March 11, 2024
On June 15, 1977 Pink Floyd brought their Animals/In The Flesh tour to the Milwaukee County Stadium for another great show in the rain!! Their last show here in 1975 for the Wish You Were Here tour was also a rainy event.
It was another amazing show and a lot of work for their team to set up and protect all the gear from the rain. The rain stopped the show a few times, but no one cared.
Notice the photo of The Pig before it was inflated for the show and traveled about via a cable.
Enjoy a look at the setting up and rehearsal plus a bit of the show.
The setlist consisted of;
1. Sheep
2. Pigs on the Wing 1
3. Dogs
4. Pigs on the Wing 2
5. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
6. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
7. Welcome to the Machine
8. Have a Cigar
9. Wish You Were Here
!0. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)
11. Money
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
Pink Floyd doing their "Animals Tour" June 15, 1977 at the Milwaukee County Stadium.
February 26, 2024
On June 22, 1975, the Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" tour came to the Milwaukee County Stadium for a show.
Milwaukee County Stadium was not real happy to have their nice grass baseball field messed up, so I was hired for insurance purposes by Daydream Productions to photograph it before and after! One of the weirdest photo jobs I've ever had but I also got to photograph the setup and rehearsal for the show.
That is why you see a friend holding a board that has 21 on it for the June 21 field condition on the day before the show.
It took two days to set it up and the field survived well enough that more shows were allowed like the Rolling Stones a few months earlier when I also photographed the grass.
Fun to look at the old days and the gear that was used for the show. An airplane they made that flew on a wire over the crowd was one of the more interesting things used.
For the show it rained and I didn't risk the photo gear getting soaked but the crowd didn't care. The show started and stopped a few times and ended at 12:30am with the crowd still wanting more!
Enjoy a look at the setup, people, cars and staging on a very hot couple of days! It makes you appreciate all the work it takes to setup a major show and notice the $0.65 beer!
Also take a look at the guy with the long curly out of control hair parted right down the middle. That would be me!
Here is the setlist from the night.
1. Sheep
2. Dogs
3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5)
4. Have a Cigar
5. Speak to Me
6. Breathe
7. On the Run
8. Time
9. Breathe (Reprise)
10. The Great Gig in the Sky
11. Money
12. Us and Them
13. Ant Colour You Like
14. Brain Damage
15. Eclipse
16. Echoes
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
March 9, 2020
On March 4, 1973, Pink Floyd arrived at the Dane County Coliseum for a show that would become a favorite show for a lot of people.
The "Dark Side of the Moon" album had just been released and the show centered around that music.
A large rotating disc with fog behind it rotated behind the band for some nice lighting during some of the show.
I remember driving in my 1972 Volkswagen Squareback with some friends from Milwaukee to Madison for the show. Loved that car and it had a great heater but we all froze waiting outside for the general admission show doors to open!
Then we ran inside when the doors were opened to get as close to the stage as possible.
The original film of black and white negatives were given to a friend years later who was doing a book on the band. She didn't look after my kids (the film), and they were never seen again!!
Recently, I found a few 5 x 7 prints and the proof sheets from the show! It's better than having nothing at all but hard to duplicate the original film.
I photographed the 5 x 7 prints and they came out alright considering they were printed on matte finish paper in 1973. Matte paper shows a lot of grain in the fibers unfortunately.
We are working on the proof sheets but they are stuck in plastic and also printed on matte paper!
Check out what I have so far and maybe more photos will happen down the road.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
Pink Floyd in March of 1973 at the Dane County Coliseum.
November 12, 2018
I am frequently asked what is the best rock show I have ever seen.
It was asked again this past summer when my wife and I saw Alice Cooper with a group of friends. That was a really great show!
I have been photographing shows since 1971 (junior year of high school) for various publications and record companies. So there have been a lot of really good shows.
I think my favorite show is still The Rolling Stones, June 18,1972 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, MN. That show amazed me!
