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MAIN EVENT | David is asked to join the band around the eve of 1968
Tim Renwick:
«I actually remember bumping into Dave the that night he was asked to join Pink Floyd, which is another interesting point of reference. Little did I know that I would end up playing in the same band 25 years later»
Guitar World, September 1994
Gilmour:
« Je pense que j'étais le meilleur choix : j'avais de la voix, une certaine technique à la guitare et, en plus, je venais du même coin et du même milieu qu'eux.»
«Prétentieux nous l’étions dans Pink Floyd», Télérama, Décembre 2001
Aubrey Powell :
«When David joined Pink Floyd, he bought an old Land Rover. He said, ‘Let’s go to Morocco.’ We had very long hair, right down to our waists, and we drove down to Spain – Franco’s Spain – with his then girlfriend. He had all this cash with him, but not one hotel on the drive from the Spanish border at France down to southern Spain would take us.
We used to sleep in the Land Rover every night in car parks: me in the front and him and his girlfriend in the back. Everywhere we went in Spain, they shouted ‘Beatles!’ and spat at us. It was quite intimidating. You could get arrested for being a hippy in those days. When we got down to southern Spain they wouldn’t let us into Morocco without us cutting our hair. We pulled into Valencia airport and I saw there was a flight going to Ibiza. I said, ‘David, I’m going to take a flight to Ibiza and take the boat to Formentera.’ He decided to go back to Paris and catch a plane to Morocco and meet up with the other members of Floyd. They’d all flown down there to do a bit of writing and doubtless sample various substances in the Rif mountains. That was the first big adventure I had with David»
«Coming back to life», Uncut, September 2015
Nick Mason:
«I knew him anyway because he was a friend of Syd and Roger’s, a great guitar player and a great singer. Syd was beginning to crumble [from drugs and mental health issues] so Dave was sort of the salvation of the group»
«Nick Mason «I remember»», Reader Digest Website.
REHEARSALS | From6 to 9 January 1968. Three days of rehearsals in a West London school hall.
First days for David Gilmour who join the band firstly as a fifth member
David Gilmour:
«It was an open page. My initial ambition was just to get the band into some sort of shape. It seems ridiculous now, but I thought the band was awfully bad at the time when I joined. The gigs I'd seen with Syd were incredibly undisciplined. The leader figure was falling apart, and so was the band».
«Pink Floyd: The Inside Story», Rolling Stone, November 1987
Roger Waters:
«It was always my plan that Syd would stay on as a sort of Brian Wilson character and write, but he was too ill, so the rest of us were forced into writing, or else going back to being architects»
«The Full Spectrum», Mojo, July 2018.
Aubrey Powell:
«When the Floyd asked David to join, I remember going down to the studio with them. Syd was trying to play the guitar with Nick and David, and he couldn't function, he couldn't play the guitar properly, it was the saddest thing you've ever seen. He didn't even know what he was doing there. He tried to play 'Back Door Man', I'll always remember that. So David slowly moved into the band, and then I remember that suddenly Syd was not there. But David was very shy about joining Pink Floyd, very uncertain. Here was a guy who was normally used to playing R&B numbers - I mean, if you're ever heard David play 'Hey Joe', it's unbelievable; he was incredibly good at mimicry of other artists, particularly guitarists. So stepping into the psychedelic world was really strange for him, and stepping into Syd's shoes felt most uncomfortable. Many times at those early gigs he used to play with his back to the audience - it was almost like he was feeling his way (…)»
«To Infinity... And Beyond!», Uncut, May 2019
Nick Mason:
«I knew him anyway because he was a friend of Syd and Roger’s, a great guitar player and a great singer. Syd was beginning to crumble [from drugs and mental health issues] so Dave was sort of the salvation of the group»
«Nick Mason «I remember»», Reader Digest Website.
Tim Renwick:
«I actually remember bumping into Dave the that night he was asked to join Pink Floyd, which is another interesting point of reference. Little did I know that I would end up playing in the same band 25 years later»
Guitar World, September 1994
Gilmour:
« Je pense que j'étais le meilleur choix : j'avais de la voix, une certaine technique à la guitare et, en plus, je venais du même coin et du même milieu qu'eux.»
«Prétentieux nous l’étions dans Pink Floyd», Télérama, Décembre 2001
Aubrey Powell :
«When David joined Pink Floyd, he bought an old Land Rover. He said, ‘Let’s go to Morocco.’ We had very long hair, right down to our waists, and we drove down to Spain – Franco’s Spain – with his then girlfriend. He had all this cash with him, but not one hotel on the drive from the Spanish border at France down to southern Spain would take us. We used to sleep in the Land Rover every night in car parks: me in the front and him and his girlfriend in the back. Everywhere we went in Spain, they shouted ‘Beatles!’ and spat at us. It was quite intimidating. You could get arrested for being a hippy in those days. When we got down to southern Spain they wouldn’t let us into Morocco without us cutting our hair. We pulled into Valencia airport and I saw there was a flight going to Ibiza. I said, ‘David, I’m going to take a flight to Ibiza and take the boat to Formentera.’ He decided to go back to Paris and catch a plane to Morocco and meet up with the other members of Floyd. They’d all flown down there to do a bit of writing and doubtless sample various substances in the Rif mountains. That was the first big adventure I had with David»
«Coming back to life», Uncut, September 2015
David Gilmore (Gilmour) letter to his parents
stating his inclusion in the band.
PHOTO SESSION | 8 January 19868 Peter Jenner did an historical photo session with the five members of the band after a rehearsal session
The complete series has been first published on 1994 although some were published in «Disc & Music Echo« on January 1970.
Photographies by David LARCHER
RECORDING SESSION| 10 January 1968 The band enters in Studio 2 of EMI Studios
First work as five-members band
RECORDING SESSION| 11 January 1968 Recording session in Studio 2 of EMI Studios
The band is working on Set the Controls and Scream thy last scream by overdubbing
CONCERT DATE| 12 January 1968 «Guild of Students», University of Aston, Birmingham, England
First of the gigs with a Five-man combinaison. Syd appear to have more trouble. It appears that Syd knew what was up and didn't like it. Barrett went and stood onstage right in front of Gilmour, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were in the middle of playing a show. Syd then began walking around Gilmour, his childhood friend, like a panther, as if checking that Dave was a three dimensional objects in the words of Floyd roadie Iain Emo Moore, checking that he was real. It was as if Syd was thinking: «Am I dreaming this ?»
