Atom Heart Mother World Tour
Tour by Pink Floyd | |
Start date | 12 September 1970 |
---|---|
End date | 11 October 1971 |
Legs | 4 |
No. of shows | 92 |
Pink Floyd concert chronology |
The 1971 Atom Heart Mother World Tour was a concert tour by Pink Floyd. Commenced on September 1970 and ended on October 1971. Was their first world tour and marked the first time the band visited countries as Japan and Australia, one of the first European rock bands to do it. Intended to promote their new album Atom Heart Mother, sometimes problematic as the band needed to hire local orchestras and choirs on some dates to perform the title peace, it turned to a point that the band decided to play the band version.
History
Early in 1970, Pink Floyd performed at gigs a piece from their film soundtrack for Michelangelo Antonioni's film Zabriskie Point referred to as "The Violent Sequence". This was the musical basis for "Us and Them", from their The Dark Side of the Moon album. Lacking only the lyrics, it is identical to the final song[1] and is the earliest part of the seminal album to have been performed live. The song "Embryo" was also a part of the live repertoire around this time, but was never to appear on a studio album, until the compilation album Works.
On 7 February 1970, the band began performing a then untitled instrumental piece, which would eventually become the title track to their next album Atom Heart Mother. At this point, it had no orchestra or choir accompaniment. This is the first time they performed a song live in an unfinished form as a work in progress, something they continued to do until 1975. The song officially debuted at the Bath Festival, Somerset England on 27 June 1970 under the title "The Amazing Pudding" (later the name of a Pink Floyd fanzine) and for the first time with orchestra and choir accompaniment.
Announced as "The Atom Heart Mother" by legendary British broadcaster John Peel on his BBC Radio 1 show "Peel's Sunday Concert" on 16 July 1970, a name suggested by him to the band,[2], it was also announced as "The Atomic Heart Mother" two days later at the Hyde Park free concert.[3] Partly due to the difficulties of finding and hiring local orchestras and choirs, the band often played what is referred to as the "small band" version of the song when they performed it live.
Pink Floyd also appeared at a Free festival In Canterbury on August 31 which was filmed. This was the end leg of the Medicine Ball Caravan tour organised by Warner Brothers, which was later made into a film of the same name. It appears that the Pink Floyd footage was not included in the movie but spectators report that Atom Heart Mother was part of the set that was recorded.[4] The audience must have been one of the smallest to see Pink Floyd at this era, only 1500 were present as the festival was not widely promoted.
In contrast, over 500,000 people witnessed their show at Fête de L'Humanité, Paris on 12 September 1970, their largest crowd ever. Filmed by French TV, the show was never broadcast.[5]
Experimental on the album Atom Heart Mother, the song "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" was performed at a few gigs in December 1970. "Breakfast" being made was part of the song. The first part of this lasted around four minutes. The second part of "breakfast" preparation was around a minute followed by a 3 minute tape of British DJ Jimmy Young, whom the band disliked. The song lasted a little over 24 minutes.[1]
For a great recording of some of their material from this period check out the Fillmore West show in San Francisco, California on 04/29/1970 on Wolfgang's Vault. This show includes material from Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother. This was a short tour since their equipment got stolen a few weeks after this show and they canceled the rest of their tour.[citation needed]
Tour band
- David Gilmour - guitar, vocals
- Roger Waters - bass, vocals
- Richard Wright - keyboards, vocals
- Nick Mason – drums
Additional musician:
- Local orchestras and Choirs, on some dates
Set list
A typical 1970 set list would include some of the following:
- "Astronomy Domine"
- "Interstellar Overdrive"
- "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
- "A Saucerful of Secrets"
- "Cymbaline"
- "Green is the Colour"
- "Main Theme"
- "Careful with that Axe, Eugene"
- "Sysyphus" pts. 1-4
- "Grantchester Meadows"
- "Embryo"
- "The Violent Sequence"
- "Atom Heart Mother"
- "Fat Old Sun"
- "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"
Tour dates
- 12/09/1970 Fete de L'Humanite, Bois de Vincennes, Paris, France
- 26/09/1970 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 27/09/1970 Fillmore East, New York City, New York (two shows)
- 01/10/1970 Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon
- 02/10/1970 Moore Theater, Seattle, Washington
- 03/10/1970 Moore Theater, Seattle, Washington
- 06/10/1970 Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington
- 07/10/1970 Vancouver Gardens, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
- 08/10/1970 Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- 09/10/1970 Sales Pavilion Annex, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- 10/10/1970 Centennial Auditorium, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
