Black Holes In The Sky

Photo: Jill Furmanovsky

It’s the 1974 British Winter. Plink Floyd has added three new songs taking up the entire first set and revamped and improved their production for The Dark Side of The Moon set. OFFICIALLY released from two immersion sets and the Early Years box set, from Empire Pool, 15. November 1974.  Listen to this podcast to find out how you can WIN a very cool A3 print of the image shown from Rockarchive.com!  Click the playlist for more details! Good luck!

 

28 thoughts on “Black Holes In The Sky

    • Sounds like a great name for a Pink Floyd tribute band! Go for it! (I don’t have guests on my show but thanks for the offer)

  1. can anyone tell me what source was used for the immersion version of this show? was it a band recording or a polished fan recording?
    to the doc, as always, KUDOS and thnx.
    happy new year to you son!

  2. ok so someone else asked..I figure I might as well..is this the show that the pf mgmnt put the kibosh on a few years back?..cause really they do sound sort of off key and brutal..especially at the beginning..took them a while to tune in sort of..just curious..and just my opinion..just like assholes..everyone has one

  3. Is this the same podcast as the secret Facebook posting of the 1974 Wembley show? Haven’t had a chance to this one yet, but I’m guessing it’s likely the same one. Great presentation on that previous airdate, using the latest official PF live recordings. Did want to note that I enjoyed the detailed remembrance Andy Gibbons posted above. That anecdote about Roger dissing the fan for shouting out Controls is so classic and hilarious! Thanks for all you do, Matt. . .

  4. This is one of my favorite periods for live Floyd; the excitement of new music from future albums WYWH and Animals, quiet appreciative crowds without firecrackers, and this is definitely the cleanest version I’ve heard of this concert. Thanks for the audio magic, Doc!

    On a related note, can you accept donations through any other mechanism than Paypal? Venmo or something similar? I’m not a Paypal fan.

  5. Always Enjoyed this 1974 Tour, early versions of songs to come, the band was very tight…..Just wished better recordings existed from this short tour…thank you for sharing…Stay Safe

  6. A classic show/podcast. I listen to this show at least once a week, I love when Dave calls out Dick to being the sax in Money. Fingers crossed on the print!

      • Hi Doc I wrote this for a book of fan accounts of Floyd gigs:

        In the winter of 1974 the Pink Floyd Wembley shows were the hottest ticket in town. So I was disappointed, but not surprised, when my cheque was returned without a ticket. Luckily a friend who didn’t want his gave me a pair.

        When we got to the venue I picked up a copy of the programme which was set out like a comic book. It also included lyrics for new songs with unfamiliar titles: ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’, ‘Raving and Drooling’ and ‘You’ve Gotta Be Crazy’. They were dark and tinged with madness.
        Our seats were high up stage left rather than on the floor of the auditorium, so the view was narrow. Looking around there were four sets of speakers placed round the arena as well as the big PA stacks at the front.

        The lights dimmed and the four members of the band came on stage. A synth echoed eerily round the darkened hall. A ghostly voice sang the line ‘Wouldn’t you miss me at all’ from Syd Barrett’s ‘Dark Globe’ then Dave Gilmour played four reverberating notes over and over: had he forgotten what came next? A pause, then the band crashed in with a driving crescendo. The next twenty minutes unfolded a new piece, built around a slow blues with a stately, haunting chorus. This was one of the first ever performances of ‘Shine on you Crazy Diamond’.

        The next song sounded like a re-working of One of These Days but with lyrics and in a much more aggressive style than Dark Side Of The Moon. It seemed to be meandering along, until Gilmour came in with an energising descending guitar run, filling the space with chiming chords.

        At this point there were shouts from the audience for ‘Set the Controls’, but Roger responded defiantly ‘This is 1974’, and got a round of applause. He then pointedly said ‘This is another new song’.

        This was another lengthy piece, opening with urgent, shifting chords segueing into a melodious guitar theme. Again, the lyrics were about death and madness: ‘You Gotta Be Crazy’ closed the first set.

        A quick visit to the bar and merch stalls was shortened by the unmistakeable sound of a heartbeat. We rushed back to our seats only to find the lights still up in the arena. Eventually a small dot appeared on the screen at the back of the stage, growing larger as the sound grew louder. Once again the lights dimmed and the immortal phrase ‘I’ve been mad for fucking years’ came from the speakers. Supplementing the four piece band were Dick Parry and a group of female backing singers. The next hour brought an excellent performance of Dark Side Of The Moon which was rapturously received by the crowd.

        The band returned for the encore but the stage was still dark. Pressed for time, they played the opening note of Echoes with the stage lights down. This continued through the first few minutes of the song, but eventually the lights came up to a round of applause. Images of waves from the surfing film ‘Crystal Voyager’ were projected on the screen. Dick Parry played a sax solo on the track as a variation on the LP version and the backing vocalists filled out the sound. The ‘seabirds’ section was impressive with dry ice flooding the stage, which was bathed in green light.

        It was a spectacular ending to a concert of two halves: interesting but raw new material and inspired performances of recorded tracks. It was a privilege to have seen the band at the height of their powers, even though some press reviews were less complimentary.

          • Thanks. I realise listening to the podcast that Dick Parry doesn’t play on this version of Echoes. Confusing it with Knebworth 75 which I was also at! Would be great to hear a Doctored version of that gig

        • So cool that you posted this, As I was about to ask if anyone knew what the weird musical interjection was (11:16 to 11: 25) at the beginning of Shine On. It actually sounds like it’s recording of Roger singing Dark Globe, which makes some kind of sense because he would talk about how we like to sing it in the bath, so clearly a favourite of his! What is really fascinating about this shows how different performances from the officially release version, not least the removal of that bit.

  7. There you go, expanding both the podcast concept as well as my Floyd library! Let’s hope the shipping costs to Sweden doesn’t disqualify me in the contest, will be happy to chip in if it comes to that.

  8. Stunning as always. I love the early versions of Dogs and Sheep(you gotta be crazy and raving and drooling) plus shine on make for excellent first half. Dark side of the moon just gets better with each performance.
    As always Matt, pure excellence. Keep up the good work.

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