David Gilmour:
«There were jolly moments. Two or three of us in a row including Syd, doing a jig in a dressing room before going on stage»
Nick Mason:
«I always maintain that we looked after Syd very, very badly, but we didn’t know any better. We didn’t recognise what was going on. because we were all so focused on wanting the band to be a success. He really should haw retired three, four, six months carter. We should haw wabed what was happening and gone our separate ways. But we didn't because we thought we needed him. and we didn't know enough about what was going on»
« Dark globe», Uncut, May 2020
David Gilmour:
«It was tragic, really. There were five gigs we did together. We've got a bit of film of Syd in a dressing room somewhere at one of those gigs, and he dances this little jig, a little dance, and he's all smiling and laughing. But you look at him and go: 'Oh God, no, tragic.' Poor chap. I can't remember much about it. I was brand new and I think they knew I'd be taking over»
«David Gilmour interview: the past, the present, and the future of Pink Floyd», Classic Rock, 12 August 2015.
CONCERT DATE| 13 January 1968 «Saturday Dance Date», Winter Gardens Pavilion, Weston-Super-Mare, England
David Gilmour:
«I knew all the guys in the band and they wanted to get rid of Syd. I was approached discreetly beforehand and it was put about in a very strange Way and what did in fact happen was that I joined the band while Syd Barrett was still in it and for about a month we were a five piece band. Horrible wasn’t it ? In fact they didn’t know exactly what they wanted to do except that they didn’t want to have Syd performing but they rather wanted to hang onto his talent of song writing.»
«Pink Floyd' The mad scientists of this age», Grapevine, 16 January 1972
RECORDING SESSION|15 and 16 January 1968 Rehearsals of the band in a West London school. Prior to the first recording sessions for the new LP, Syd Barrett presents a new song called Have you got it yet ?
Nick Mason:
« We were teaching Dave the numbers with the idea we were going to be a five piece. But Syd came in with some new material. The song went Have you got it yet ? and he kept changing it so that no one could learn it »
«Pink Floyd», Zigzag 32, March 1973
Roger Waters:
«It was a real act of mad genius. The interesting thing about it was that I didn't suss it out at all. I stood there for about an hour while he was singing 'Have you got it yet?' trying to explain that he was changing it all the time so I couldn't follow it. He'd sing « Have you got it yet ? » and I'd sing « No, no ». Terrific! »
Nick Mason:
« « Have You Got It Yet ? » was around this time. probably a little bit later. Funnily enough, that's the only song that I remember Syd playing to us ever - it's unforgettable, really. We Just spent an hour or two hours learning nothing. Just nonsense. It was intentional. I think - a Joke, but who knows ?»
« Dark Globe », Uncut, May 2020
RECORDING SESSION|18 January 1968 Recording at EMI Studios The band is working on Let there be more light.
CONCERT DATE|19 January 1968 Town Hall, Lewes, England
Music enthusiast Norman Ashdown, who was on the club’s management committee, thought bringing big name bands to Lewes would make money. As well as thinking up the idea, he did all the legwork, from booking the groups and the Town Hall to organizing the publicity and bar. Pink Floyd were not actually Norman’s first choice. He first tried for Jimi Hendrix but found the £700 asking price too high. Instead he got Floyd for £500!
Norman’s son Mark Ashdown (was seventeen in 1968):
«Because my dad was the Promoter, I remember being allowed backstage in the dressing rooms. I got to sit next to Rick Wright on his keyboards but all I could manage to play was chopsticks. They were a really nice bunch of guys. To around five hundred people, the band played two forty-five minute sets including tracks from «Piper at the Gates of Dawn». The set included ìSet the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Flaming and Interstellar Overdrive. And when the band started Careful with that axe Eugene (probably Pow Toc H) everyone was asked to sit down on the floor and watch the light show. ìIt was amazing remembers Mark Almost like meditation»
David Gilmour:
«We did a few gigs with both Syd and I … But it was obvious that it wasn’t going to continue for long»
«Dave Gilmour: 30 Years of Floyd», Total Guitar, July 1995
Richard Thompson (friend and musician of Fairport Convention):
«I missed Syd. I thought he wrote wonderful songs and had a great, whimsical sense of humour. When he qui, the band changes - they got a real guitar player, but something disappeared».
«To Infinity ... And Beyond!», Uncut, May 2019
David Gilmour:
« In 1968 I was certainly nervous about people saying I was a pale imitation of Syd ant that we were a pale imitation without him »
« Caught in the Crossfire », Mojo Special Edition, 2020.
CONCERT DATE|20 January 1968 Pavilion Ballroom, Hastings Pier, Hastings, England
This gig was the last concert of the Floyd with Syd Barrett.
Nick Mason:
«I don’t really remember that gig. I know we did it; there were only two or three of those combined five-piece things. But Hastings Pier wouldn’t have been our finest moment in terms of the fanbase ».
«Scream thy last scream », Uncut, November 2016.
Colin Bell (Resident Backstage roadie):
«i was there working backstage each week. Yes David Gilmour did play that night & Syd was certainly disintegrating. My lasting memory was of me and Rick Wright the keyboard player standing outside on the Pier deck about an hour before they went on restraining a clearly ‘high’ Syd from jumping off the railings who thought he could fly with the seagulls! It was an interesting night! »
« Colin Bell, backstage helper on the Pier, 1960s », Hastingpiersarchive.co.uk Website.
David Gilmour:
«Sometimes he sang and sometimes he didn’t … And on the sixth show, we would have done together, we just never picked him up».
RECORDING SESSION|24 January 1968 Recording at EMI Studios The band is working on a new Rick Wright’s song, See Saw (aka The most boring song I’ve ever heard Bar 2).
PRESS MENTION | 26 January 1968 First press report about the arrival of Dave.
David Gilmour:
«I knew all the guys in the band and they wanted to get rid of Syd. I was approached discreetly beforehand and it was put about in a very strange Way and what did in fact happen was that I joined the band while Syd Barrett was still in it and for about a month we were a five piece band. Horrible wasn’t it ? In fact they didn’t know exactly what they wanted to do except that they didn’t want to have Syd performing but they rather wanted to hang onto his talent of song writing.»
«Pink Floyd' The mad scientists of this age», Grapevine, 16 January 1972
Interviewer: «Did Syd leave voluntarily?»
Nick Mason: «Yes».
David Gilmour: «Ummmmmm, no».
Nick Mason: «Well I mean it’s really hard to explain».
David Gilmour: «In his frame of mind you couldn’t really say whether he left voluntarily or not».
Nick Mason: «I mean the whole thing was totally political right. We didn’t intend to get rid of him, we’d got a sort of rough framework for staying together and the management we had then believed that Syd was talented and he was being elbowed. He was more or less forced to leave not by us. It’s impossible to explain just how elaborate the whole thing was at the time, because we were not like we are now in so much as we had no concept of the fact that we would have any success at all without Syd. I mean we were terrified, we were terrified, well we weren’t terrified because we’d been taken right to the edge by Syd, we’d really had it, we’d all been totally screwed up. But we didn’t really know what we wanted to do at all so it was very nebulous».
