Παρασκευή 17 Φεβρουαρίου 2012

Another Brick In The Wall (live)


Musicians (Live)


Barnum, Billie (backing vocals)
Olympiahalle, Munich (12 October 1973)
Stadthalle, Vienna (13 October 1973)
Bown, Andy (bass guitar)
The Wall tour (1980 & 1981)
Brown, Sam (backing vocals)
Silver Clef Award Winners Show, Knebworth (30 June 1990)
The Division Bell tour (1994)
Brown, Vicki (backing vocals)
Earl's Court, London (18 & 19 May 1973)
Rainbow Theatre, London (4 November 1973)
Silver Clef Award Winners Show, Knebworth (30 June 1990)
Carin, Jon (keyboards, programming, vocals)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (1987-88)
Another Lapse European tour (1989)
Silver Clef Award Winners Show, Knebworth (30 June 1990)
The Division Bell tour (1994)
Live 8, London (2 July 2005)
Madcap's Last Laugh (10 May 2007)
Chemay, Joe (backing vocals)
The Wall tour (1980 & 1981)
Crowder, Nawasa (backing vocals
North American tour (March & June 1973)
Dennis, Chris (vocals)
Member of The Tea Set (1964)
Dulfer, Candy (saxophones)
Silver Clef Award Winners Show, Knebworth (30 June 1990)
Farber, Stan (backing vocals)
The Wall tour (1980 & 1981)
Fields, Venetta (backing vocals)
Olympiahalle, Munich (12 October 1973)
Stadthalle, Vienna (13 October 1973)
French tour (June 1974)
British winter tour (November & December 1974)
North American tour (April & June 1975)
Knebworth Park, Stevenage (5 July 1975)
Fontaine, Claudia (backing vocals)
The Division Bell tour (1994)
Freeman, Roberta (backing vocals)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (Atlanta, 3-5 November 1987)
Fury, Rachel (backing vocals)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (1987-88)
Gale, Juliette (vocals)
Member of Sigma 6 and The Abdabs (1963-1964)
Haas, Jim (backing vocals)
The Wall tour (1980 & 1981)
Harper, Roy (vocals)
Knebworth Park, Stevenage (5 July 1975)
John Aldiss Choir, The (vocals)
Atom Heart Mother, live shows (1970 & 1971)
Joyce, Jon (backing vocals)
The Wall tour (1980 & 1981)
Kenyon, Carol (backing vocals)
Live 8, London (2 July 2005)
King, Clydie (backing vocals)
Olympiahalle, Munich (12 October 1973)
Stadthalle, Vienna (13 October 1973)
Klose, Radovan 'Bob' (guitars, vocals)
Member of Leonard's Lodgers, The Tea Set, and Pink Floyd (1964-1965)
Leonard, Mike (keyboards)
Member of Leonard's Lodgers and The Tea Set (1964-1965)
Lindsey, Mary Ann (backing vocals)
North American tour (March & June 1973)
Lindsey, Phyllis (backing vocals)
North American tour (March & June 1973)
McBroom, Durga (backing vocals)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (Atlanta, 3-5 November 1987)
Another Lapse European tour (1989)
Silver Clef Award Winners Show, Knebworth (30 June 1990)
The Division Bell Tour (1994)
McBroom, Lorelei (backing vocals)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (Atlanta, 3-5 November 1987)
Another Lapse European tour (1989)
Metcalf, Clive (bass guitar)
Member of Sigma 6 and The Abdabs (1963-1964)
Noble, Keith (vocals)
Member of Sigma 6 and The Abdabs (1963-1964)
Noble, Sheilagh (backing vocals)
Member of Sigma 6 (1963)
Page, Scott (saxophones and guitars)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (1987-88)
Another Lapse European tour (1989)
Parry, Dick (saxophones)
All tours (1973-1975)
The Division Bell tour (1994)
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, The (orchestra)
Atom Heart Mother, live shows (1970 & 1971)
Pratt, Guy (bass guitar and vocals)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (1987-88)
Another Lapse European tour (1989)
Silver Clef Award Winners Show, Knebworth (30 June 1990)
The Division Bell tour (1994)
Renwick, Tim (guitars)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (1987-88)
Another Lapse European tour (1989)
The Division Bell tour (1994)
Live 8, London (2 July 2005)
Roberts, Andy (guitars)
The Wall tour (1981)
Strike, Liza (backing vocals)
Earl's Court, London (18 & 19 May 1973)
Rainbow Theatre, London (4 November 1973)
Taylor, Margaret (backing vocals)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (1987-88)
Thompson, Vernon (rhythm guitar)
Member of Sigma 6 (1963)
Torry, Clare (backing vocals)
The Great Gig In The Sky (The Dark Side Of The Moon, 1973)
Rainbow Theatre, London (4 November 1973)
Silver Clef Award Winners Show, Knebworth (30 June 1990)
Wallis, Gary (percussion)
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour (1987-88)
Another Lapse European tour (1989)
The Division Bell tour (1994)
White, Snowy (guitars)
Animals tour (1977)
The Wall tour (1980)
Williams, Carlena (backing vocals)
French tour (June 1974)
British Winter tour (November & December 1974)
North American tour (April & June 1975)
Knebworth Park, Stevenage (5 July 1975)
Wilson, John 'Willie' (drums)
The Wall tour (1980 & 1981)
Wood, Peter (keyboards)
The Wall tour (1980 & 1981)
Zappa, Frank (guitar)
Interstellar Overdrive (Actuel Festival, Amougies 25 October 1969)
 