The stage had a huge dragon on the floor and the some stage lights were behind the band and then shot up to mirrors that bounced the light back onto the band. Nicky Hopkins played piano. Bobby Keys played saxophone and Mick Taylor played guitar. That combination of musicians is best version of the Stones to me. Stevie Wonder opened up the show. Even being on the side, seemingly a mile away, the sound was great and of course it was loud!
So yes, the Rolling Stones in 1972 was my favorite show but there are soooo many others that were just as awesome!
Here is my top ten after the Rolling Stones from 1971-
Queen-Uptown Theater in March of 1975. Just incredible and when they fogged the stage I fell off of a crew case in the pit where I was shooting from! Moved a few inches to get the shot I wanted and down I went! No one saw it and I got back up and kept shooting.
David Bowie-Milwaukee Arena October 1974. Even the rehearsal was amazing!
Joe Walsh with James Gang and Barnstorm. 1973 Summerfest. Also at the Milwaukee Arena and the Riverside Theater. He is a master at his craft.
The Everly Brothers at Pius grade school in Milwaukee in 1971. Unbelievable harmonies!
Steely Dan at Humpin Hanna's-Milwaukee 1972. The 14th show they ever played and we had drinks together after the show.
Pink Floyd-Milwaukee County Stadium 1977. Big, big show and the rehearsal was good too. During the actual show, it rained so hard but nobody left early.
The Who-Madison, WI 1975. Almost got crushed waiting to get in the doors. It was general admission and I wanted to be right up front.
Babe Ruth-Riverside Theater. Janitta Haan, Alan Shacklock and the rest of the band dazzled me!
Robert Palmer-Park Avenue club in Milwaukee. Very nice guy and the band was so good.
Metallica-2018 WorldWired tour-Madison and Milwaukee, WI. The stage and show design with a great band was something to see. Drones flew above the crowd! Cubes moved around from the ceiling with graphics and coming up from the stage turning into four drum sets!
I almost forgot my personal favorite photo from 1971 of Linda Ronstadt playing for Ramblin' Jack Elliott after she kicked the beer cans off the locker room bench and put her leg up to play! I was 17 and in a dressing room with Linda, Jack, Kris Kristofferson, Richie Havens, Earl Scruggs, Rosalie Sorrels and more. Learned about tequila that night with Kris Kristofferson!
There are many more I could list but these are pretty good choices I think.
What is the best show you have ever seen?? Let me know please.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
July 31, 2017
Another fun, but crazy week of photography!!
Here is Roger Waters of Pink Floyd at a show here in Milwaukee this past Saturday night.
I was allowed to photograph songs #2, 3 and 7! These songs were, One of These Days, Time, and Deja Vu. Usually, it is always the first three songs I get to photograph so this was a bit strange. After song #7, we photographers were escorted out!
Rock'n' roll is different every day but check out a great show that I saw a bit of.
It will be two weeks until my next blog because of Road America is next weekend, 3 days of IMSA racing fun!
Enjoy a bit of Roger Waters.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
Roger Waters at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on July 29, 2017.
Pink Floyd doing the setup and rehearsal at Milwaukee County Stadium for the "Wish You Were Here" tour on June 22, 1975.
September 2, 2013
On June 15, 1975, Pink Floyd played at Milwaukee County Stadium with The Animals tour. It was a massive show and production that took several days to setup.
Good friends, Daydream Productions promoted the band for this show which was a huge success. A swimming pool was even setup behind the stage for everyone to cool off in during the setup period because it was very hot!
Years ago, I lent out what I thought was my whole collection of Pink Floyd photographs for a future book that was to be published. The person doing this book proceeded to misplace all of my original slides and negatives! A few weeks ago, I came across what you see here plus about 10 more photos in my photo storage closet! It was like finding treasure to me!!
So, enjoy my treasure find and look back at 1975's Pink Floyd show and sound check.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
