‘Live at Pompeii’: The missing link in Pink Floyd’s catalogue
There’s a reason Pink Floyd are one of the most celebrated bands in the history of progressive and psychedelic rock, and their continued reinvention and appetite for pushing the boundaries of what they were able to produce on record is evident from how detailed and conceptual they all managed to be. Whether or not you’re more in the mood for the early Syd Barrett-led works such as The Piper at the Gates of Dawn or their later epics such as The Wall, there’s an entire litany of incredible studio recordings for the uninitiated to sink their teeth into.
If you’re more interested in digging through the band’s archives of concert recordings, then there’s also a treasure trove out there to be discovered from all eras of the band that will deliver an equally thrilling depiction of their inventiveness. Anyone who was lucky enough to have seen Pink Floyd in their heyday will likely be able to attest to the fact that the band were nothing short of a spectacle, transforming their proggy sound into blown-out space rock jams to create live shows of exceptional grandeur.
However, what is there within the Pink Floyd vaults that manages to bridge the gap between their studio and live ambition in a way that feels like a true amalgamation of everything that the band represented? For the most part, the two facets of their earliest output lived separate existences and were there to showcase the variety in what they were capable of producing. It would take their famous live performance in the ancient ruins of Pompeii in 1972 to truly provide the missing link between what they were aiming to achieve in one unifying concept.
In 1971, after having pondered the idea for some time, filmmaker Adrian Maben came up with the idea of capturing a Pink Floyd concert in a non-traditional environment, and following a trip to Italy was inspired by the idea of using the amphitheatre at the site of Pompeii as the location. After managing to secure access to the site for six days after paying local authorities a significant fee to close the tourist attraction to the public, the band were able to take all of their gear out to the South of Europe to help Maben’s vision come to life.
Performing a set that merged together songs from their most recent album at the time, Meddle, and a number of staples from their live set, the band set themselves in the centre of the empty dustbowl, appearing like ants within the colossal venue. With contextualising shots of the ruined city and stock footage of flowing molten lava to represent the catastrophe of 79AD taking the place of crowd footage, it contrasted with most other concert films of the time by taking a more artistic approach rather than simply allowing viewers to live vicariously through snapshots of a concert.
With the songs being as expansive as they are and pieced together as though they were one big conceptual medley, the performance feels intimate in how it shows Pink Floyd close up as though the camera were a fly on the wall within their studio as they dreamt up their grand ideas. However, its live nature hits home with the fact that they were able to recreate this magic in the most intimidatingly grand environments.
Live at Pompeii sets Pink Floyd apart from their contemporaries in many regards, not just from a musical point of view, but an artistic one as well. This live performance is a spellbinding showcase of what the band were capable of, and indicative of the direction they were moving in at the time as they successfully managed to create a link between their studio adventurousness and live voyages in sound.