 

2010s


10 July 2010
In an historic reunion, David Gilmour and Roger Waters appeared on stage together at an exclusive charity concert in aid of the Hoping Foundation at Kiddington Hall, Oxfordshire, England. They performed semi-acoustic versions of To Know Him Is To Love Him, Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb and Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2.

15 September 2010
Roger Waters commenced his
Wall Live tour with three sold out nights at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada and concluded 55 shows later at the Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City, Mexico.
4 October 2010 An Introduction To Syd Barrett is released in the UK, bringing together the tracks of Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett for the first time. It also includes the previously unreleased downloadable track Rhamadam.
11 October 2010
Special 'booklet' CD editions of Syd Barrett's
The Madcap Laughs, Barrett and Opel albums are released, restoring the original artwork and including bonus tracks.
11 October 2010
The Orb release
Metallic Spheres, an album of ambient soundscapes featuring David Gilmour.

21 March 2011
Roger Waters commenced his 64-date
Wall Live tour of Europe at the Pavilhao Atlantico, Lisbon, Portugal.
12 May 2011
David Gilmour joined Roger Waters on stage at the O2 Arena in London performing Comfortably Numb
as part of Roger Waters' Wall Live show. Nick Mason also attended the show, and both Nick and David joined Roger for the final song, Outside The Wall, on which Roger played trumpet, David mandolin and Nick tambourine.



1970

2January 1970
Syd Barrett's debut solo album, The Madcap Laughs, was released in the UK, and reached No. 40 in the charts. Tracklisting: Terrapin; No Good Trying; Love You; No Man's Land; Dark Globe; Here I Go; Octopus; Golden Hair; Long Gone; She Took A Long Cold Look; Feel; If It's In You; Late Night.
10 January 1970
Pink Floyd began a 16-date UK and French tour, commencing at University of Nottingham and ending at Leeds University on 28 February. The tour included two gigs in Paris, and the set list included an early version of the piece later known as Atom Heart Mother.
1 March 1970
The band began a week-long recording session at London's Abbey Road studios.
6 March 1970
Pink Floyd were filmed playing for the BBC arts programme 'Line Up'.
11 March 1970
Pink Floyd's eight-date European tour began at Stadthalle, Offenbach, West Germany, and ended on 21 March at Tivolis Koncertsal in Copenhagen, Denmark. The set list included Atom Heart Mother.
18 March 1970
Michelangelo Antonioni's counter-culture movie Zabriskie Point was premiered in New York.
9 April 1970
Pink Floyd's 18-date US tour commenced at New York's Filmore East and ended at New Orleans' Warehouse after the final two scheduled shows in Houston and Dallas were cancelled. The tour included an hour-long live performance filmed by the PBS TV Network in San Francisco.
29 May 1970
The soundtrack to Zabriskie Point was released in the UK, and failed to chart. The tracklisting included three previously unreleased Pink Floyd songs: Come In Number 51 Your Time Is Up; Crumbling Land; and Heart Beat Pig Meat.
27 June 1970
Pink Floyd headlined the second night of the 'Bath Festival Of Blues & Progressive Music'. Their late-night set included Atom Heart Mother, which is introduced to the audience under the title of 'The Amazing Pudding'. The band were augmented by The John Aldiss Choir and The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. One of the brass players later recalled accidentally spilling a pint of beer into their tuba before the performance began.
28 June 1970
Pink Floyd appeared at the Holland Pop Festival in Rotterdam, arriving on stage at 4am.
18 July 1970
Pink Floyd headlined 'Blackhill's Garden Party', a free concert organised by the band's former managers Peter Jenner and Andrew King, in London's Hyde Park. The band were, again, joined by The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and The John Aldiss Choir; tracks played included Atom Heart Mother and Careful With That Axe, Eugene.
26 July 1970
Pink Floyd, their crew, friends and families rented a villa in St Tropez. The band were scheduled to play a handful of festivals in France, but many were cancelled due to civil unrest. Their final date took place on 12 August at a Roman amphitheatre in St Raphael, France.
26 September 1970
Pink Floyd's North American tour began at Philadelphia's Electric Factory and ended on 25 October at the Boston Tea Party.
2 October 1970
Pink Floyd's fourth studio album Atom Heart Mother was released in the UK, and reached No. 1 in the charts. Tracklisting: Atom Heart Mother; If; Summer '68; Fat Old Sun; Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. The name of the cow on the album's front cover was Lulubelle III.
10 October 1970
Atom Heart Mother was released in the US and reached No. 55 in the charts.
6 November 1970
Pink Floyd returned to Europe for a 13-date tour of Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland.
14 November 1970
Syd Barrett's second solo album, Barrett, produced by David Gilmour and Richard Wright, was released in the UK, but fails to chart. Tracklisting: Baby Lemonade; Love Song; Dominoes; It Is Obvious; Rats; Maisie; Gigolo Aunt; Waving My Arms In The Air; I Never Lied To You; Wined And Dined; Wolfpack; Effervescing Elephant.
11 December 1970
Pink Floyd finished the year with a six-date UK tour beginning at Brighton's Regent Theatre and ending on 22 December at Sheffield City Hall.