«Pink Floyd' The mad scientists of this age», Grapevine, 16 January 1972
«The Pink Floyd have become a five-man group with the addition of 21-year-old singer-guitarist David Gilmur (sic). His joining them will allow the Pink Floyd to maintain their basic four-piece unit at the same time as freeing one to the group to explore new instruments and add further experimental dimensions to their already distinctive sound. Gilmur, a close friend of Syd Barretts (sic) and Roger Waters from Cambridge has been rehearsing with the rest of the Floyd for several weeks ans is now working with them on both live appearances and their currently heavy recording schedule. The new five-member Floyd embark on their first European tour on february 18th, which includes a performance at the First European International Pop Festival in Rome»
«The Pink Floyd», Record Mirror, 26 January 1968
Picture by Nick MASON
Interviewer: « When did you assume the leadership of the Pink Floyd ? Was it when Syd went ? »
Waters: « Yes, It was straight after we had split up with Syd. I'm sure you would get arguments about that from the other 'boys', but I simply took responsibility, largely because no-one else seemed to want to do it, and that is graphically illustrated by the fact that I started to write most of the material from then on, I'm perfectly happy being a leader. In fact, I know I can be an oppressive personality because I bubble with ideas and schemes, and in a way it was easier for the others simply to go along with me. We rarely used to see each other socially, although I used to get on with Nick Mason alright. For a limited time, in the early days of the group, we did mix socially. Because there is something rather appealing about a group together on the road. But that soon palls. And things like families make sure that cycle comes to an end ».
Q Magazine, June 1987
Interviewer: «When you joined, was Roger leading the band ?»
Gilmour: « I think he was trying to keep it all going. I don’t think Roger had any big ego about wanting to be the writer any more than anyone else. Later, maybe, but not at the beginning. And he certainly didn’t want to sing anything. He got me to sing just about everything »
Q Magazine, June 1987
CONCERT DATE| 26 January 1968 Student's Union, Southampton University, Southampton, England
Pink Floyd played their first gig without Syd Barrett at Southampton University. They were supported by Tyrannosaurus Rex, featuring Marc Bolan.
Gilmour:
«If he had stayed the Floyd would have died an ignominious death. Sometimes you must carry out decisions which are tough for you to make and tougher for other people to take. We had no choice»
«Syd - semi detached ?», Sounds, 25 January 1968
Mason:
«I always maintain that we looked after Syd very, very badly, but we didn’t know any better. We didn’t recognise what was going on. because we were all so focused on wanting the band to be a success. He really should haw retired three, four, six months later. We should haw wabed what was happening and gone our separate ways. But we didn't because we
thought we needed him. and we didn't know enough about what was going on»
«Dark Globe», Uncut, May 2020
MAIN EVENT | Peter Jenner try to set up a free festival at Hyde Park by asking help to the ministry of public building and works.
PHOTO SESSION| Prior their European tour, the Belgian magazine «Fabulous 208» send a photographer, Stuart McINTYRE
It would be the first 4-man photo session
Pictures by Stuart McINTYRE
CONCERT DATE| 27 January 1968 Leicester College of Art & Technology, Leicester, England
RECORDING SESSION | 31 January 1968. Syd Barrett recording under his name the soundtrack of «Committee». See this page for more details.
Interviewer : « In our group we discussed the sessions Syd Barrett recorded for the film The Committee, and it was said that you were in possession of those tapes. Is this true ?»
Peter Jenner : « As far as I know I am not in possession of these tapes, I might have been given a copy, but I surely not the masters (…) It was indeed Max Steuer, and he may have given us the tapes. But I do not remember them. But many things disappeared with the sudden collapse of Blackhill. My recollection is that they were less than amazing. However if I come across anything I will let you know
« An innerview with Peter Jenner », Birdie Hop Website, 25 April 2014.
PRESS MENTION | The group receives by the French press a heavy interest
« Rock & Folk », January 1968.
CONCERT DATE| 10 February 1968 The Imperial Ballroom, Nelson, England
Aubrey Powell. Picture by Storm THORGERSON, 1970.
Aubrey Powell:
«When David joined Pink Floyd, he bought an old Land Rover. He said, ‘Let’s go to Morocco.’ We had very long hair, right down to our waists, and we drove down to Spain - Franco’s Spain - with his then girlfriend. He had all this cash with him, but not one hotel on the drive from the Spanish border at France down to southern Spain would take us. We used to sleep in the Land Rover every night in car parks: me in the front and him and his girlfriend in the back. Everywhere we went in Spain, they shouted 'Beatles!' and spat at us. It was quite intimidating. You could get arrested for being a hippy in those days.
When we got down to southern Spain they wouldn’t let us into Morocco without us cutting our hair. We pulled into Valencia airport and I saw there was a flight going to Ibiza. I said, ‘David, I’m going to take a flight to Ibiza and take the boat to Formentera.’ He decided to go back to Paris and catch a plane to Morocco and meet up with the other members of Floyd. They’d all flown down there to do a bit of writing and doubtless sample various substances in the Rif mountains. That was the first big adventure I had with David. Franco’s government put the fear of God into us, but it was a lot of fun. It set a very strong friendship for the rest of our lives»
«Coming back to life», Uncut, September 2015
CONCERT DATE| Two dates were scheduled in Stockholm on 15 and 16 but were eventually cancelled. The band decided to do a recording session instead.
RECORDING SESSION | 13 February 1968. The band record the basic tracks of It Would be so nice and Julia Dream at EMI Studios, London.
CONCERT DATE| 16 February 1968 ICI Fibres Club, Pontypool, Wales
According Tim Ellis, cited in Malcom Jones’ «Making of Madcap Laughs», Syd would showed up at this gig.
CONCERT DATE| 17 February 1968 Immage Club, Patronaatsgebouw, Terneuzen, The Netherlands
Picture by Marian Gijselhart
CONCERT DATE| 17 February 1968 Concertgebouw, Vlissingen, The Netherlands
Picture by Provinciaal Zeeuwse Courant
TV APPAREANCE | 18 and 19 February 1968: The band is filmed at Brussels for the Belgian TV. They play at the Park Leaden, Atomium and in TV studios. See this page for more details. This the first TV appearance of the new line-up.
Photographies by Herman SELLESLAGS
TV APPAREANCE | 20 February 1968. The band plays like at the «Bouton Rouge» TV show for the French TV
David Gilmour play on the white Telecaster offered by his parents in 1966 for his birthday. The show is broadcasted on 24 February 1968. See this page for more details.
