Waters’s set was accompanied by his usual fog and pyrotechnics, and it also saw the two-story-tall pig ascend over the audience. Headliners that year included Prince, Jack Johnson, and Roger Waters, who closed the festival on Sunday, April 27. The ninth Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival attracted more than 150,000 people to the California desert. Oh, and this seems like a great excuse to turn the lights down low, cue up “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” and sit back and let the music wash over you.NicoQuatrevingtsix via Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0ĭuring the pig’s long career as a stage prop, it seemed inevitable that someone would lose hold of its ropes and release it (in a repeat of what happened when artists working for the band first tried to get the shot for the Animals cover), and that’s exactly what happened during Waters’s performance at the 2008 Coachella Festival.
If nothing else, fans around the world would know that Pink Floyd would only stop trying to top themselves “When Pigs Fly”. Besides their In The Flesh Tour, the flying pig made appearances on subsequent reunion concerts as well. Whether a comedy of errors or a calculated attempt to gain attention, the band had managed to add a new benchmark for the craziness to their already well-documented run of madness. Waters would conceive much of The Wall, the double album that signaled the end of their era, during this period. The album’s lengthy run on the American sales charts led to their massive 1977 In The Flesh Tour, where Waters began his descent into rock star psychosis. During the studio recording sessions, Waters’ ego began to take on monumental stature, as he came to see himself as the band’s sole creative force. In a roundabout way, the success actually contributed to the downfall of the band. The cover went on to be one of the most recognizable of all time, and a symbol for the band in their live performances. Ironically, the photos from the first day at the power station had the best lighting, and a composite was made of images from day one and three.
The recovered pig was returned to its floating home above the station, and one last round of images was captured. With nearly three decades gone by and no admission of a prank from any of the parties involved, the accident story seems most likely. There has been much discussion over the years as to whether this was truly an accident or a publicity stunt by the band and their management. The farmer was irate as its landing had spooked his herd of cows, keeping the “Animals” theme of the day going strong. The balloon eventually came to rest on, appropriately enough, a farm in Kent. Planes radioed sightings and the chase was made, although somehow the three-story balloon managed to fade into thin air. Police switchboards lit up as bemused onlookers reported the heavenly hog. On the second day, December 3rd, 1976, high winds tore the pig loose from its moorings, and it was time for the piggy to go for a stroll down the Thames River.
Thus, the decision was made to not bring the rifleman, an oversight that would end up costing the band a pretty penny. The pig, produced by the Ballon Fabrik based on designs by Australian artist Jeffrey Shaw, was taking too long to inflate, the weather was bad, and only a few preliminary images were captured. The first day of the shoot started late and went poorly. As fans can guess, something indeed went wrong. Isles Of Wonder Intro – Opening Ceremony | London 2012 OlympicsĪ three-day photo shoot was scheduled for early December, and as a precaution, a marksman–as in, a real shooter–was hired to take out the inflatable pig in case something went horribly wrong. It was even momentarily featured in the 2012 London Olympic opening ceremony short film Isles Of Wonder, by auteur Danny Boyle, who made sure the iconic towers had a porcine adornment. The station still hosts tours, and thanks to its appearance on the iconic cover, still sees thousands of visitors annually. The final design of a 30-foot flying pig against Battlesea Power Station, a landmark of the London skyline, was conceived by bassist Roger Waters. Led Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy, The Alan Parsons Project’s I Robot, and many of Pink Floyd’s earlier albums, including Wish You Were Here, were all designed by Hipgnosis. Many concepts for the Animals cover were proposed by Hipgnosis, an art studio that was behind many of the seventies’ most eye-catching covers. It was the heyday of rock and roll excess after all, and what could be more excessive than a 30-foot pig flying through the air in front of a London landmark? For the band’s album cover of their 1977 studio effort, Animals, the band went big. Pink Floyd was one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1970s, with some of the highest-selling albums of the decade.
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