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Dark Side of the Moon Tour

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Dark Side of the Moon Tour
Tour by Pink Floyd
Associated albumThe Dark Side of the Moon
Start date17 January 1972
End date4 November 1973
Pink Floyd concert chronology

The Dark Side of the Moon Tour was a concert tour by British rock band Pink Floyd in 1972 and 1973 in support of their album The Dark Side of the Moon. There were two separate legs promoting Dark Side of the Moon, one in 1972 before the album's release and another in 1973 after its release.

History

1972 Dark Side of the Moon Tour

Playing 93 shows in 1972, the most until 1994, Pink Floyd debuted the live performance before its release not of a song but a whole album. The original title was Eclipse, then Dark Side of the Moon – A Piece for Assorted Lunatics, the name under which it made its press debut in February 1972 at London's Rainbow Theatre. The title changed for the first part of the US tour to Eclipse (A Piece for Assorted Lunatics) during April and May before reverting to Dark Side of the Moon – A Piece for Assorted Lunatics in September for the second part of the US tour and finally released in 1973 under the title of The Dark Side of the Moon.

Remarkably, at its first full live performance at Guildhall, Portsmouth, England on 21 January 1972, most of the album was in the form it would be when released 14 months later. The significant differences include:

"On the Run", whose working title was "The Travel Sequence", was a guitar and drum jam and would remain so for the rest of the year's performances.

"Time" was played at a slower speed and the first half of the verses were sung by Gilmour and Wright together. The line "Lying supine in the sunshine" was sung instead of "Tired of lying in the sunshine", even in shows after the album's release (as evidenced on the live companion they released with the album in 2011).

"The Great Gig in the Sky", whose working title was "Religion" or "The Mortality Sequence", consisted at the debut in January of synthesized organ and various tapes of "preachers" either preaching or reading from such passages as from Chapter 5, Verse 13 of Ephesians, a book of the Bible, or reciting The Lord's Prayer. Starting in September, the music of the song as per the album was performed, without vocals. A portion of the song contained the aforementioned "preacher" tape recording of Ephesians, at much lower volume, and it was performed this way for the rest of the year.

"Money" began with a longer introduction on the bass, and the saxophone solo was instead played on the electric piano.

"Us and Them" during 1972 lacked the saxophone solos as found on the album and featured an organ solo instead.

At the debut, the song "Eclipse" was nothing more than lyricless extension of "Brain Damage" that devolved into various odd sounds. The version with lyrics and music as found on the album debuted at Bristol on 5 February.

Finally, none of the spoken word pieces as found on the album were done during 1972.

The show at the Brighton Dome on 29 June was filmed by Peter Clifton for inclusion on his film Sounds of the City. Clips of these appear occasionally on television and the performance of "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" is on the various artists video Superstars in Concert.

The visuals for the tour were created by the Timeless Films company run by Independent British animator Ian Ernes, who produced the 1973 short film French Windows, using backing music by the band[1] as well as an animated film, featuring animated ballet dancers, for the song "One Of These Days".

1972 & 1973 Roland Petit Ballet shows

In November 1972, during the middle of the European leg of their 1972 world tour and again in January 1973, Pink Floyd performed with the Roland Petit Ballet. The set list for which their portion of the ballet was choreographed to was "One of These Days", "Careful with That Axe, Eugene", "Obscured by Clouds", "When You're In", Childhood's End and "Echoes".

1973 Dark Side of the Moon Tour

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

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 wouldn't do this again until 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. They 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. While at a birthday party for Gilli Smyth of Gong and Lady June on 1 June, Wyatt fell from a fourth story bathroom window, breaking his back and leaving him paraplegic. The concerts raised a reported £10,000 for Wyatt.

On 22 June 1973, in Buffalo, New York, USA, during the performance, a spectator fell off the upper level deck seating and killed the person that he/she landed on. The person that fell was injured but did survive.

