NOT SO SMALL BUT FAR AWAY!
I was very interested to read your article on Pink Floyd’s Animals in Prog 116. I was lucky enough to see the supporting tour in Stafford (Bingley Hall) but, maybe even luckier, I was at the concert mentioned in the article at Trentham Gardens Ballroom in November 1974.
It was my second time seeing Pink Floyd (the first was in Stoke around the time of Ummagumma) and it is especially interesting to see Roger Waters’ comment about that 1974 evening’s venue. Trentham Gardens Ballroom was where my parents had met and danced during the Second World War and by 1974 it was being used for a handful of big-name concerts. Roger talks of his potential audience as being “kids” – yet I would have been 20, and I don’t remember any much younger in the audience. Roger would have been 31 himself (I suspect about the average age of that audience). It would seem his feeling of animosity towards the audience, that was such a major spark to the creation of The Wall, was already showing back in 1974.
So: the Ummagumma show was in Stoke (a walk away from me); Dark Side… with songs that lead to Wish You Were Here and Animals was in Trentham (a bus ride away); Animals was in Stafford (a car ride necessitating parking cost); The Wall (twice) was in London (a train journey and accommodation). Pink Floyd got ever further away from me and maybe Roger would be happy that yes it became ever “more expensive for the kids” but I’m not sure he is right about the performances getting better – they were all brilliant.