Dec 6th 1969 .

Both festivals seem to have been plagued by no shows, Fairport didn't play in 69 ( tragic!).

Yes and Taste were drop outs in 1970 !

   The final  Floyd gig was in my home town and was the worst in terms of sound and atmosphere. The Afan Lido was a gymnasium situated next to the swimming pool of the recently constructed Lido and it had the acoustics to match the pool. Basically a brick rectangle . We used to have sports lessons there on occasions , something us indolent music freaks were always trying to avoid , mainly due to the ex drill sergeant like teacher Mr Ken Jones, who wished to see us expelled ( and probably hung drawn and quartered if he could get away with it ) as we used to leg off from his lessons if we could manage .

    It was nice to see all those bands without having to travel far, ( I was living in Swansea by then but its only 11 miles ) but the barn like nature of the hall , its appalling acoustics and the very size of the audience mitigated against it being a transcendent gig like the others I'd seen in 69. There must have been over 600 there and the stage was set back further than at Swansea and Parliament Hill Fields, distancing the band from the audience.

    Nevertheless, it was worthwhile being there. Although the minor bands were nothing memorable , Sam Apple Pie were fun  and East Of Eden played an excellent set , Dave Arbus on violin was a great front man- I wonder where he is now ? .

Floyd manfully offered some new songs which I had not seen them perform before , but which perhaps did not suit the venue as much as the more manic numbers they played at Swansea. Overall the improvisation was not so much to the fore here, they had seemingly moved on to a more structured set, but perhaps that was due to the nature of the gig, at P.H.Fields they were performing to an audience that was probably more open to them taking risks- hard core freaks, whereas the Port Talbot audience was a lot more parochial and were there to hear the hits. Also the open air nature of the PHF concert gave a warm vibe , whilst the brick walled ugliness of the Lido did not really go very far towards creating a special atmosphere.

     However the band played a very decent show and were well received, although Gilmour looked as though he was not too happy with the on-stage sound , I can remember him looking rather distressed at times. By this time he had swopped sides with Waters and was stage left , Mason still being slap centre and his drum kit seemingly getting larger and more elaborate at each passing gig .By this time he definitely had his GONG , which dominated the stage behind him and was used just once during the course of the show I think.It was a shame that this was the last time I got to see the band , it was not the ideal circumstance in which to go out and it possibly contributed to my lack of energy in bothering to search them out again.