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue
Europe
17 January 1972 London England Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park – Rehearsals
18 January 1972
19 January 1972
20 January 1972 Brighton Brighton Dome (first "Dark Side of the Moon" live performance interrupted at 'Money' due to technical problems)
21 January 1972 Portsmouth Portsmouth Guildhall (first complete live performance of "Dark Side Of The Moon")
22 January 1972 Bournemouth Bournemouth Winter Gardens
23 January 1972 Southampton Southampton Guildhall
27 January 1972 Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle City Hall
28 January 1972 Leeds Leeds City Varieties
3 February 1972 Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic College Arts Festival – Locarno Ballroom
5 February 1972 Bristol Colston Hall
10 February 1972 Leicester De Montfort Hall
12 February 1972 Sheffield Sheffield City Hall
13 February 1972 Liverpool Liverpool Empire Theatre
17 February 1972 London Rainbow Theatre
18 February 1972
19 February 1972
20 February 1972
Asia
6 March 1972 Tokyo Japan Taiikukan
7 March 1972
8 March 1972 Osaka Festival Hall
9 March 1972
10 March 1972 Kyoto Dai-Sho-Gun Furitsu Taiikukan
13 March 1972 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
Europe
29 March 1972 Manchester England Free Trade Hall
30 March 1972
North America
14 April 1972 Tampa United States Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory
15 April 1972 Pembroke Pines Hollywood Sportatorium
16 April 1972 Columbia Township Auditorium
18 April 1972 Atlanta Atlanta Symphony Hall
20 April 1972 Pittsburgh Syria Mosque
21 April 1972 Baltimore Lyric Opera House
22 April 1972 Akron Akron Civic Theatre
23 April 1972 Cincinnati Music Hall
24 April 1972 Toledo Toledo Sports Arena
25 April 1972 Cleveland Allen Theatre
26 April 1972 Detroit Ford Auditorium
28 April 1972 Chicago Auditorium Theatre
29 April 1972 Philadelphia Spectrum
1 May 1972 New York City Carnegie Hall
2 May 1972
3 May 1972 Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
4 May 1972 Boston Music Hall
Europe
18 May 1972 Berlin West Germany Deutschlandhalle
21 May 1972 Germersheim Second British Rock Meeting
22 May 1972 Amsterdam Netherlands Olympic Stadium
28 May 1972 Brighton England Brighton Dome
29 May 1972
North America
8 September 1972 Austin United States Austin Municipal Auditorium
9 September 1972 Houston Houston Music Hall
10 September 1972 Dallas McFarlin Memorial Auditorium
11 September 1972 Kansas City Memorial Hall
12 September 1972 Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall
13 September 1972 Wichita Levitt Arena
15 September 1972 Tucson Tucson Community Center
16 September 1972 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena
17 September 1972 Tempe Big Surf
19 September 1972 Denver University of Denver Arena
22 September 1972 Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl
23 September 1972 San Francisco Winterland Ballroom
24 September 1972
27 September 1972 Vancouver Canada Vancouver Gardens
28 September 1972 Portland United States Memorial Coliseum
29 September 1972 Seattle Hec Edmundson Pavilion
30 September 1972 Vancouver Canada Vancouver Gardens
Europe
21 October 1972 London England Empire Pool
10 November 1972 Copenhagen Denmark K.B. Hallen
11 November 1972
12 November 1972 Hamburg West Germany Ernst-Merck-Halle
14 November 1972 Düsseldorf Philips Halle
15 November 1972 Böblingen Sporthalle
16 November 1972 Frankfurt Festhalle Frankfurt
17 November 1972
22 November 1972 Marseille France Salle Valliers, Roland Petit Ballet
23 November 1972
24 November 1972
25 November 1972
26 November 1972
28 November 1972 Toulouse Palais des Sports
29 November 1972 Poitiers Parc des Expositions Les Arènes
1 December 1972 Saint-Ouen Centre sportif de l'Île de Vannes [fr]
2 December 1972
3 December 1972 Caen Palais des Expositions
5 December 1972 Brussels Belgium Forest National
7 December 1972 Lille France Palais des Sports
9 December 1972 Zürich Switzerland Hallenstadion
10 December 1972 Lyon France Palais des Sports de Gerland
13 January 1973 Paris France Palais des Sports, Roland Petit Ballet
14 January 1973
3 February 1973
4 February 1973
North America
4 March 1973 Madison United States Dane County Coliseum
5 March 1973 Detroit Cobo Hall
6 March 1973 St. Louis Kiel Auditorium
7 March 1973 Chicago International Amphitheatre
8 March 1973 Cincinnati Armory Fieldhouse
10 March 1973 Kent Memorial Gym
11 March 1973 Toronto Canada Maple Leaf Gardens
12 March 1973 Montreal Montreal Forum
14 March 1973 Boston United States Music Hall
15 March 1973 Philadelphia Spectrum
17 March 1973 New York City Radio City Music Hall
18 March 1973 Waterbury Palace Theater
19 March 1973 Providence Providence Civic Center
21 March 1973 Sharpsburg Antietam Battlefield
22 March 1973 Hampton Hampton Coliseum
23 March 1973 Charlotte Charlotte Park Center
24 March 1973 Atlanta Municipal Auditorium
Europe
18 May 1973 London England Earls Court
19 May 1973
North America
17 June 1973 Saratoga Springs United States Saratoga Performing Arts Center
18 June 1973 Jersey City Roosevelt Stadium
19 June 1973 Pittsburgh Civic Arena
20 June 1973 Columbia Merriweather Post Pavilion
21 June 1973
22 June 1973 Buffalo Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
23 June 1973 Detroit Olympia Stadium
24 June 1973 Cuyahoga Falls Blossom Music Center
25 June 1973 Louisville Louisville Gardens
26 June 1973 Jonesboro Lake Spivey Park
27 June 1973 Jacksonville Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum
28 June 1973 Pembroke Pines Hollywood Sportatorium
29 June 1973 Tampa Tampa Stadium
Europe
12 October 1973 Munich West Germany Olympiahalle
13 October 1973 Vienna Austria Wiener Stadthalle
4 November 1973 (2 shows) London England Rainbow Theatre

Setlist

A typical 1972 set list for the tour

Set One:

Set Two:

A typical set list for the 1972 & 1973 Roland Petit Ballet shows

A typical 1973 set list for the tour

Set One:

Set Two:

  • "Speak to Me"
  • "Breathe"
  • "On the Run"
  • "Time"
  • "The Great Gig in the Sky"
  • "Money"
  • "Us and Them"
  • "Any Colour You Like"
  • "Brain Damage"
  • "Eclipse"

Encore:

  • "Seamus" (probably on 23 March 1973 only)
  • "One of These Days"

Personnel

Additional musicians

  • Dick Parry – saxophone (joined for the second part of the 1973 tour, from 18 May 1973 onward[5])
  • 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 (during the two shows «A Benefit For Robert Wyatt» on 4 November 1973)

References

  1. ^ Heavy Metal, Vol. 4, No. 7, 1980
  2. ^ Rosenberg, Jon (July 1990) [1988]. A Journey Through Time and Space with Pink Floyd (book) (2nd ed.). T.D. p. 41.
  3. ^ Rosenberg 1990, p. 39
  4. ^ Rosenberg 1990, p. 42-45
  5. ^ Rosenberg 1990, p. 45

Works cited

  • "Echoes: The Complete History of Pink Floyd" (MInd Head Publishing – March 2007 – 368 p.) by Glenn Povey
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