1960s

6 January 1967
Pink Floyd played 'Freak Out Ethel', a 'happening' at Seymour Hall, Paddington, West London. Eric Clapton and The Who's Pete Townshend later claimed they'd been in the audience.
11 & 12 January 1967
Pink Floyd and producer Joe Boyd spent two days at Chelsea's Sound Techniques Studios, recording and mixing Interstellar Overdrive and Nick's Boogie for the Tonite Let's All Make Love In London soundtrack.
13 January 1967
Pink Floyd, supported by The Giant Sun Trolley, played UFO, London. Film-maker Peter Whitehead recorded their performance. Some of the footage appeared in the video/DVD release Pink Floyd — London 1966-1967.
27 January 1967
Pink Floyd were filmed at UFO for a Granada TV documentary, 'Scene Special', which was broadcast on 7 March 1967.
29 January 1967
Arnold Layne and its B-side Candy And A Currant Bun were recorded at Chelsea's Sound Techniques Studios.
28 February 1967
Pink Floyd signed to EMI Records for an advance of £5,000.
1 March 1967
Recording session for Pink Floyd's debut album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, at Studio 3, Abbey Road Studios, London, with EMI producer Norman Smith. Songs worked on included Chapter 24 and Interstellar Overdrive.
10 March 1967
Pink Floyd's debut single, Arnold Layne (B-side: Candy And A Currant Bun), was released in the UK, and reached No. 20 in the charts. The song was banned by BBC Radio London, who objected to the lyrics about a transvestite underwear thief.
21 March 1967
While recording in Studio 3 at Abbey Road, Pink Floyd were introduced to The Beatles, working on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
30 March 1967
Pink Floyd were filmed for an appearance on 'Top Of The Pops' at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios in West London. The performance was never broadcast because Arnold Layne dropped three places in the charts the following week.
3 April 1967
Pink Floyd performed Candy And A Currant Bun and Arnold Layne for BBC Radio's Light Programme, 'Monday, Monday!'.
8 April 1967
Pink Floyd's ongoing tour stopped off at London's Roundhouse. Support acts included Sam Gopal.
30 April 1967
Pink Floyd performed at dawn at the '14-Hour Technicolor Dream' at London's Alexandra Palace, sharing the bill with Soft Machine, The Pretty Things, and Social Deviants.
12 May 1967
Pink Floyd played the 'Games For May — Space Age Relaxation For The Climax Of Spring' concert at London's prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall. Here, they debuted a new musical gizmo which would later become known as the 'Azimuth Co-ordinator', a joystick-type device used to 'pan' the group's sound around the venue. The band were immediately banned from ever playing the hall again after bubbles from a bubble machine and flowers distributed to the audience were blamed for staining the venue's carpet and seats.
14 May 1967
Roger Waters and Syd Barrett were interviewed by musicologist Dr. Hans Keller for the BBC arts programme 'The Look Of The Week', which also included live performances of Pow R. Toc H. and Astronomy Dominé.
18 May 1967
Pink Floyd commenced recording their second single, See Emily Play, at Chelsea's Sound Techniques Studios. Further sessions continued through May. David Gilmour, who was playing gigs in France with his own band, visited Floyd in the studio during a trip to London.
29 May 1967
