Exhibition prolonged till twenty seventh October!
In case you are a fan of Pink Floyd and occur to be in Madrid earlier than mid-September, I’d extremely advocate taking a visit out of town centre to go to the Pink Floyd Their Mortal Stays Exhibition situated in Feria de Madrid.
I first heard concerning the exhibition throughout a go to from my mother and father to Madrid. My dad has all the time been a fan of theirs. After I was youthful, I usually reacted to their music as most kids do to their father’s beats, with basic disgust.
However as I’ve aged, my musical style has expanded (my waistline is in the same state of affairs) and now I really like numerous their music. A few of it’s nonetheless slightly too bizarre, however on the entire, I might fortunately say I take pleasure in Pink Floyd.
Alternatively, my dad has been an avid fan of the band for over 50 years! So how would we each react to The Pink Floyd Exhibition? Is it only for the followers or can the informal observer additionally get a kick out of the expertise?
What’s the Pink Floyd Exhibition?
The exhibition is a musical journey within the type of documentary footage and private results from the band’s historical past together with many uncommon and beforehand unseen gadgets. It tells a narrative from the formation of the group and their bizarre stuff to the extra melodic period and their madcap musical theatre live shows of the ’80s, proper as much as their reformation for the Dwell 8 live performance in 2005.
Having seen success and acquired nice suggestions whereas in residence in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, it was determined to take the Pink Floyd Exhibition on tour. After leaving London, it has been to Dortmund and Rome and has now landed in Madrid. The place it heads to subsequent is at the moment unknown, so that you solely have till fifteenth September 2019 to provide it a go to.
The official web site describes it as “an audio-visual journey by 50 years of one of many world’s most iconic rock teams, and a uncommon and unique glimpse into the world of Pink Floyd. It options many previously-unseen objects collected over the band’s eclectic historical past.”
It even goes a step additional to incorporate a quote from a British newspaper “virtually pretty much as good as seeing the band dwell”.
Now, that’s some fairly lofty expectations being set proper there, so how did it go?
Shopping for Pink Floyd Exhibition Tickets
It was a spur of the second choice to pay a go to as my dad had seen it marketed whereas wandering alongside Gran By way of the day before today. He urged we checked it out, so I hopped on-line to take a look at the tickets.
The tickets had been listed on their web site at €19.90, however after the same old further charges they throw in, the whole price ended up at €42.20.
When shopping for the tickets, I needed to specify our arrival time that’s damaged down into half-hour slots. A pleasant contact is that the instances are color coded based mostly on recognition, so you’ll be able to attempt to purpose for a quiet time. In the event you miss your slot, the web site does say they are going to allow you to into the subsequent obtainable time, which based mostly on how busy our go to was, shouldn’t be a difficulty.
Attending to the Feria de Madrid
The Feria de Madrid is a huuuuge exhibition centre near the centre of Madrid, and The Pink Floyd Exhibition takes up only a tiny nook of it. Whereas we drove there, it is usually simple to achieve by Metro on the pink line, quantity 8.
I’ve discovered this helpful map that factors out precisely the place the exhibition is within the Feria. It will have been fairly useful for me had observed it earlier than we visited, I wasted 10 minutes driving round in search of Pink Floyd Exhibition indicators that didn’t exist.
In case you are driving to the Feria de Madrid, there may be loads of parking (€2.25 per hour) near the exhibition. I used to be capable of finding avenue facet parking fairly simply without cost. However, it’s price noting I used to be visiting on a Sunday, in case you are visiting mid-week, then these free areas will in all probability be lots more durable to come back by as a result of variety of places of work within the space.
The Pink Floyd Exhibition
As talked about, I’m actually not an avid fan of the band. I’ve a passing curiosity, the type of man which will hearken to a better of album on occasion. My dad, nonetheless, he has been a very long time fan of the Pink Floyd, proudly owning just about all of their data and likewise attending to see them dwell at their peak.
A delivery crate archway painted yellow and black like an outsized lego wasp marked the doorway. With the Madrid solar blinding us outdoors, we may bearly see what we had been strolling into.
As my eyes adjusted from the solar to the darkness of the exhibition room, I may see three workers ready, gazing us. My eyes took simply lengthy sufficient to regulate to make it really feel considerably awkward.
As soon as my imaginative and prescient was restored, we handed over our tickets and the girl defined to us (in English) that we have to flip the WiFi off on our telephones, which was unusual, however we did as requested.
As we labored our means across the optimistically arrange queue ropes, many surrealistic large inflatables loomed over us. I later discovered they had been a part of Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour.
As we handed into the subsequent part, there was a small desk to select the audio gizmo, and a distinct workers member to clarify to us that there have been no numbers, wander freely and the gizmo will connect with the right audio as you take a look at a display. Abruptly it made sense why I wasn’t allowed my WiFi on.
The exhibition started with some traditional posters and press clipping earlier than introducing us to the Pink Floyd Household tree. This graphic confirmed the band by their numerous lineups and different bands or initiatives that spun from group members. As my dad identified, it was fascinating how few of them we had ever heard of.
As soon as we turned the nook, we had been into the central a part of the exhibition, which was damaged down into numerous time frames. It has a window shows containing a lot of paraphernalia regarding the band at that interval.
