Just by the way it's set up, 'Live CNE Stadium' makes for one of the more interesting VoIOs I've come across as it's actually a compilation reel of three different shows wrapped up into one package -- 42 minutes of the concert from September 21, 22 minutes from September 22 and 55 minutes from September 23 (or so we are told - more on this later). After listing the timing (and providing no track list whatsoever), the packaging then asserts that this is the only footage available from these three shows, so it's take it or leave it, bub. I took the bait, hoped I wasn't walking into another 'Video Anthology 3'-styled disaster, then went home and popped this sucker in the VCR.

Wow! Right from the get-go, I was impressed with the startlingly good-quality visuals here. All of the songs covered were shot from floor seats or first-tier seats well back from stage right / left (depending on the night), which results in the best quality stage and production shots of any 87-89 VOIO I've ever seen. The films on Mr. Screen are all very watchable, with only a slight flicker that becomes apparent when the camera zooms all the way in. There are also two songs here ("Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2" from 9/21 and "One Slip" from 9/22) that offer the best woo-woo chyx views of this whole tour - Rachel Fury fanboys, line up here.

Even after collecting these recordings for a dozen years or so, it's always kind of a drag to be reminded time and time again that pretty much every VOIO on the market has a few drawbacks to counterweigh whatever advantages are unique to it, and this is no different in the case of the 'Live CNE Stadium' tape. There is a minor issue here with sound quality throughout as the highs are susceptible to minor watery quavers here and there, while the bass tends to be distorted (which creates a lot of white-noise crackle during the louder selections). There is also a grimace-worthy matter of footage from the third night being repeated to fill out the listed 55 minutes of screen time, which is a pretty slimy stunt on someone's behalf. Perhaps most frustrating (considering the overall quality of the footage here) is the fact that three nights of accumulated footage fails to present us with a full set list (or anything approaching one) - nearly all of the live performances we are shown here are from the classics-heavy second halves of the concerts (the repetition of a couple of selections in particular induced long-suffering groans). Being that I have yet to see a live 1987 performance of "Echoes" (which was performed on all three nights the band played here), this lack of first-set material was a glaring letdown indeed.

In all fairness, after having spent the last paragraph listing the faults of this tape, I feel that I should restate just how good some of the visuals are here -- the glimpses of "Learning To Fly," "Terminal Frost," "One Of These Days," and "Time" (offered at the beginning of the September 21 segment) in particular are a joy to behold in comparison to the usual standard set by many of the other VOIOs covered here. However, my use of the word "glimpses" here is not arbitrary, as all of these are partial captures only (in another unfortunate drawback to this collection). Notable bits elsewhere include a very quick look at Mr. Plane trailing sparks and crashing far to the right of the stage, a very nice "Wish You Were Here" (with an extended intro for some reason or another), what appears to be a split-version of "Money" (a strange snip midway through take us to what looks like a different night entirely, but it's difficult to say for sure) and a very windy, near-complete "Comfortably Numb" during which Guy Pratt seems to spontaneously combust right before our eyes as raging torrents of steam surge volcano-like from a vent directly beneath his feet. The 9/21 takes on "Money" and "One Of These Days" offer some nice little visual treats for eagle-eyed tour geeks as well, giving us the extended film for the former (it's easy to see why so much of this film was dropped in later performances as some of it looks very dark and dated indeed) while Mr. Pig's appearance during the latter (jouncing about in the wind above the stadium itself) only happens during the ending section of the song and not during the noticeably shorter "bass solo" midsection.

Skipping to September 22, we start most of the way through "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2" (yeah, hooray), and are quickly blown back in our seats by the close-in shots of David Gilmour, Tim Renwick, Margaret Taylor and Rachel Fury (and all of whom are shown in damn-near fullscreen when the camera hits them -- insert obligatory "yeah, I'll bet in Gilmour's case" quip here). "Comfortably Numb" is a complete version this time, and while the players are at times obscured at times by roving heads in the audience, this is still pretty striking visually thanks to the excellent camera position (although Mr. Mirror Ball looks really silly when seen from this angle, just spinning mindlessly around behind an impassively soloing Gilmour ... and can someone please tell me exactly *what* Gary Wallis adds to this song on the synthesizer?). We are then given an excellent full run through "One Slip" and most of a rain-drenched "Run Like Hell," with the laser effects and close-ups of the band members more than making up for the distorted, overdriven sound quality.

Then comes the September 23 portion of this VOIO, which has (in order) some of the coolest sights we've seen so far (and *will* see in this entire section of this survey) and one of the most frustrating turns of bad luck imaginable. We are first shown around the interior of CNE Stadium from the seat of the cameraman and his buddy, pausing briefly on the 1987 incarnation of Pink Floyd's stage (which resembles an art-deco airport tower - a maze of steel grid lined with a dozen or so radar dishes and topped with eerily strobing anti-collision lights), and then on the people directly behind, who promptly cheer and gesticulate for the camera. We then skip, of course, allllll the way forwards to a decently filmed "Wish You Were Here," which is really most notable here for the drizzling rain that nicely highlights the stationary lasers.

After this comes *the* best audience-shot performance of "Welcome To The Machine" I have ever come across in twelve years of collecting these things -- full screen visuals, great shots of Gilmour standing under a lone spotlight in front of Mr. Screen, the works. I'm totally serious, people -- this was *it*. So, what has to happen next? Just after the final verse of the song, some absolute raving moron standing in front of the cameraman has to start whooping it up and waving his outstretched black shirt around DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE FUCKING CAMERA LENS and ruin what was to this point a definitive document of this song. Gaaah. We hear a brief bit of the cameraman yelling at the moron to can it as the screen fades to white, we wait a second, and then we come back into the song as the bloody arms are waving about on the now un-obscured Mr. Screen. Damn it all.

From there, we suddenly switch to an entirely different location well back on the stadium floor for a partial capture of "Comfortably Numb" with hardly any close-ups at all until the bloody mirror ball ascends, and then two sections of "Run Like Hell." Thanks to this being the third and second time we've had to see these songs respectively, their effect starts to wear a bit by now and makes them pretty dull to sit through (wide-angle shots of lasers, props and fireworks be damned). After these boring bits comes a very nice surprise in the form of an encore performance of "Welcome To The Machine" taped from this same vantage point, which affords a nicely shot long-view of the production (only slightly marred by a traveling lighting pod that obscures the top third of Mr. Screen towards the end). This second chance to experience the true highlight of these shows is a beauty to take in, and while it lacks the close-in majesty of the version described previously, it goes a long way to making up for the cheese-skull numbnuts who wrecked it.

Overall, this VOIO comes very highly recommended, just but be mindful of the drawbacks before proceeding.

'Terminal Frost' (Sept. 21)	'Money' (Sept. 21)	'Comfortably Numb' (Sept. 22)
Pre-Show Venue Footage (Sept. 23)	'Welcome to the Machine' (Sept. 23 - Angle 1)	'Welcome to the Machine' (Sept. 23 - Angle 2)