Pink Floyd supported Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Tulip Bulb Auction Hall, Spalding, Lincolnshire.
2 June 1967
Pink Floyd played UFO as part of a fund-raising gig for the club's co-founder John 'Hoppy' Hopkins, after his arrest for drug possession.
16 June 1967
See Emily Play (B-side: The Scarecrow) was released as a single in the UK and reached No. 6 in the charts.
6 July 1967
Pink Floyd made their live 'Top Of The Pops' TV debut performing See Emily Play at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios, West London. The band appeared on the show on two further occasions in July.
24 July 1967
See Emily Play was released as a single in the US.
28 July 1967
Pink Floyd's scheduled performance for the BBC's 'Saturday Club' music programme was cancelled at the last minute when Syd Barrett walked out during the recording.
29 July 1967
Pink Floyd performed at the 'International Love-In' festival at London's Alexandra Palace, sharing a bill with The Animals and Cream.
1 August 1967
Pink Floyd's scheduled appearance on German TV's 'Beat Club' was cancelled. The group's managers explained: "Syd is tired and exhausted and has been advised to rest for two weeks". Barrett took a holiday on the island of Formentera.
4 August 1967
Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was released in the UK. The album reached No. 6 in the charts.
9 September 1967
Pink Floyd embarked on a five-date Scandinavian tour, beginning and ending in Denmark. The band's set list included a new composition, Reaction In G.
9 October 1967
Recording ensued for Pink Floyd's next album, A Saucerful Of Secrets, at De Lane Lea Studios, Holborn, London. Further sessions took place throughout October both here and at Abbey Road studios.
21 October
The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was released in the US. It featured a different running order and a tracklisting which included the single See Emily Play. The album peaked at No. 131 in the charts.
4 November 1967
Pink Floyd made their US debut at San Francisco's Winterland Auditorium supporting Big Brother And The Holding Company, featuring Janis Joplin.
6 November 1967
Pink Floyd released a US-only single, Flaming (B-side: The Gnome).
7 November 1967
Pink Floyd made their US TV debut, miming Apples And Oranges on the music programme 'American Bandstand'.
14 November 1967
Pink Floyd began a 16-date UK tour, sharing the bill with Eire Apparent, The Outer Limits, The Move, The Nice, Amen Corner, and headliner The Jimi Hendrix Experience. When Syd Barrett went missing before a gig at Liverpool Empire he was replaced by The Nice's guitarist 'Davy' O'List.
17 November 1967
The band's third single Apples And Oranges (B-side: Paintbox) was released in the UK but failed to chart.
6 December
Pink Floyd played London's Royal College Of Art. David Gilmour was in the audience and was later asked to join the band.
12 December 1967
Pink Floyd were filmed at the North London home of their former landlord and occasional band member Mike Leonard for an edition of the popular science programme 'Tomorrow's World', featuring Leonard's sound and light experiments. The show was broadcast in January 1968.
22 December 1967
Pink Floyd played their final gig as a four-piece with Syd Barrett at London's Olympia Exhibition Hall as part of the 'Christmas On Earth Continued' festival.

