Dark Side of the Moon Tour

Dark Side of the Moon Tour
World tour by Pink Floyd
Associated album	The Dark Side of the Moon
Start date	4 March, 1973
End date	4 December, 1973,
Legs	5
No. of shows	35
Pink Floyd concert chronology
	; Obscured By Clouds Tour ; (1972*1973); ; Dark Side of the Moon Tour ; (1973); ; French Summer Tour ; (1974);

The Dark Side of the Moon Tour was a concert tour by Pink Floyd. The tour started on March 4 of 1973 and ended on November 4 of the same year.

History

1973 saw Pink Floyd go on two relatively short tours of the US, one in March to coincide with the release of Dark Side of the Moon and a later one in June. Sandwiched between them were two nights at London's Earl's Court on 18 May and 19 May where they debuted the special effect of a plane crashing into the stage at the end of the song "On the Run". This was also the first year that the band took additional musicians on tour with them, unlike the earlier performances of "Atom Heart Mother" where the band would often hire local musicians. Dick Parry would join Pink Floyd during Money and Us and them and a backing chorus of three or four women. Clare Torry sung backing vocals during the Robert Wyatt benefit concerts, she won't do this again till 1990 at the Knebworth Festival.

Due to the overwhelming chart success of both Dark Side of the Moon, which reached #1 in the US in late April, #2 in the UK, and the US-released single "Money", the nature of Pink Floyd's audiences changed in June 1973. Thay used to play at theaters and auditoriums but in this tour they played at Stadiums and large arenas.

On 4 November 1973, Pink Floyd played two shows at London's Rainbow Theatre to benefit musician Robert Wyatt formerly the drummer of Soft Machine, a band they'd played with in their UFO Club days. Wyatt fell from a fourth floor window in June 1973, breaking his back and making him a paraplegic. The concerts raised a reported £10,000 for Wyatt.

Pink Floyd performing The Dark Side of the Moon at Earl's Court Arena in 1973

Tour Band

David Gilmour - vocals, guitar
Roger Waters - bass, vocals
Richard Wright - keyboards
Nick Mason - drums

Additional musicians:

Dick Parry - saxophone
Black Grass (Nawasa Crowder, Mary Ann Lindsey & Phyllis Lindsey) - backing vocals (during the March and May gigs)
Blackberries (Billy Barnum, Venetta Fields & Clydie King)- backing vocals (during the October gigs)
Vicki Brown, Liza Strike, and Clare Torry - backing vocals (A Benefit For Robert Wyatt concerts)