The Sheep Cannon

Paul Powell Jr. asks: "Rumor, speculation, and an old review of the Floyd concert in Cleveland 1977 mention the deployment of hundreds, maybe thousands of toy-sized stuffed sheep parachuting from the heavens before or during the concert to the delight of quick-handed fans. True?"

Yep!  If you look at the book entitled "Rock Sets" by Sutherland Lyall which basically documents the work of set designers Fisher-Park who worked on many Floyd constructions then you'll read about the "sheep cannon".  This device was powered by compressed air and would fire six model sheep constructed of tea-bag paper (and weighted to keep them upright) into the audience during the song, not surprisingly, Sheep.  Apparently, at one particular concert the operator, after several nights of firing problems, was so sick of the sight of all the spares accumulating that he fired them all off in rapid succession during the show at Soldier Field, Chicago, showering the stage well into the next song!