12 January 1968
Pink Floyd made their debut as a five-piece with Syd Barrett and David Gilmour at the University of Aston in Birmingham. This line-up performed together on at least three more occasions throughout the month.
26 January 1968
Pink Floyd played their first gig without Syd Barrett at Southampton University. They were supported by Tyrannosaurus Rex, featuring Marc Bolan.
1 February 1968
The band spent the day at Abbey Road studios working on what would become their second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets. Sessions had previously taken place with Syd Barrett and continued with David Gilmour throughout the rest of the month.
17 February 1968
Pink Floyd began a five-date tour of the Netherlands and Belgium. The trip also included a TV appearance for RTB in Brussels (performing new songs, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun and Corporal Clegg, among others) and two performances for ORTV in Paris, including a mimed performance of the single B-side Paintbox.
1 March 1968
Pink Floyd's partnership with management company Blackhill Enterprises was formally dissolved. The band acquired a new manager, Steve O'Rourke, who was initially employed by their booking agents, the Bryan Morrison Agency.
16 March 1968
Pink Floyd played London's hippest nightspot, Middle Earth in Covent Garden. Syd Barrett was among the audience.
28 March 1968
Pink Floyd were filmed playing Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun for the BBC TV arts programme 'Omnibus'. The documentary, about pop music and politics, was later released as a video/DVD entitled All My Loving.
4 April 1968
Pink Floyd began recording background music for the film noir The Committee, featuring former Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones.
19 April 1968
Pink Floyd's debut single with David Gilmour, It Would Be So Nice (B-side: Julia Dream) was released in the UK but failed to chart.
6 May 1968
Pink Floyd were among the attractions at the 'First European International Pop Festival' in Rome, alongside Donovan, The Nice, and Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band.
13 May 1968
Syd Barrett began work on his debut solo album, The Madcap Laughs, at Abbey Road studios.
23 May 1968
Pink Floyd returned to the Netherlands for a further 12-date tour, including two nights at Amsterdam's fabled hippie club The Paradiso. Their set list included new songs such as Let There Be More Light and A Saucerful Of Secrets.
27 May 1968
Recording sessions at Abbey Road continued for A Saucerful Of Secrets album.
12 June 1968
Pink Floyd played the May Ball at King's College, Cambridge.
28 June 1968
Pink Floyd's second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets was released in the UK and reaches No. 9 in the charts. The album sleeve was designed by Hipgnosis, a new company formed by the band's friends Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey 'Po' Powell, who were paid £110 for their efforts.
29 June 1968
Pink Floyd headlined over Tyrannosaurus Rex, Jethro Tull, and Roy Harper at the 'Midsummer High Weekend' in London's Hyde Park.
8 July 1968
Pink Floyd began a 22-date US tour, starting at Chicago's Kinetic Playground and ending on 24 August at The Bank in Los Angeles.
19 July 1968
The soundtrack to Peter Whitehead's film Tonite Let's All Make Love In London, featuring Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett playing Interstellar Overdrive, was released in the UK.
26 September 1968
The Committee, featuring Pink Floyd's music, premiered in London.
4 October 1968
Pink Floyd performed 10 dates in the UK and France, commencing at Mothers in Birmingham and ending at London's Middle Earth on 26 October.
16 November 1968
Pink Floyd played their debut gig in Switzerland at Restaurant Olten-Hammer in Olten. The band played a further two shows in the country.
23 November 1968
Pink Floyd played London's Regent Street Polytechnic, the alma mata of Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason.
6 December 1968
Pink Floyd released a new single, Point Me At The Sky (B-side: Careful With That Axe, Eugene), in the UK. It failed to chart. The single was accompanied by a promo film of the band flying in a Tiger Moth aeroplane at Biggin Hill Aerodrome.
28 December 1968
Pink Floyd replaced advertised headliners The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the 'Flight To Lowlands Paradise II' festival in Utrecht, Netherlands.

