Pink Floyd broke a lot of rules, blew up at least one stadium scoreboard and watched an expensive inflatable pyramid vanish into the sky after just one use on their Wish You Were Here tour.
Defying the music industry convention that you tour to promote a new album after you release that new album, the group launched the 29-date tour on April 8, 1975, more than five months before the release of the Wish You Were Here album.
In addition to previewing the album-dominating nine-part suite “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and Wish You Were Here‘s lone single “Have a Cigar,” Pink Floyd treated fans to early versions of “Sheep” and “Dogs” from their next studio album, 1977’s Animals. In fact, they had already debuted many of those songs during their 1974 tours of France and Great Britain.
“Our stage show benefited from a much higher professional input,” drummer Nick Mason said of the 1975 tour in his autobiography Inside Out, noting that the band hired a special effects expert from the James Bond films for the shows. “Previously our special effects had been a dangerous mixture of imagination and passing acquaintance with the pyrotechnic arts.”
Still, the band found a way to get into trouble even with expert help. Needing to dispose of the remaining munitions from their American dates before crossing the border into Canada, they decided to do so by attaching them to the scoreboard at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium, then detonating them. “The explosion was devastating,” recalled Mason. “The board erupted in smoke, flame and scores of a thousand goals a side. Not only did we have to pay for a replacement scoreboard but also a great deal of glass for the neighboring houses.”
Another Spinal Tap moment occurred when the band designed a house-sized inflatable pyramid that was meant to float over their outdoor shows. “The slightest breath of wind would set the entire structure shuddering and wobbling,” recalled Mason. The first time the group attempted to use it, June 20th in Pittsburgh, things went so badly that the crew were instructed to just cut it loose, after which it crashed in the parking lot and was torn to shreds by souvenir-seeking fans.
Despite all the attention Pink Floyd dedicated to the visual presentation of their live concerts, none of the Wish You Were Here tour shows professionally documented. “I’m sorry we never filmed and recorded a Dark Side, Animals or Wish You Were Here show,” drummer Nick Mason told Rolling Stone in 2018. “The problem was we just hit a period where everyone was paranoid about bootleggers and didn’t tape shows.”
Luckily, famed bootlegger Mike “The Mic” Millard was on the case. As Rolling Stone noted in 2021, Millard used a fake wheelchair to smuggle a tape recorder into shows at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, wired the machine up to microphones on his hat and simply walked to the front of the venue. In this manner he got high quality recordings of artists such as Rush, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, who even used some of his tapes on their self-titled 2003 DVD.
He also captured what many consider the best recording of Pink Floyd’s 1975 tour, which through the use of modern audio technology has had its sound even further improved in recent years. You can listen to the entire show below.
As for video, the best source seems to be 27-minutes of 8mm footage from the band’s June 28th show in Hamilton, Canada, which has been converted to 4K quality. That footage can also be found below, along with another high-quality audio recording of that same show.
Hear Pink Floyd’s April 26, 1975 Concert
Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here 1975 Tour Set List
First Set:
1. “Raving and Drooling” (later known as “Sheep” from 1977’s Animals)
2. “You’ve Got to Be Crazy” (later known as “Dogs” from 1977’s Animals)
3. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts I-V” (from 1975’s Wish You Were Here)
4. “Have a Cigar” (from Wish You Were Here)
5. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts VI-IX” (from Wish You Were Here)
Second Set: The Dark Side of the Moon
6. “Speak to Me”
7. “Breathe”
8. “On the Run”
9. “Time / Breathe” (Reprise)
10. “The Great Gig in the Sky”
11. “Money”
12. “Us and Them”
13. “Any Colour You Like”
14. “Brain Damage”
15. “Eclipse”
Encore:
16. “Echoes” (from 1971’s Meddle)
Pink Floyd Albums Ranked
Three different eras, one great band.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
