A Momentary Lapse of Reason - Tour

Tour

The decision to tour in support of the album was made before it was even complete, and early rehearsals were chaotic; Mason and Wright were completely out of practice, and realising he'd taken on too much work Gilmour asked Bob Ezrin to take charge. Matters were complicated when Waters contacted several US promoters, and threatened to sue them if they used the Pink Floyd name. Gilmour and Mason funded the start-up costs (Mason, separated from his wife, used his Ferrari 250 GTO as collateral). Some promoters were offended by Waters' threat however, and several months later 60,000 tickets went on sale in Toronto, selling out within hours.

As the new line-up (with Wright) toured throughout North America, Waters' Radio K.A.O.S. tour was, on occasion, close by. The bassist had forbidden any members of Pink Floyd from attending his concerts, which were generally in smaller venues than those housing his former band's performances. Waters also issued a writ for copyright fees for the band's use of the flying pig, and Pink Floyd responded by attaching a huge set of male genitalia to the balloon's underside to distinguish it from Waters' design. By November 1987 however, the bassist appeared to admit defeat, and on 23 December a legal settlement was finally reached at a meeting on Astoria. Mason and Gilmour were allowed use of the Pink Floyd name in perpetuity, and Waters would be granted, amongst other things, rights to The Wall. The bickering continued, however, with Waters issuing the occasional slight against his former friends, and Gilmour and Mason responding by making light of Waters' claims that they would fail without him. The Sun printed a story about Waters, who it claimed had paid an artist to create 150 toilet rolls with Gilmour's face on every sheet. Waters later rubbished this story, but it serves to illustrate how deeply divided the two parties had become.

The Momentary Lapse tour was phenomenally successful. In every venue booked in the US it beat box-office records, making it the most successful US tour by any band that year. Tours of Australia, Japan, Europe and the UK soon followed, before the band returned twice to the US. Almost every venue was sold out. A live album, Delicate Sound of Thunder, was released on 22 November 1988, followed in June 1989 by a concert video. A few days later, the album was played in orbit, on board Soyuz TM-7. The tour eventually came to an end by closing the Silver Clef Award Winners Concert, at Knebworth Park in September 1990, after 200 performances, a gross audience of 4.25 million fans, and box-office receipts of more than £60M (not including merchandising).