10 January 1969
Jimi Hendrix pulled out of a planned gig at London's Fishmonger's Arms (as a warm-up for his Royal Albert Hall shows) and was replaced by Pink Floyd.
1 February 1969
Pink Floyd commenced work at London's Pye Studios on the soundtrack to the French art-house movie More, directed by Barbet Schroeder.
14 February 1969
Pink Floyd's 21-date UK tour began with a Valentine's Day Ball at Loughborough University and ended at St. James' Church Hall, Chesterfield. Support bands included The Moody Blues, Spooky Tooth, and Gandalf's Garden. Floyd also performed one show in France.
10 March 1969
Syd Barrett restarted work at Abbey Road studios on his first solo album, The Madcap Laughs.
14 April 1969
Pink Floyd played 'The Massed Gadgets of Auximines — More Furious Madness from Pink Floyd' at London's Royal Festival Hall. The band premiered two lengthy new compositions, provisionally titled The Man and The Journey, parts of which later appeared as Biding My Time, Grantchester Meadows and Green Is The Colour.
27 April 1969
Pink Floyd played Mothers in Birmingham. DJ John Peel's review of the gig ("sounding like dying galaxies lost in sheer corridors of time and space") was rewarded with a mention in the 'Pseud's Corner' column of the satirical Private Eye magazine. Part of the band's performance of A Saucerful Of Secrets and Astronomy Dominé were included on Floyd's next album, Ummagumma.
15 May 1969
Pink Floyd's 12-date UK tour began at Leeds Town Hall and ended on 23 June at Manchester's Free Trade Hall. The tour included a benefit show at London's Roundhouse for the band Fairport Convention, following the death of their drummer Martin Lamble in a road crash.
31 May 1969
The film More, complete with Pink Floyd's soundtrack, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was never released in the UK.
13 June 1969
Pink Floyd's Soundtrack From The Film More was released in the UK and reached No. 9 in the charts. Tracklisting: Cirrus Minor; The Nile Song; Crying Song; Up The Khyber; Green Is The Colour; Cymbaline; Party Sequence; Main Theme; Ibiza Bar; More Blues; Quicksilver; A Spanish Piece; Dramatic Theme.
23 June 1969
Pink Floyd completed some of the final mixes for Ummagumma. The album contained two vinyl sides of live material and two sides of solo compositions by each of the band members that were recorded intermittently at Abbey Road since March 1969.
26 June 1969
Pink Floyd played 'The Final Lunacy!' show at London's Royal Albert Hall. The show featured the Ealing Central Amateur Choir conducted by Floyd's producer Norman Smith and performance art pieces that included a roadie dressed as a gorilla and band members sawing planks of wood on stage.
20 July 1969
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to walk on the moon. Pink Floyd performed a live improvised jam (later titled Moonhead) in the BBC TV studios to accompany the moonlanding documentary 'So What If It's Just Green Cheese?', which also featured actors Ian McKellan and Judi Dench.
8 August 1969
Pink Floyd appeared at the 'National Jazz Pop Ballads & Blues Festival' at Plumpton Race Track. Also on the bill: Roy Harper; and The Who.
9 August 1969
Pink Floyd's Soundtrack From The Film More was released in the US, but failed to chart.
17 September 1969
Pink Floyd began a nine-date tour of the Netherlands and Belgium, which started in Amsterdam and ended in Brussels.
25 October 1969
Pink Floyd's performance at the 'Actuel Festival' in Amougies, Belgium, was filmed for a TV documentary entitled 'Music Power'. Compere Frank Zappa joined the band on stage for a rendition of Interstellar Overdrive.
7 November 1969
Ummagumma was released in the UK and reached No. 4 in the UK charts. The album was released a day later in the US and reached No. 74. Tracklisting: Astronomy Dominé; Careful With That Axe, Eugene; Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun; A Saucerful Of Secrets (recorded live at Mothers in Birmingham and Manchester College Of Commerce); Sysiphus, Parts 1-4; Grantchester Meadows; Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In a Cave And Grooving With A Pict; The Narrow Way; The Grand Vizier's Garden Party.
15 November 1969
Pink Floyd commenced recording in Rome for the soundtrack to director Michelangelo Antonioni's counter-culture movie Zabriskie Point, and completed the sessions at Abbey Road in January 1970.

Set the Controls

Barrett went his way with Jenner and King, and later recorded two haunting solo albums — on which Waters, Wright and especially Gilmour helped — before retreating to Cambridge for the rest of his life. The other four acquired a new manager — Steve O'Rourke — and in a state of some consternation finished their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (begun the previous year).

Lyrical duties had now fallen to the bassist Roger Waters. And apart from 'Jugband Blues' — a disturbing track by Barrett, who contributed little else — the album's standout moments included the title track and Waters' 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun'.

This hypnotic epic signposted the style the band would expand on in the Seventies, its vision at first more appreciated by an 'intellectual' and European audience. The Floyd played the first free concert in Hyde Park, and laid down the soundtrack for the bizarre Paul Jones movie vehicle, The Committee. They toured continually, developing new material on stage as well as in the studio.

And they worked on the experience, in April 1969 revealing an early form of surround-sound at the Royal Festival Hall — their rebuilt 'Azimuth Co-Ordinator'. (The prototype, first constructed and used in 1967, had been stolen.) They worked on their concepts, too - at that concert, performing two long pieces fusing old and new material, entitled 'The Man' and 'The Journey'.

So their star continued its inevitable ascent. In July, the Floyd released More, less a soundtrack than an accompaniment to Barbet Schroder's eponymous film about a group of hippies on the drug trail in Ibiza. The same month, they played live 'atmospherics' to the BBC's live coverage of the first moon landing. In November, they released the double-album Ummagumma, a mixture of live and studio tracks — and that same month reworked its outstanding number, the eerie 'Careful With That Axe, Eugene', for Antonioni's cult film Zabriskie Point.

