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 Dark Side of the Moon.

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 Emes, who had earlier produced the short film French Windows,[1] featuring animated ballet dancers, set to the song "One Of These Days".

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 22 June 1973, in Buffalo, New York, USA, during the performance, a spectator fell off the upper level deck seating killing the person that they landed on.

In October 1973, after a few months of hiatus, Pink Floyd performed a few concerts in Europe.[4]

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 had 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.

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

Additional musicians

• Dick Parry – saxophone (joined for the second part of the 1973 tour, from 18 May 1973 onward[7])
• 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 1973 gigs)[8]
• Vicki Brown, Liza Strike, and Clare Torry – backing vocals (during the two shows «A Benefit For Robert Wyatt» on 4 November 1973)

Works cited

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

• Brain-Damage.co.uk
• Pink Floyd Archives