it something else?