With Ummagumma at Number Five in the UK charts, and a growing reputation in both Europe and the US underground, the Floyd played some of the key festivals of their time — Bath, Antibes, Rotterdam, Montreux — and between October 1970 and November 1971, put out two more albums.

Atom Heart Mother, their first Number One, featured the Floyd in their pomp — 'I like a bit of pomp,' says Gilmour (who also made his first lyrical contribution with the gentle 'Fat Old Sun'). And Meddle included two timeless and largely instrumental tracks that showcased their lead guitarist in all his vertiginous, keening glory: 'Echoes', which took up the whole of Side One and began with a single 'ping' created almost accidentally by Wright, and 'One of These Days'.

Increasingly successful, in 1972 the band was still pushing the boundaries. They shot the film 'Live at Pompei' in a Roman amphitheatre, recorded another movie soundtrack for Schroder — Obscured by Clouds — and performed with the Ballet de Marseille. But more importantly, they began to work on an idea that would become their most popular album and with 45 million sold, the world's third biggest.

Provisionally entitled 'Eclipse' and honed through an extensive world tour, The Dark Side of the Moon was released in March 1973, and defies a potted critique here. Demonstrating Waters' talents as both lyricist and conceptualist, it was also a musical tour de force by Gilmour. But Waters was becoming de facto leader of the band — which in public at least was becoming less about the individuals than the experience.

That was (as Barrett had always intended) increasingly visual. The intriguing sleeve artwork commissioned from the ex-Cambridge outfit Hipgnosis was complemented by stage shows featuring crashing aeroplanes, circular projection screens and flaming gongs. There were backing singers on-stage and a guest slot for another pal from Cambridge, the saxophonist Dick Parry. In the dawning age of stadium rock, the Floyd were truly its masters.

Or maybe its servants? Even before Dark Side broke Middle America through FM radio — with the single 'Money' — alienation, isolation and mental fragility had long been Waters' themes. As a stadium performer, and a cog in the music business machine, he was becoming more prone to all three. As Barrett's ex-colleague, he had seen them embodied in his old friend. The results were evident in two of his best lyrics — for 'Shine On, You Crazy Diamond' and 'Wish You Were Here'. These tracks were the high points of the Floyd's next LP, also called Wish You Were Here, which was begun in January 1975 and released that summer.

Famously, Barrett briefly appeared unannounced at Abbey Road during the recording of 'Shine On' and shocked the band by his appearance and demeanour. It was the last time any of them saw him — but they were seeing less of each other, too. Personal and musical differences were starting to tell on the band, though it would be several years until these became unbearable — and two more LPs.

Which One's Pink?

The first was Animals, released in January 1977 (although work had also begun on it in 1975). When this was toured with lavish special effects, including giant inflatables, Waters was dismayed that the crowds kept calling for old hits. In Montreal his patience snapped and he spat into the audience. It was a cathartic moment that gave birth to the Floyd's most ambitious project ever: The Wall, a largely autobiographical reflection by Waters on the nature of love, life and art.

The double album charts the progress of a rock star, 'Pink', facing the break-up of his marriage while on tour. This leads him to review his life from the death of his father - like Waters' killed on the battlefield before he was born - to his spiteful teachers, his business, even his audience. He sees each as a brick in a metaphorical wall between him and the rest of the world. This wall intensifies his isolation, until he imagines the only solution is to become a fascist dictator. When he confronts his madness and deals with his issues, his torments cease and the wall crumbles.

The show — in which the band were slowly obscured by a giant wall of cardboard 'bricks' — was the most ambitious the rock world had ever seen, and was also turned into an Alan Parker film, starring Bob Geldof (who would return to the Floyd story 25 years later). The album sold 20 million, and spawned the band's only Number One single, the anti-authoritarian 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2'.

Though the album had its musical highlights — Gilmour's solo on 'Comfortably Numb' being the most memorable — it was largely a lyrical piece. Waters drove the project and the others fitted in. They ceded their vision to his increasingly personal direction, and worked together on no new material for more than two years.

When they did get back in the studio, it was to record The Final Cut. This prophetically titled album, prompted by the Falklands conflict of 1982 and released the next year, explores themes of remembrance and the undelivered post-war dream — for which Waters' father had given his life. Completely credited to Waters, it was attributed to 'Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd' and featured Gilmour's vocals on one track.

