A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour was two consecutive concert tours by the British rock band Pink Floyd. The A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour ran from September 1987 to August 1988; the Another Lapse tour ran from May–July 1989. Both tours were in support of their album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The tour was the band's first since The Wall tour in 1981, and also the first without the band's original bassist Roger Waters. The band later reprised the setlist and stage show of this tour for their performance at Knebworth Park in 1990.
History
Initially, there was a great deal of uncertainty around the tour. Pink Floyd had not played live since 1981, and had not embarked on a full-fledged tour since 1977. Roger Waters left the band in 1985, believing the band would not continue. However, Gilmour and Mason decided to continue as Pink Floyd. Waters threatened legal action against Gilmour and Mason, as well as any promoters who promoted shows as "Pink Floyd". However, by the end of 1987, with the success of the album and first stages of the tour, the new lineup had established itself commercially, and the band reached a settlement with Waters in December. Having the success of The Wall shows to live up to, the concerts' special effects were more impressive than ever. The initial "promotional tour" was extended, and finally lasted almost two years, ending in 1989 after playing around 197 concerts to about 5.5 million people in total, including 3 dates at Madison Square Garden and 2 nights at Wembley Stadium. The tour took Pink Floyd to various exotic locations they had never played before such as shows in the forecourt of the Palace of Versailles, Moscow's Olympic Stadium, and Venice, despite fears and protests that the sound would damage the latter city's foundations. The tour marked the first time that the band played in Russia, Norway, Spain and New Zealand, and was the first time they had played in Australia since 1971 and Japan since 1972. Pink Floyd were the second highest-grossing act of 1987 and the highest-grossing of 1988 in the U.S.. Financially, Pink Floyd was the biggest act of these two years combined, grossing almost US$60 million from touring, about the same as U2 and Michael Jackson, their closest rivals, combined. Worldwide, the band grossed around US$135 million, making A Momentary Lapse of Reason the highest-grossing tour of the 1980s. A further concert was held at the Knebworth Festival in 1990, a charity event that also featured other Silver Clef Award winners. Pink Floyd was the last act to play, to an audience of 120,000. During this gig Clare Torry joined Vicki and Sam Brown in providing backing vocals, Candy Dulfer contributing saxophone solos. The £60,000 firework display that ended the concert was entirely financed by the band. These shows are documented by the Delicate Sound of Thunder album, video and Live at Knebworth '90 video.
The first set mainly consisted of songs from A Momentary Lapse of Reason and the second of hits and older songs. See notes on individual tour dates to see changes made to the normal setlist. First Set:
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond " replaced "Echoes" after only 11 shows.
This was a special performance, for live Italian TV and was also broadcast worldwide. Due to time restrictions of live TV some songs were left out and others shortened in places.
