How Pink Floyd's 1977 Animals Tour Planted the Seed for The Wall

By the end of 1977, Pink Floyd were playing the biggest shows of their career—and feeling more isolated than ever. The Animals tour was the first time they used the giant inflatable pig and a massive, impersonal lighting rig, but the real shift was psychological. Roger Waters later said he looked out from the stage and saw a sea of faces that felt like a “zoo,” and the band had built a literal barrier between themselves and the audience with rows of PA stacks and security. The audience was no longer part of the show; they were just there to watch.

The moment that cracked Waters open happened after a show at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in July 1977. A fan was cheering loudly, almost derangedly, and trying to climb onto the stage. Waters, tired and disgusted, leaned over and spat in the man’s face. He was immediately horrified by his own action. That night, he started writing about building a wall between performer and fan—a barrier that protected him but also trapped him. The spitting incident directly became the scene in The Wall where Pink spits on a groupie in a hotel room. The inflatable pig, originally a political statement for the Animals cover, became a symbol of the floating alienation that would later take the shape of the wall itself.