Picture by Timothy WHITE
TV APPAREANCE | 21 February 1968. The band mades an appearance at « Discorama » for the French TV
CONCERT DATE | 22 February 1968 Rijschool, Leuven, Belgium
The Floyd came to Leuven when the country was going through a social crisis linked to the French-speaking presence in the city. A general brawl broke out between the French and Dutch groups of students, making the concert impossible. With the cancellation of this gig, the band participates to a carnival along with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
Fred Derickxx (organiser):
«The night before their concert in the Pannenhuis would Pink Floyd in the former Driving School in Leuven luster election of Prince Carnival, presented by Jos Ghysen»
«Rock over Belgium», P-Magazine 119, 1998 (Translated from netherland by Romain FOURAY)
CONCERT DATE | 23 February 1968 Pannenhuis, Antwerp, Belgium
Bob Leonard (organiser):
«Louis De Vries, who had a music publishing and booking over the Pannenhuis, was the first who took English groups in Belgium, The Zombies, Spencer Davis Group, The Kinks, The Small Face Manfred Mann ...
Early 60s I was in his service, and get a telephone proposal from the Netherlands for a then-emerging group who had a hit with See Emily Play. For 15,000 Francs, Pink Floyd could play on a weekday in the Pannenhuis.
We could get 300 people in the cafe. With 50 francs entrance we were out of costs. The group arrived there with a real light show and liquid-projections. Very psychedelic and progressive.
Since the cafÈ was not big enough, we had built a stand so that people could also sit upstairs. As a true English football fans they are, the group play football in the Vineyard Street that afternoon.
We had not had time to make posters and wondered whether there would be people. But the news that Pink Floyd was at Antwerp went around like wildfire. In a flash I had sold 300 tickets. The people were flocking. At the time, there was around 300 people outside. Occasionally we had someone in outer wear who had fainted because of the heat. The combination of the music and the projections it was a magical concert.. Much attention has not been given in the press, but I still encounter people who speak to me about it. In May Pink Floyd will back in Antwerp, for the final of our Beat competition in a crowded Billard Palace on the Astrid Square, where now there is a McDonald’s»
«Rock over Belgium», P-Magazine 119, 1998 (Translated by Romain FOURAY)
Martin Pulaski (Audience member):
« On 23 February 1968, when I was seventeen, I traveled with a few friends from Hasselt to faraway Antwerp, then, just like Amsterdam, a magical center for beatniks, hippies and long-haired working scum. We stepped into the beatnik café the Pannenhuis for the unearthly sounds and colors of the Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett, the young god we worshipped, had unfortunately just left the most psychedelic group in the world; David Gilmour was now the guitarist. But throughout the evening I heard and saw the spirit of Syd Barrett. Yes, in those days ghosts could still sing and make music. A simple explanation for the phenomenon is that the band had almost no new songs yet and therefore could not help but play Barrett's fairy tales/songs, such as Matilda Mother, Flaming, Astronomy Dominé and Lucifer Sam. Since then I have made hundreds of trips, in reality and in imagination; never,
I believe, have I been so far away from home and from myself. One of the most beautiful moments of my life - something that will always stay with me, down to the smallest details. What is strange is that very few people are willing to believe me when I tell this story. Pink Floyd (the article 'the' was later omitted) in a beatnik cafe where a maximum of two hundred people could stand? What the heck. My friends and I experienced it - and that's enough. Besides, I can prove it; in 1968 I kept a diary »
"Pink Floyd in Antwerepen, 1968", 8 March 2013, Hoochie Koochie Blog
Rudy De Clerck (Staff member):
« I was working in the afternoon when suddenly everything went dark. A big tour bus came and parked in front of the facade. I had never experienced that before, I welcomed them and had a few beers.
You didn't have any real contact with them, but they weren't difficult. They came to the café after the performance to play pinball. I had a picture taken of them while I watched. The ultimate proof that they were there!
World-famous Pink Floyd weren't then, but they were already known. In England they had had a hit with See Emily Play. That trickled down to here. Singer Syd Barrett had just left the group, but they played his songs from the debut record. There were no printed posters, but through word of mouth the Pannenhuis filled to capacity. Not forty people as sometimes claimed, but two hundred! It was hard to order the pints. »
« Pannenhuis schreef rockgeschiedenis - Garçon Rudy De Clerck flipperdemet Pink Floyd », 28 February 2015, Gazet van Antwerpen
David ans Rick playing pinball after show. Picture by De CLERCK
PHOTO SESSION| A photo session is held near Brussels.
CONCERT DATE| The subsequent shows in Netherlands (T Smurf in Bussum and Daddle Doofy Concertzaal) has been cancelled. See this page for more details
CONCERT DATE| 24 February 1968 Cheetah Club, Brussels, Belgium
Picture by Piero KENROLL
Official fan club letter, February 1968.
PRESS MENTION | At the end of February, the press indicates the band will be headlined on the the forthcoming Rome Pop Festival.
CONCERT DATE| 26 February 1968 Domino Club, Lion Hotel, Cambridge, England
Pink Floyd replaces The Wages of Sin
Concert contract for March 20th (29 February.
MAIN EVENT | 2nd March 1968, Roger Waters met Syd at Bishop Stortford. He try to find an agreement about the future Syd’s role in the band.
David Gilmour
«There was discussion that he would eventually sort of stay home, being a Brian Wilson sort of writing character, and we’d continue using his material. I would be the frontman, on stage »
Roger Waters pictured on March 1968
Roger Waters:
«By the end of afternoon, I thought I’d convinced him that it was a good idea and he’d agreed, but it didn’t mean really very much because he was liable to change his mind about anything totally within an hour. He then went home and i went to see Peter and Andrew and said that this was the end, if this didn’t work we were off. I asked them to leave him alone for a bit, for all king of reasons, the main one being that they didn’t see things the way that i did. But they went round to see him and laid various numbers, so that was it»
«Notes toward the illumination of the Floyd », Zig-Zag, April 1973
CONCERT DATE| 4 March 1968 Isleworth Film Studios, Isleworth, London, England
For the end of filming «Isadora», Vanessa Redgrave, who is friend of the band since the invited the band to play at private party
On the set of « Isadora ». Picture by Michael Seymour.
CONCERT DATE| 9 March 1968 Faculty of Technology Union, Manchester Technical College, Manchester, England
CONCERT DATE|14 March 1968 Whitla Hall, Belfast, Ireland (two shows)
MAIN EVENT | Mid-March 1968 Pink Floyd's partnership with management company « Blackhill Enterprises » is formally dissolved.
The band acquired a new manager, Steve O'Rourke, who was initially employed by their booking agents, the « Bryan Morrison Agency ».
« A meeting was held with everybody, including Syd, at Peter’s house in early March. Peter says, ‘We fought to keep Syd in. I didn’t really know David, although I knew he was a talented guitarist and a very good mimic. He could play Syd guitar better than Syd.’ However, Peter and Andrew conceded, and after only the odd outbreak of recriminations, the partnership was dissolved. Syd’s suggestion for resolving any problems, by the way, was to add two girl saxophone players to the line-up.Peter and Andrew clearly felt that Syd was the creative centre of the band, a reasonable point of view given our track record up until that point. Consequently, they decided to represent him rather than us. ‘Peter and I deserved to lose Pink Floyd,’ says Andrew. ‘We hadn’t done a good job, especially in the US. We hadn’t been aggressive enough with the record companies.’ Andrew thinks that none of us – David apart – came out of this phase with flying colours. And he makes the point that the decision to part company was definitely a shock to Syd, because he had never considered the rest of us (as others might have) to be effectively his backing band – ‘he was devoted to the band.’
