The other week, I put in Trolling The Tabloids that after The Coachella Music Festival, Roger Waters' inflatable pig had snapped its tether and gone floating in the stratosphere.  A $10 000 award was issued for its safe return.  Alas, pink plastic shreds were found in someone's garden somewhere in California.  Apparently when the inflatable pig floats to a certain level in the atmosphere the pressure gets too much and the pig bursts.  Leaving you with that mental image, I want to tell you that I found the coolest article in Rolling Stone explaining why floating pigs have been part of Pink Floyd's shows. 

Here is the 1977 Album Cover of "Animals".  This is the Battersea Power Station.  Waters loved it cause it looked like an animal on its back.  He thought it reminded him of a turtle and wanted to use it as a metaphor for a decaying rock band.  Note the flying pig in the sky.  It was about this time that he came up with the idea of having inflatables at the concerts.  For the Animals tour they had an inflatable family, refrigerator and cadillac, and of course, the pig.  The pig was tethered to the stage.  It had helium in its body and propane in its legs.  They'd light the propane, it would burn but the helium wouldn't, giving them a nice controlled fireball and a crowd pleasing pyrotechnics display.  They continued to use the inflatable pigs for the The Wall tour.  After that at most outdoor events they'd release an inflatable pig.  Waters was painting graffiti on each one until he realized there would be people who be much better at it.  He started inviting local graffiti artists to come in and paint the pigs before the show.

On a side note, Waters wanted to drop confetti during Coachella that had Barack Obama's name on it and a checkmark.  Festival Organizers said "NO WAY."  They did it anyway.  The pilot missed the site and accidentally dropped 80 pounds of confetti into people's backyard pools.  It clogged filters and made a huge mess.  Festival Organizers had to send out 100 clean up crews.  Waters apologized profusely and that's why the $10 000 reward was offered, kinda like a PR compromise.

And there you have it.  I thought it was a cool story.  I know a lot of you are huge Floyd fans, so if there's anything you  want to add/edit/correct, please feel free to comment!