Shut to every exhibit had been TV screens operating numerous documentaries with band members and associates speaking about what they had been doing on the time and different tales. Whereas I discovered it fascinating, I did discover it troublesome to digest as I jumped from one display to the opposite. I additionally discovered the audio generally struggled to attach or tuned into the incorrect factor, which led to confusion, however on the entire, they had been well-presented shows.
As we slowly made our means by the ’60s and ’70s, we entered a room the place there was a flooring to ceiling show of the band gear with a documentary speaking about how the concepts and experiments they had been performing with music. Additionally, to the facet of the room and my one in all my favorite issues, a mixer set to the band’s tune Cash the place you’ll be able to mess around with the completely different instrument ranges, fading and get slightly experimental myself.
After I lastly dragged myself away from destroying one of many band’s iconic hits, I turned the nook to see a duplicate of the large wall used on one in all their excursions and extra of the gorgeous inflatables. This part talks concerning the bands need to do extra than simply live shows and the way they got here up with the idea of musical theatre. The Wall was the live performance my dad attended, so for him; it was a visit down reminiscence lane. For me, it was fascinating to find out about how the band practically introduced Heathrow to a standstill with an enormous inflatable pig! Slightly completely different to nowadays the place it’s drones you need to fear about.
Lastly, there are a couple of extra shows from their extra fashionable work earlier than constructing as much as the spotlight of the exhibition, the immersive expertise which is “virtually pretty much as good as seeing the band dwell”.
So was it? No, I imply I haven’t seen them dwell so I can’t evaluate, however having been launched to the idea of musical theatre about quarter-hour earlier, this was a large let down.
My expectation was some clips from the long-lasting The Wall live performance, possibly a medley of there tops songs, however all it’s is Comfortably Numb from Dwell 8 and a video of one in all their early hits, Arnold Layne, a few man who pinches underwear off clotheslines.
Whereas the quantity was good and rib vibratingly loud, and the guitar solo is fairly epic, I used to be anticipating higher for the grand finale.
Lastly, as all the time at these sorts of issues, we needed to exit by the reward store. Each my dad and I had been feeling good and felt like we’d purchase one thing. He needed a t-shirt for certain whereas I can all the time spend cash. Nonetheless, the costs had been one thing else. Whereas I perceive, there may be all the time a premium when shopping for souvenirs at an occasion, charging €30-40 for a t-shirt and €40 for the occasion memento ebook, for sure, we each left empty-handed.
So did it dwell as much as the expectations?
Nicely, I’m scripting this one week after going, and I’m nonetheless uncertain. The displays and data there are implausible and look gorgeous, and any Pink Floyd fan and even these with a passing curiosity within the band will benefit from the exhibition. Nonetheless, in my view, the way in which it was introduced with the auto-connecting audio didn’t work in addition to I believe they hoped. Whereas it’s outdated expertise now, I nonetheless really feel that the outdated audio information fashion of tapping in a quantity would have been a greater means.
The audio presentation additionally signifies that you find yourself together with your headphones on all the way in which round, taking away the sensation that it’s a group exercise. Once more, numbered audio guides negate this as fairly than a continuing stream of data, you are able to do it in your personal time.
The movies simply felt like a chopped up documentary, and by the point we had been midway by, I’d given up on them pondering if I care sufficient, I’ll watch a full documentary concerning the group on one other day.
Nonetheless, that stated, the shows had been implausible, I cherished seeing all of the live performance inflatables, and I learnt lots concerning the band. The entire of the previous week I’ve discovered myself listening to Pink Floyd, the stuff I do know I like and attempting a few of their different stuff too.
I got here away with a brand new appreciation of the group that defied definitions whereas my dad actually loved his journey down reminiscence lane. However would I say it was worth for cash? Not likely, I believe for what it’s, €10 – €15 would have been a good value, however if in case you have a love for the band or a dad that loves them, then you’ll undoubtedly take pleasure in it, however don’t take into consideration the worth.
Last Phrases
As he options fairly strongly on this publish, I believed I’d depart the ultimate ideas to the outdated man I name dad:
When sitting in a mates home after college in 1967 listening to Pink Floyd’s debut album Piper on the Gates of Daybreak, you wouldn’t have thought that 52 years later these masters of psychedelic music would nonetheless characteristic in my life. However Floyd like many different bands from the interval are nonetheless performed frequently in my family. So when visiting my son in Madrid lately and seeing the “Expertise “ marketed I needed to drag my little boy alongside!
It’s an enchanting perception into the band protecting every of the band’s albums chronologically from Piper on the Gates of Daybreak to the ultimate tribute to Richard Wight, The Limitless River. You get the story of the album advised by the band, producers even the album cowl artists.
There’s loads of guitars, drums, keyboards and amps to drool over in addition to the bigger than life recreation of LP covers. I additionally discovered the story behind the staging of The Wall fascinating as I noticed the present at London’s Earls Courtroom.
There in all probability isn’t something new to be taught for a Floyd devotee however having all of it underneath one roof does imply you’ll be able to indulge your self and I hadn’t heard the story of the flying pig. The one which crash-landed in Kent after breaking away from its tether over Battersea Energy Station through the picture shoot for the Animals cowl.
Nonetheless, one query nonetheless stays unanswered, and we’ll by no means know, would albums like Darkish Aspect of The Moon, Want You Had been Right here and The Wall have been made if Dave Gilmour hadn’t changed Syd Barrett?
I additionally really feel I have to throw in that I used to be additionally dissatisfied with the finale if you’ll create a big display expertise let’s have greater than two tracks!
