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The Dark Side Of The Moon 50th Anniversary lights up New York

Happy release day! As you are probably aware, today sees the release of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon 50th Anniversary deluxe box set, official book, and Live At Wembley 1974 standalone CD and vinyl (https://www.brain-damage.co.uk/latest/pink-floyds-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-50th-anniversary-box-set-anno.html) and there’s been plenty of coverage all over, celebrating this remarkable anniversary. Some places have done special things to mark the 50th – Milan have recreated the iconic cover in Duomo Square, using carefully arranged lights to render the colours coming out of the prism. We’ll hopefully have pictures of that shortly. Over in New York City, the Empire State Building have paid their own tribute, including the prism spectrum in their mast from sunset, which should be visible across Manhattan, and further afield, via their webcam. Here’s a drone’s eye look at it: We hope those of you who have already bought items from the 50th Anniversary range – the box set, book, standalone items or even merchandise – are pleased with what you have, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on what has arrived today!

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Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets – Playing Pompeii!

dalessandroegalli.com (http://www.dalessandroegalli.com/events/769/nick-masons-saucerful-of-secrets). The Teatro Grande is thought to have been built in the second century BC, carved into the lava mass on which Pompeii was originally built. It was one of the first permanent stone theatres in the Roman empire, and used to seat around 5,000. It was preserved – as the rest of the site was – by the devastating volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and these days for events caters for around 3,000 audience members. Should be a magical place to see the band in action on their 2023 Echoes Tour (https://www.brain-damage.co.uk/nick-mason-s-sos-2023/index.php), which is also heading to Australia for a string of shows in September.

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Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon 50th anniversary box set announced

Following on from this week’s teaser videos, and whispers and rumours abounding, the official announcement has been made today for Pink Floyd’s celebration of the 50 years since the release of The Dark Side Of The Moon. Apart from a deluxe box set, which is released on March 24th, 2023, there are also standalone releases, Planetarium presentations of the album, and a competition aimed at animators. Rest assured, we have all the details for you here. First, the box set: As you might be able to determine from the picture, the new deluxe box set includes a CD and gatefold vinyl of the new 2023 remastered studio album, and Blu-Ray and DVD audio discs featuring the original 5.1 mix and remastered stereo versions. The set also includes an additional Blu-ray disc of the new Atmos mix plus a CD and vinyl (for the first time) of The Dark Side Of The Moon – Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974. There’s also a 76-page music book, replicas of two 7″ singles, posters, stickers, a replica invite to the press preview of the album at London Planetarium in February 1973, and Thames & Hudson’s 160-page hardback book with rare and previously unseen photographs from the 1972-1975 tours taken by Jill Furmanovsky, Peter Christopherson, Aubrey Powell, and Storm Thorgerson. For full details – and ordering details – please see below. On the same day, 24th March, the CD and LP of The Dark Side Of The Moon – Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974 will be released separately from the box set. It was originally recorded in November 1974 as part of the band’s winter tour and this is the first time it will be available as a stand-alone album, with artwork featuring an original 1973 line-drawn cover by George Hardie. The book Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon: 50th Anniversary (which we talked about here on 14th October 2022) will also be published separately by Thames & Hudson on 24th March 24 to coincide with the box set release (which includes it). Curated by photographer Jill Furmanovsky and art directed by Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey Powell, this LP-sized volume showcases rare and previously unseen photographs taken during The Dark Side Of The Moon tours of 1972-1975 and was created with the involvement of the band members. The 50th Anniversary release will also be celebrated as Pink Floyd have invited a new generation of animators to enter a competition to create music videos for any of the 10 songs on the iconic 1973 album. Pink Floyd has a rich history of collaborating with animators from the beginnings of the band (Ian Emes, Gerald Scarfe etc.), and in some cases the visuals that accompany the songs have become synonymous with the music itself. The 50th Anniversary will be no exception.