- 11/10/1970 Centre of the Arts, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
- 13/10/1970 Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
- 15/10/1970 Terrace Ballroom, Salt Lake City, Utah
- 16/10/1970 Pepperland Auditorium, San Rafael, California
- 17/10/1970 Pepperland Auditorium, San Rafael, California
- 18/10/1970 Intercollegiate Baseball Facility, University of California, San Diego, California
- 21/10/1970 Fillmore West, San Francisco, California
- 23/10/1970 Civic Center, Santa Monica, California
- 25/10/1970 The Tea Party, Boston, Massachusetts
- 06/11/1970 Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 07/11/1970 Grote Zaal, De Doelen, Rotterdam,Netherlands
- 11/11/1970 Konserthuset, Gothenburg, Sweden
- 12/11/1970 Falkoner Centret, Copenhagen, Denmark (two shows)
- 13/11/1970 Vejlby-Risskov Hallen, Arhus, Denmark
- 14/11/1970 Ernst-Merck Halle, Hamburg, West Germany
- 21/11/1970 Altes Casino, Montreux, Switzerland
- 22/11/1970 Altes Casino, Montreux, Switzerland
- 25/11/1970 Friedrich Ebert Halle, Ludwigshafen, West Germany
- 26/11/1970 Killesberghalle, Stuttgart, West Germany
- 27/11/1970 Niedersachsenhalle, Hannover, West Germany
- 28/11/1970 Saarlandhalle, Saarbrucken, West Germany
- 29/11/1970 Circus Crone, Munich, West Germany
- 03/12/1970 Audimax, Hamburg, West Germany
- 04/12/1970 ORTF TV Studios, Paris, France
- 05/12/1970 ORTF TV Studios, Paris,France
- 11/12/1970 The Big Apple, Brighton, Sussex, England
- 12/12/1970 The Roundhouse, Dagenham, Essex, England
- 18/12/1970 Town Hall, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
- 20/12/1970 Colston Hall, Bristol, Somerset, England
- 21/12/1970 Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England
- 22/12/1970 City Hall, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
- 17/01/1971 The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London (The Implosion)
- 23/01/1971 Refectory Hall, Leeds University, Yorkshire, England
- 03/02/1971 Great Hall, University of Exeter, Devon
- 12/02/1971 Lecture Theater, University of Essex, Colchester
- 13/02/1971 Students Union Bar, Technical College, Farnborough, Hampshire
- 20/02/1971 Student Union, Queen Mary College, Twickenham, London
- 22/02/1971 Théâtre du Huitième, Lyon, France (cancelled)
- 24/02/1971 Munsterlandhalle, Munster, West Germany
- 25/02/1971 Grosser Saal, Musikhalle, Hamburg, West Germany
- 26/02/1971 Stadthalle, Offenbach, West Germany
- 27/02/1971 Festhalle, Frankfurt, West Germany
- 03/04/1971 Sportpaleis Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 12/04/1971 Locarno, Sunderland, England
- 16/04/1971 Top Rank Suite, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England
- 22/04/1971 Norwich Lads Club, Norwich, Norfolk, England
- 07/05/1971 Central Hall, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, England
- 15/05/1971 Crystal Palace Bowl, London, England (Garden Party at the Crystal Palace Bowl)
- 18/05/1971 Stirling University, Stirling, Scotland
- 19/05/1971 Caledonian Cinema, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland
- 20/05/1971 The Ballroom, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland
- 21/05/1971 Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire,
- 02/06/1971 Student Health Centre & Refectory, Edinburgh University, Scotland
- 04/06/1971 Philips Veranstaltungshalle, Dusseldorf, West Germany
- 05/06/1971 Sportpalast, West Berlin, West Germany
- 12/06/1971 Palais des Sports, Lyon, France
- 15/06/1971 Abbaye de Royaumont,Royaumont, France (ORTF French TV)
- 19/06/1971 Palazzo dello Mostra, Brescia, Italy
- 20/06/1971 Palaeur dello Sport EUR, Rome, Italy
- 22/06/1971 Glastonbury Fayre, Worthy Farm, Pilton, England (cancelled)
- 23/06/1971 Main Hall, Hatfield Polytechnic, Hatfield, England
- 26/06/1971 Amsterdamse Bos, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Amsterdam Free Concert)
- 01/07/1971 Stiftshoff, Ossiach, Austria (Ossiach Festival)
- 06/08/1971 Hakone Aphrodite, Hakone, Japan (Open Air Festival)
- 07/08/1971 Hakone Aphrodite, Hakone, Japan (Open Air Festival)
- 09/08/1971 Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan
- 13/08/1971 Festival Hall, Melbourne, Australia
- 15/08/1971 Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia
- 18/09/1971 Pavillion de Montreux, Montreux, Switzerland (Festival de Musique Classique)
- 19/09/1971 Pavillion de Montreux,Montreux, Switzerland (Festival de Musique Classique)
- 22/09/1971 Kungliga Tennishallen, Lindingovagen, Stockholm, Sweden
- 23/09/1971 KB Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 28/09/1971 Kungliga Tennishallen, Stockholm, Sweden
- 30/09/1971 Paris Theater, London (BBC In Concert recording date)
- 03/10/1971 Naples, Italy
- 04/10/1971 Roman Ampitheater, Pompeii, Italy (recording for Live in Pompeii movie)
- 05/10/1971 Roman Ampitheater, Pompeii, Italy (recording for Live in Pompeii movie)
- 06/10/1971 Roman Ampitheater, Pompeii, Italy (recording for Live in Pompeii movie)
- 07/10/1971 Roman Ampitheater, Pompeii, Italy (recording for Live in Pompeii movie)
- 10/10/1971 Great Hall, Bradford University, Bradford, Yorkshire
- 11/10/1971 Town Hall, Birmingham, Warwickshire