‘It was a natural parting of the ways,’ says Peter. ‘We wanted to develop Blackhill, so we couldn’t have Pink Floyd as partners if we were concentrating on other acts »
« Inside Out », Nick Mason, 2005
MAIN EVENTAntonioni sings with MGM studio to produce some movie. « Zabriskie Point » will be the first project.
« Film and Filming », February 1968.
CONCERT DATE|15 March1968 Stage Club, Clardendon Restaurant, Oxford, England
CONCERT DATE|16 March 1968 Crawdaddy, Casino Hotel, Taggs Island, Hampton Court, England
CONCERT DATE|16 March 1968 Middle Earth Club, Covent Garden, London, England
Syd Barrett is among the audience
MAIN EVENT | According Storm, the band can’t fond the photographer who did the front cover of « The Piper … » to shoot the cover of his follow-up.
So, the band asked to a painter friend, David Henderson ,to drawing the sleeve of « A Saucerful of Secrets » but he turned down. Then, David Gilmour suggest to ask to the Syd and Roger’s friends, Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Po Powell who were paid £110 for their efforts. Eventually, the Hipgnosis duet chose a cover inspired by the «Doctor Strange» Marvel’s comics and work on it for three months.
Storm Thorgerson:
«Nous nous sommes connus dans nos jeunes années. On se retrouvait à Sheep’s Green, un endroit au bord de la rivière à Cambridge, et Storm était toujours là à palabrer, à faire le plus de bruit, fourmillant d’idées et débordant d’enthousiasme. Rien n’a jamais vraiment changé»
«Publicité pour Mind over matter 4»
Storm Thorgerson:
«I have never do that. I remember i'm working on a film at this time. I worked on a cover for Free and Alexis Corner, very sophisticated but who was never released in the disc shop »
«Storm Thorgerson», Rock World, October 1992
Hipgnosis’ studio in 1968.
CONCERT DATE|20 March 1968 New Grafton Rooms, Liverpool, England
TV APPAREANCE| 22 March 1968 Sound Techniques Studios, Chelsea, London, England
Recording for « The Sound of Change » BBC 2 TV’s show. See this page for more details. The recording of the instrumental intended to be the soundtrack of the show. The Floyd contribution was reused the same evening for the BBC 2 show «Late Night Line up »
CONCERT DATE| 22 March 1968 Main Hall, Woolwich Polytechnic, London, England
RECORDING SESSION | 25 March 1968. Additional (and final) sessions for It Would be so nice and Julia Dream at EMI Studios, London.
CONCERT DATE | 26 March 1968 Barnes Common, London, England
TV APPAREANCE| 28 March 1968 Abbey Mills Pumping Station, East Stratford, London, England
Recording version for « All My Loving ». See this page for more details.
PRESS MENTION| Nick Mason is asked about the situation of the group after the departure of Syd Barrett
Nick Mason:
«Last year we were the top underground group, but not now. Now there is hardly an underground left! We are going to have to work a lot harder and be much nicer to people in the future. This is going to be the new Pink Floyd»
«Nice new Pink», Fabulous 208, 6 April 1968
RECORDING SESSION | 4 April 1968: Pink Floyd began recording background music for « The Committee » replacing Syd Barrett initially approached. See this page for more details.
Max Steuer:
« We started by working with Syd Barrett. Alas, this was not a viable option. Roger Waters heard about these efforts, and suggested the Floyd could do the job. I am so glad he did. It was absolutely wonderful working with them, and the outcome could not be better ».
Max Steuer Documentary, Committee DVD
PRESS MENTION | 6 April, Syd Barrett if officially announced out of the band
Syd Barrett photographed around April 1968 in London.
As a run-through Syd enters in Olympic studio to help to find some ideas for his forthcoming solo album
Aubrey Powell:
«At some point we all went down to Olympic Studios. There was Syd, Nick Mason, David Gilmour, myself and somebody else, not Roger Waters, playing bass. For four hours, with Syd playing along, then dropping his plectrum ... then playing again. It was to try to get him into a creative place»
«Us and them», Mark Blake, 2023
CONCERT DATE|18 April 1968 Piper Club, Rome, Italy
It was the first ever gig in Italy for the band.
Picture by Marina POLETTI
Marco SERALE:
«The show started with the pursuing, intermittent and spatial sounds of Astronomy Dominé, to open this new, unknown and mysterious world, full of sweet atmospheres; mixing what sounded like traditional harmonies to dissonant, shrilling sounds.
The air was electric and full of tension... the audience was all standing up, like ravished, enchanted, hypnotised .. Iíd say conquered. The audience looked at first like incredulous, amazed and surprised... but note by note they seemed to be unconsciously getting consciousîof what was really happening and to start understanding what significance the music of those unknown 4 guys had to offer in the following years.
I will try to write down a probable list of the songs that were played there, but it not be easy. A long time has passed, and I didn’t know the band during that period or the song titles - probably like the rest of the people there that evening. I perfectly remember some songs and I can say for sure they were played there, while others, I can only guess at if they were played or not. 2 or 3 months later,
I managed to obtain the first two LPs of the band, when someone bought them to me from England. Listening to them I soon recognized some of the songs of that afternoon ís set. I only can be sure about a few though - "Astronomy Dominé» and "Interstellar Overdrive" were definitely performed, but as for the rest, they are very vague in my memories - I only remember a few fragments of sounds and images. Astronomy Dominé", according to my memory, was the first song of the gig, I immediately liked that song and it’s still one of my favourite songs ever. A perfect performance, I remember in particular Gilmour in the introduction, he played a telecaster, a blonde telecaster with the rosewood neck, simulating a vibrating effect in the passage between E and E-flat major, acting on one of the two knobs of the telecaster. The volume was high, so powerful, but the vocal parts were pretty clear (thatís something rare at the Piper). At the beginning of the show we were still seated at the bottom of the stage, on the left, below Wright; then we came down standing up with the others practically in front of the stage, below Waters. There were no chairs in the hall as far as I can remember. "Interstellar Overdrive" was played at the end of the set, a great performance. Waters went to smoke one cigarette behind the amplifiers, during the "free form", sitting on the ground. He was dressed in red trousers with white fringes at the leg hems. I remember him well because I also went behind there to see what he was doing. He then came back on the stage to finish the song.
