Pink Floyd at Pompeii 1972

[King Bob]

Remastered for a release in theaters 4/24-427. Remastered album release as well. I don't think I ever saw it. Saw the preview a few times at Camera One though.

[Greg]

I saw the exhibition about the concert when I was at Pompeii in 2017

[Drunk Monk]

Saw the preview a few times at Camera One though.

You remember the previews? Damn bro. Camera One. That was back in the Pleistocene era, right?

[thatguy]

I saw the exhibition about the concert when I was at Pompeii in 2017

Did you get a t-shirt?

--tg

[Greg]

Sigh. No.

[thatguy]

Got an email prompt from the AMC Stubs mailing list saying this was playing, and since I didn't have anything else planned, I impulsively bought a ticket for the 7pm show last Tues. I got there right at 7pm and bought a beer, thinking there would be 30 min of trailers, but when I started walking the labyrinth to the seats, it was completely dark with a thumping heartbeat of a bass...pretty awesome!

I've never seen it before, just the Echos Pt 1 bit that they'd play on Night Flight back in the 80's.

As the music builds, we see the equipment being situated bit by bit. ummagumma has a pick of the band with all of their equipment laid out 



Much the same way they sometimes show military aircraft with its complete arsenal laid out in a festive display on the ground. 



Lots of equipment. I think there were two gongs, two or three Leslie speakers, lots and lots of speaker cabinets. If you've seen the Echos clip mentioned above, you probably remember the dolly shots. There are lots and lots of dolly shots. 

I thought the whole thing was going to be a document about a show filmed in an arena in Pompeii, but it would cut to a studio segment where a Dark Side of the Moon track, eg: Us and Them was being recorded and you could see them actually trying to lay down the bass or keyboard or guitar track, sometimes trying multiple takes. I'm pretty sure that those were the actual tracks used in the release. I didn't know that those recording sessions were documented. 

The various performances are often overlaid with shots of Roman mosaics and statues, bubbling mud pots, and the band meandering thru the landscape. In between segments are interviews with various members of the band. Very close up, face fills the frame, ooh bad teeth! None of the band are very charismatic and don't look like they want to be interviewed. Waters seems like a jerk. I was a bit surprised at how much singing Richard Wright did. The music is good, but a lot of space jams like Careful with that Ax Eugene. The bass in the theater was deep and rumbling...so good.

Even though it was restored, it has a very dated look. Grainy, not a widescreen aspect ratio. The interstitial titling looks pretty amazing for the early 70's, but not for now.

Glad to have seen it on the big screen anyway.

--tg