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Happy Christmas; Abbey Road film and Floyd live recordings released

Well, it’s that time of year when would like to take this opportunity to thank you all so much for your support and kindness – the site is done purely for you, and as the current version of the site alone approaches 100 million visitors (with the previous version of the site reaching 21 million), we look forward to continuing to bring you news and information from the Floydian world! Whatever your plans for Christmas, the Holidays, and the New Year we hope you have a peaceful, happy and healthy time, and here’s to 2023! Roger Waters will be touring again with his striking This Is Not A Drill, this time in Europe, and fingers are crossed that Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets head out on the road again after such a superb 2022 tour. There’s also the small matter of the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side Of The Moon, of which there’s already been a couple of books (one of which is billed as an official publication) announced. In the meantime, there’s a couple of bits of interest which should help you tick away the moments that make up what would otherwise be a dull day! First, for those with access to the Disney+ streaming service, there’s a new documentary by Mary McCartney called If These Walls Could Sing. This is an absolutely fascinating look at London’s EMI Studios (as they used to be known) in Abbey Road. As befitting a place which has had so many top musicians through its hallowed doors, the documentary features new interviews with many of them, and from a Pink Floyd perspective, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Roger Waters all talk about their experiences there. A solid and absorbing look at the building and the work undertaken there. The second thing, which will probably take up a lot more of your time, is this. As could be almost seen as a bit of a Christmas present to the fans, the band have quietly released a number of 1972 recordings on the various streaming services, and also the band’s official YouTube channel. The quality is rather variable – and some of the dates/venues aren’t necessarily 100% correct – but the shows give a fascinating insight into the development of The Dark Side Of The Moon. The earliest recordings are amongst the first full public performances of the initial version of the album, which underwent many dramatic changes as they refined aspects on the road before heading into the recording studio where songs changed heavily again, to what we all now know and love. The 1972 recordings released are listed with dates and venues as per the original bootlegs, and show as: Southampton Guildhall, UK, 23 January; Carnegie Hall, New York, 5 February (actually 2 May); Rainbow Theatre, London 17, 18, 19, 20 February; Taiikukan, Tokyo, Japan, 3 March (probably 6 March); Osaka Festival Hall, Japan, 8 March; Nakajima Sports Centre, Sapporo, Japan, 13 March; Chicago Auditorium Theatre, USA, 28 April; Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany, 18 May; Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, 22 September; Empire Pool, Wembley, London, 21 October; Ernst-Merck Halle, Hamburg, Germany, 12 November; Palais des Sports, Poitiers, France 29 November; Palais des Sports de L’Ile de la Jatte, Saint Ouen, France, 1 December; Vorst Nationaal, Brussels, Belgium, 5 December; Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland 9 December; “Alternative Tracks 1972”. As with the batch released last year focused on 1971, these are not expected to be around for long, so make the most of them over the holiday and new year period before they disappear! Our thanks to those who emailed to let us know about these.

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New Japanese book: Pink Floyd Live Tour In Japan 1971-1988

Pink Floyd Live Tour In Japan 1971-1988 (https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/4401650603/) is a large format (roughly A4 sized, or 11.7 inches by 8.3 inches, and almost an inch thick) book of more than 300 pages, which majors on photos of the band, principally when they were in that country at various points. The book is part of the publisher’s Live Tour In Japan series, which has already focused on Rainbow, Van Halen, Queen, and Led Zeppelin, and continues the tradition of those books with many pictures of Pink Floyd which are great, and have never been published before (including multiple shots from the same session). They’ve also included unseen pictures from outside Japan too, reprinted live reports (in Japanese) and suchlike. The list of contents gives a good idea of what to expect, visually:
■ August 1971 Press Conference – Hakone Aphrodite
■ Reprint Live Report (August 6, 1971)
■ March 1972 Haneda Airport – Press Conference – Tokyo Gymnasium
■ 1971 & 1972 Osaka Festival Hall – Performance Retrospective
■ August 1974 London Hyde Park – Roy Harper & Heavy Friends (David Gilmour)
■ November 1974 London Empire Pool – British Winter Tour 1974
■ March 18, 1977 London Empire Pool – In The Flesh UK Tour
■ July 1977 New York Madison Square Garden – In The Flesh US Tour
■ May 1984 New York – About Face US Tour
■ October 1987 New York Madison Square Garden – A Momentary Lapse Of Reason US Tour
■ March 1988 Press Conference – Nippon Budokan – A Momentary Lapse Of Reason Japan Tour
■ Reprint Live Report (March 4, 1988)
■ Japanese concert Hakone Aphrodite performance of Pink Floyd
■ Testimony 1 – Hakone Day 2 Contribution from experienced people
■ Testimony 2 – Daiji Okai [Yonin Bayashi] Long Interview The book is now available from Japanese retailers, including Amazon Japan (https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/4401650603/) who will ship the book worldwide (and as we found, very quickly too!).