Iíve still got printed on my mind the great spirit Roger put in performing "Interstellar Overdrive" - it moved me a lot: the way he grinded his teeth and his face expressing a great energy, he played with a Rickenbacker 4001S (it was a bass model, imported into England from Morris Roses with the mark '1999'). I also believe that they performed "The Scarecrow". I canít say for certain that they played this but I do have a vague memory of Waters or Wright playing the flute during the songís introduction. But the flute is also played in "Flaming", so who knows what song it was. The day after the gig I went to Radiovittoria, a record store near the Flaminio Square. There I asked if they had something of the Pink Floyd and gave me a single 45rpm: "See Emily Play" (I still have it, but unfortunately the cover was lost). I came back home, I did not recognize the side A (the splendid "Emily"), but listening to the Side B I thought that could have been one song from the show ("The Scarecrow"). Another possible song could have been "Matilda Mother".
Iím also sure they played one or two pieces from the album "A Saucerful Of Secrets", "Remember The Day" perhaps and definitely "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun".
Iíve got 2 things supporting this: firstly, I remember that Mason on one or two pieces played the toms with the felts. Secondly, listening to "Remember The Day" on the LP, a few months after, I got the impression Iíd already heard it before; and where could I have heard it if not there at the Piper? I had a similar impression when I listened to "Let There Be More Light", but Iím sure that they didnít play "A Saucerful of Secrets" that afternoon. Another possible song of the set is one having a sound that is like a "C" with echo, I remember a rhythmic sound like "...C-C-C-C...", it couldíve been "Pow R. Toc H.". I canít exclude that, but it could also have been ìThe Gnomeî. Of the bandís sound, I remember it was somewhat aggressive, bitter, tense, still influenced by the ìbeatî period, but different ñ definitely different from the sound the Floyd had in the 70ís. It was like a "Barrett" sound.
Gilmour sang the Syd vocal parts and played the guitar perfectly, for years I was convinced to have seen Syd Barrett that day at the Piper - news was late arriving here! I was young (15 years old), but I had already seen the Stones the previous year and, again at the Piper that same winter, the Pretty Things, the Spencer Davis Group and Small Faces, and, in the next May, Hendrix at the Brancaccio Theatre. But I remember I felt that I only got such a deep emotion only when I saw the Pink Floyd at the Piper! That show literally blew me away.
Perhaps it was all those new sounds and lights, but that afternoon I had the feeling that I took part in and listened to something truly special and epic. I can only perhaps compare it to when I heard the Beatlesí "Please Please Me" on the radio in 1963 for the first time. The Pink Floyd stayed almost unknown in Italy until "Atom Heart Mother" came out; I often tried to explain to my friends the great quality of their music without success until then. I remember very little of the Light Show, apart from moving images, like colourful bubbles floating in a fluid. I donít have any specific memory about the famous Azimuth Coordinator, probably because they never used it, but I do remember seeing them using it at the Palasport show in Rome in 1971.
Another interesting point was that at the end of the show the Pink Floyd did not go to the backstage, they came out of the Piper with the crowd on the stairs that leads to Tagliamento. I was right behind Waters on the stairs, I canít remember if it was common for musicians to come out of the Piper the same way as the crowd at that time.
So we made our way home. We were excited, amazed and enthusiastic for that memorable and incredible show. We were so euphoric that I had the desire to come back to the Piper to see again them, but I donít remember if we knew of another performance the same evening or the following day. We took the tram and went to a large square where we found the Piper Show poster advertisement to promote the concert. We took one of them, taking care not to tear it. The poster was very large (1m x 1.5m approximately), showing pink waved strips on a white background, with the silhouette of a girl with long hair in the centre. The text was: "Pink Floyd e il suo complesso di luci e suoni psichedelici" ("Pink Floyd and their lights and psychedelic sounds band"). That poster hung on the walls of my room for so many years, but I lost it some time ago!»
«Brain Damage website - Review», 22 January 2007
Roger, David and Nick pictured backstage
SINGLE RELEASE|19 April 1968 Pink Floyd's debut single with David Gilmour, It Would Be So Nice (B-side: Julia Dream) is released in the UK but failed to chart.
David Gilmour:
«I do miss that way of working. But you can't get back to that sort of equality that one has when one starts out as a young chap in a band. Gradually, over years, the balance of power changes and your life changes and you become sort of - how does one put it without sounding ridiculous ? - 'a legend'. You become bigger and more powerful that the people you'd get in»
«To Infinity... And Beyond!», Uncut, May 2019
CONCERT DATE|19 April 1968 Piper Club, Rome, Italy
CONCERT DATE| 20 April 1968 Raven Club, RAF Waddington, England
The management of the band cancel or reschedule the Dutch gigs to stay in England.
CONCERT DATE| 3 May 1968 Westfield College, Hampstead, London, England
CANCELLED GIG | 4 May 1968 the concert at the Theatre 140 of Brussels is cancelled
«Trois concerts avaient été prévus par Jo Dekmine. Le groupe de Pink Floyd n'ayant pu arriver à temps à Bruxelles, la représentation de samedi soir a dû être supprimée. Nous ne croyons pas que le public bruxellois doive regretter outra mesure cette défection»
« Le premier light show psychédélique londonien», ainsi s'intitule le spectacle mis au point par le groupe de Pink Floyd et présenté dimanche au 140. En substance, cette « performance » se distingue par une certaine recherche dans les effets sonores et par une série de jeux de lumière originaux qui fatiguent malheureusement l’œil après un certain temps.
Par ailleurs, des projections lumineuses forment une toile de fond dont les motifs sont censés compléter l’émotion suscitée par la partie sonore du show de Pink Floyd. Quant à la musique — terriblement bruyante — elle se range dans la catégorie « pop » chère aux très jeunes»
«Au théâtre 140», La dernière Heure, 7 May 1968
«Jusqu’ici, jamais aucun groupe n'avait osé pousser aussi loin l’expérimentation. Et jamais non plus, (aucun directeur de salle n’avait fourni, à son public, un numéro aussi démentiellement d’avant- garde ! Aucun « tube », des lignes harmoniques proches de la musique sérielle, un climat futuriste : en deux mots, de quoi faire fuir tout ce qui . n’est pas décidé à jouer le jeu. C’est- à-dire ceux dont l’incuriosité égale le petit confort (deux pièces avec vue sur accordéon), ceux qui se refusent absolument à « voir » plus loin que le bout de leurs oreilles ...
« Musique d’aujourd’hui » : le slogan imaginé par M. Jo Dekmine, le plus téméraire de nos animateurs de spectacles, les Pink Floyd le démodent en quelques secondes. On aime ou on déteste. Exactement comme on a 20 ou 60 ans.