After three years — during which all four band members had pursued solo projects — Waters announced he was leaving the Floyd and disbanding them. Wright had left the legal entity some time before, transferring to the payroll for The Wall tour and playing no part in The Final Cut, but Gilmour and Mason decided to continue Pink Floyd without its erstwhile 'leader'. A turbulent period followed, but agreement was eventually reached: Waters would continue to perform the songs on which he worked while he was with the band, as well as new solo material. Gilmour — now first among equals — and Mason would continue to record and perform with Wright as Pink Floyd.

In 1987 came their next album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason — which emphatically proved that the Floyd could exist without Waters. The subsequent world tour, which also spawned the live Delicate Sound of Thunder, was the band's longest and most successful ever. Over four years, 5.5 million people saw 200 shows, including one on a floating stage in Venice (which again earned them a venue-ban) while Thunder became the first rock album to be played in space, by the Soviet-French Soyuz-7 mission.

1994's album and tour, The Division Bell, broke similar records; but more, it showed Gilmour and the band on a creative roll, with Wright contributing to some of the writing and Gilmour forging a new writing partnership with his wife, the novelist Polly Samson — 'High Hopes' being one of their new classics. However, since then, the Floyd has recorded no new material in the studio.

Not that they have been inactive — nor untouched by sorrows. In 2003, the band's manager Steve O'Rourke died from a stroke and the three-man Floyd played 'Fat Old Sun' and Dark Side's 'Great Gig in the Sky', at his funeral in Chichester Cathedral. In 2006, Syd Barrett died from pancreatic cancer. And in 2008 Rick Wright followed him — but not before he had helped re-write the Pink Floyd story a couple more times.

In 2005, prompted by Bob Geldof, the band decided to perform at Live 8 (on the 20th anniversary of Live Aid) and invited Waters to join them. He accepted and — sharing vocals with Gilmour — they played two numbers from Dark Side, plus 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Comfortably Numb'. It was an epoch-making moment in rock history, and their final group hug became one of Live 8's iconic images.

After that, the three-man Floyd performed together on two occasions — once during a solo gig by Gilmour in 2006 (Wright played the whole three-month tour and was 'in great form', says Gilmour); and again at an all-star memorial tribute to Barrett in 2007. Waters also appeared at the gig but was unable to join his old colleagues due to a previous appointment. Still, that was not the end of their association.

On 10 July 2010, with some of their favourite musicians, Waters and Gilmour performed a few Floyd songs — plus Phil Spector's 'To Know Him Is To Love Him'! — at a private charity event in Oxfordshire. And on 12 May 2011, during one of Waters' Wall concerts at the London O2, Gilmour appeared on top of the wall as of old, to sing and play his parts on 'Comfortably Numb'. Nick Mason, who was at the gig, then joined them for the final song, 'Outside the Wall'. Departing the stage, as they had before, Waters played trumpet, Gilmour mandolin and Mason tambourine. The audience was stunned and delighted.

But a handful of concerts was never going to sate the interest of the diehard fans. In 1995, they were rewarded with the double-album P•U•L•S•E, all recorded on the Division Bell tour and containing the first complete live version of Dark Side. A live compilation of The Wall from 1980-1 — called Is There Anybody Out There? — followed in 2000, and then a re-mastered 'best of', called Echoes. There have also been collectors' editions of Dark Side, a complete works box-set — Oh, By the Way — and now (autumn 2011) an extensive reissue campaign by EMI, with new packaging and production values, not to mention some rare and archival recordings that go back to the Barrett days.

Nor, as individuals, have the survivors from those times been strangers to the studio or stage these last dozen or so years (and before). Gilmour put out his third solo album, On an Island, in 2006; Waters has had a prolific and varied career since 1986; Mason and Wright released one or two collaborative albums respectively.

There have been awards and honours along the way: induction into both the US and UK Rock 'n' Roll Halls of Fame; Sweden's Polar Music Prize in 2008 for their 'monumental contribution over the decades to the fusion of art and music in the development of popular culture'. And in 2010, The Royal Mail used Division Bell visuals on their stamps, also creating a unique sheet using only the Floyd's imagery.

So is that the end of the Floyd's road? Do they still exist? Will they perform and record again? It now seems highly unlikely that the surviving members will ever convene under the name chosen by Syd Barrett, nor under it make new music. But who's to say? For at the heart of Pink Floyd, there has always been an enigma...