Soyons objectifs : à la limite du supportable, l'écriture de Pink Floyd peut effectivement irriter. En fait, ce show, pour éviter toute lassitude oculaire et auditive, ne devrait pas dépasser trente minutes. Les Pink Floyd ne s’arrêtent pas pas là et c’est, dans un sens, regrettable. Car, dans le cas contraire, même ceux qui, aujourd’hui, renâclent, admireraient les merveilleux et éblouissants tableaux d’une seconde, multipliés à l’infini, grâce à des éclairages blêmes, d’une constante et a inépuisable invention. On pense aux a trouvailles d’Averty, aux délires psychédéliques, à un invraisemblable spectacle qui aurait, longuement, mariné dans du L.SD. Les Pink Floyd ont peut-être un défaut : celui de se produire trente ans trop tôt ! Mais tous ceux qui ont horreur d'être laissés sur place étaient là, ce week-end, au « 140 » et ont apprécié. Ils n’en sont pas encore revenus, c’est vrai. Mais ils reviendront»
« Son et Lumière de l’an 2000 »
Rehearsals for this show
CONCERT DATE| 6 May 1968 «First European International Pop Festival», Palazzo dello Sport, EUR, Rome, Italy
The band is a guest for the first major rock festival in Europe.
« Europe’s first international pop festival, organized to bring the cream of pop music and mass teen age crowds to the Eternal City, has turned into a flower-less, power-less show.
The festival organizers planned to fill Rome’s huge 20,000 seat sports palace for four consecutive nights to hear top name singers from England’s “Pink Floyd” to a Japanese combo clad In ceremonial kimonos, known as the Samurai. Backers of the venture Included Britain's Lord Harlech of Harlech Television, Ltd., the Rolling Stones organization, and a scattering of European radio.
When the festival opened Saturday, only about 1,000 persons — 500 of them Invited—were sprinkled In the aisles of the cavernous palace.
On Sunday the audience totaled 700, About 200 of these were policemen on guard to prevent any breakage In the glass-plated auditorium.
The power failed three times on the first night. The psychedelic style visual displays were barely visible and the white sheet screens waved listlessly in the draft. The complicated electronic collapsed on the second night. A good part of the audience did not even consist of the usual crowd of music-hungry Italians. Several hundred Britons and. Dutchmen toting sleeping bags and wilted flower costumes hitch-hiked to Rome to watch the festivities. There was little to see, although lots to hear»
«Pop is a flop in Rome», Guam Daily News, 9 May 1968
View of the audience
Nick Mason:
«(…) Playing further south in Europe was more of a problem. A festival in May at the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome was a remarkable introduction to working in Italy. At Leonardo da Vinci airport the Italian customs confiscated an axe belonging to the Move, who were also on the bill.; it was an essential stage prop that they used to destroy a TV set. The customs officers were able to identify the hatchet as an offensive weapon, but perhaps the language barrier prevented them spotting the danger contained in boxes marked 'Explosive Fireworks.' The ahow moved from art to violence. AS the pyro was let off, the police responded with the only contribution they could make-tear gas. Over the years, the forces of law and order have frequently joined uin, battling outside the stadium with people who, for reasons political or financial, have come along for a good scrap. To this day, preparations for the Italian leg of the tour include the provisioning of buckets of eye wash at hite side of the stage to alleviate the effects of gas wafting across the stage…»)»
«Inside out - a personal history of Pink Floyd», Nick Mason, 2005
Roger Waters:
«I would say that Rome is an absurd place to organize a pop festival you know. If it would’ve been me I would never have picked Rome you know. Ah… Anyway you know it’s not you know, it’s not a sort of pop-pop festival, if you see what I mean you know. If I was organizing a pop festival in England and wanted to make money and draw big crowds you know, I’d have on ah… well all the people have sold a lot of records in England this you know is Engelbert Humperdinck and old people like that you know, and those are the people who should really be playing in a pop festival. If the … wants to fill the place, now if he doesn’t. If he wants to cared to a minority audience then, well I’m certainly in Rome, this evenings a lot of groups anyway where I don’t know about the Italian groups or their association, but anyway the groups in the first half, really a minority, well The Move possibly not, but The Nice and us are certainly a minority appeal you know, and we should be playing in much smaller clubs where there aren’t these bloody television lights shining you know. We couldn’t use our lightshow at all, it was obvious as soon as we arrived. We decided not to use it because we were gonna have a real hassle within »
The band performance was filmed along a It would be so Nice promo recorded previously without audience. See this page for more details.
MISCELLANOUS | In the backstage of the Roma Festival, the band is approached by two girls, Francesca Garnett and Lisa Bankoff, former Beatles groupies, who wanted to become songwriters and subsequently record some discs.
Under the name of Chimera, they will record eventually an album (unreleased for a long time) at the Morgan Studios with Nick Mason as producer and behind the drums for one track. Rick Wright will play harpsichord for one title and Alan Styles (!) saxophone.
Lisa Garnett:
«We returned in Rome in May 1968 when they were told by Francesca's boyfriend, Roberto* that a major pop festival, to be headlined by the Pink Floyd, was about to take place in the city
With our usual effrontery, we went up to Nick Mason, drummer with the Floyd, and told him we were songwriters. We were soon chatting away with him, and found him very approachable. He took us seriously enough to give us his phone number in London, and told us to look him up when we got back, and that he would see if he could do anything to help us»
«Chimera - Grail» album liner notes, 2006
*He was part of the organization committee
CONCERT DATE| 11 May 1968 « Brighton Arts Festival - The Gentle Sound Of Light », Falmer House Courtyard, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, England
Interviewer: «Who do you feel are the best groups in the British scene (…) ?»
Eric Clapton: «If you’re curious about performers, the Pink Floyd is one I like very much among live groups»
«Eric Clapton», Rolling Stone, 11 May 1968
RECORDING SESSION| 13 May 1968 Syd Barrett begins to work on his debut solo album, « The Madcap Laughs », at EMI studios.
MISCELLANEOUS | The promoter of « theatre du 8eme » in Lyon, France was a great fan of the band. During a 1968 trip to in London he met Rick Wright, and coming back to Lyon where he initiated their first ever proper concert in France.
CONCERT DATE| 17 May 1968 Middle Earth Club, Covent Garden, London, England
PRESS MENTION| 18 May 1968. Roger Waters talks about the projects for the band to « Melody Maker »
CONCERT DATE | 22 May 1968 Hotel Billard Palace, Antwerp, Belgium
David, Nick and Roger backstage.
CONCERT DATE| 23 May 1968 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Picture by Hilco ARENDSHORTS.
Boudewijn Smeets (Audience member):
«But the performance started very late, not until around noon. That was perfectly normal. Everyone sat down on the floor again, of course. That was the reason we often sat: you always had to wait. But also the waiting was part of the experience. Being together, smoking a joint, it was all part of the happening. Once the musicians are on stage, they play four songs in three quarters of an hour: 'Let There Be More Light', 'Interstellar Overdrive', 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' and 'A Saucerful of Secrets' - all new, except for the ten-minute instrumental 'Interstellar Overdrive', known from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn ».
« I thought it was totally new, stoner music. It was like being lifted up and taken on a journey. A dark journey, not celebratory. I called it trip music »
RADIO SESSIONS| 25 May 1968 « Top Gear », BBC One, London, England
CONCERT DATE| 31 May 1968 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (two shows)
The second show was filmed by Holland TV crew. Some stills are visible on a TV show. See this page for more details
Peter Jenner:
«Holland didn’t have university halls like ours in the UK, but there were clubs all over Europe. The Paradiso was ideal for The Floyd. It had a big capacity - up to 1,200 think - and it was an arty, university-type audience»
«Those magnificent Men», Collectors Special Edition, 2020
Picture of the band, backstage
PHOTO SESSION| Late May 1968, Photo session at Amsterdam.
Fan Club newsletter, May 1968
CONCERT DATE| 1st June 1968 t'Smurf, De Engh, Bussum, The Netherlands (early show)
CONCERT DATE| 1st June 1968 Lijn 3, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (afternoon show)
CONCERT DATE| 1st June 1968 Eurobeurs, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
There were problems between the band's management and the venue's manager at the end of the concert requiring the intervention of the police
« Saturday night in the Eurobeurs, the English pop group Pink Fhyd put on a grandiose show, which ended with a minor conflict between the British and hall owner K. Muller.
The group had come too late, was still allowed to play, but in order not to make it too long (a time limit had been set) Mr. Mulier turned his auditorium back on a bit.
This caused some displeasure among one of the members of Pink Floyd.
At first he wanted to take out his anger on Mr Muller, but the police intervened and after some discussion the matter was settled. On the photo the Brit Johti Marsh in discussion with the police and Mr Muller »
CONCERT DATE| 2 June 1968 Recta Club '67, Ertvelde, Belgium (early show)
Picture by Cyriel PELEMAN
CONCERT DATE| 2 June 1968 Concertgebouw, Vlissingen, The Netherlands (late show)
Picture by Simone & Bosschaart
MISCELLANOUS| At the same time, the cover of « A Saucerful of Secrets » is eventually achieved.
Storm Thorgerson:
«(…) The cover is an attempt to represent things that the band was interested in, collectively and individually, presented in a manner that was commensurate with the music. Swirly, blurred edges into red astrology/Dr. Strange images merging into images, a million miles away from certain pharmaceutical experiences. Beginning with Saucerful, they were beginning to experiment with more extended pieces and the music would cascade and change from thing into thing »
«Storm Thorgerson, Album cover artist who founded the design studio known as Hipgnosis», Seconds Magazine #46, 1998
The original image of Doctor Strange superimposed on the final cover
CONCERT DATE| 3 June 1968 De Pas, Heesch, the Netherlands (afternoon show)
CONCERT DATE| 3 June 1968 Parochieel Ontspannings Centrum, Weesp, The Netherlands (evening show)
PRESS MENTION| Asked about the status of Barrett, the Spokeman of the band replied in the press :
«Syd Barrett is experimenting with new ideas in the recording field»
«Pop the question», Disc&Music Echo, 8 June 1968
CONCERT DATE| 8 June 1968 Market Hall, Haverfordwest, Wales
CONCERT DATE| 12 June 1968 « Architects Ball », Homerton College, Cambridge, England
CONCERT DATE| 12 June 1968 « May Ball », Kings College, Cambridge, England
CONCERT DATE| 14 June 1968 Midsummer Ball, University College London, Bloomsbury, London, England
Neil Warnock (Pink Floyd fan, promoter for this concert);
«(I booked the band but) they did not go down well. I think it was due to the fact thatthey’s had a big hit with See Emily Play, an the students felt they’d sold out. The band didn’t enjoy that gig at all»
«Those magnificent Men», Collectors Special Edition, 2020
PHOTO SESSION| The band is returned in England. A photo session is set by Hipgnosis for the back cover of « A Saucerful of secrets » at Hampstead Heath near London.
Pictures by Storm Thorgerson
CONCERT DATE| 21 June 1968 « Commemoration Ball », Balliol College, Oxford, England
MISCELLANOUS | Just after the Middle Earth gig, the band takes the road for Den Haag. They arrived in the early hours of 22 June.
CONCERT DATE|21 June 1968 Middle Earth Club, Covent Garden, London, England
David Gilmour:
«When I joined the band the price was very low and it carried on getting lower for the next four or five months after I’d joined and then the first thing we did the Middle Earth gig. And that was really the start of the road back up.».
«Pink Floyd' The mad scientists of this age», Grapevine, 16 January 1972
David Gilmour:
« (But) They were hard times. I remember one terrible night at Middle Earth when Syd came and stood in front of the stage and stared at me all night long. Horrible! »
« Notes toward the illumination of the Floyd », Zig-Zag, April 1973
Nick Mason:
«The remarkable thing is that Syd had been front man and the main writer but within three months we simply didn’t miss him»
«Nick Mason «I remember»», Reader Digest Website.
CONCERT DATE|22 June 1968 « 1st Holiness Kitschgarten For The Liberation of Love & Peace in Colours », Houtrusthallen, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Pictures by Lauren VAN HOUTEN.
CONCERT DATE|22 June 1968 Lower Common Room, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England
Oliver Gray (Audience member):
«The Fairports gave a revelatory performance. Sandy broke theaudience’s hearts with her versions of “Who Knows Where The TimeGoes” and Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” and we sat cross-legged onthe floor, enraptured. The atmosphere intensified with the arrival ofthe Floyd, who were headlining. The light show, so innovative forits time, wafted and flickered over the band as they played endless,mesmerising versions of “Astronomy Domine” and “Careful WithThat Axe Eugene”. They looked so frightening on stage but they,too, were happy to be interviewed. Roger Waters was particularlymagnanimous towards Fairport, calling them “the best electric folkthis side of anywhere”.
Asked to classify their music, they declined, just calling it “ourthing”, but they did explain that the music was improvisational toa large extent, with no two performances ever being the same, andthat, since the departure of Syd Barrett, the bulk of the writing wasdone by Roger Waters and Rick Wright. Their forthcoming album,they revealed, was to be called “Saucerful of Secrets”.That day marked my growth into someone who was always goingto like good music regardless of category. This was because, despitethe brilliance of the evening, there were still a few soul groovers inthe audience who complained that they couldn’t dance. To them,I signed off the column with a pompous but sincerely-meant put-down: “To those who went away mumbling discontentedly, I wouldsay don’t criticise what you don’t understand, because any sort ofsincere invention is valid»
«Volume - A Cautionary Tale of Rock and Roll Obsession», University of East Anglia WebSite
RADIO SESSION | 25 June 1968 « Top Gear », BBC 201 Piccadilly Studios, London, England
CONCERT DATE| 26 June 1968 Sheffield Arts Festival, Lower Refectory, Sheffield University, Sheffield, England
CONCERT DATE | 28 June 1968 «Students Celebration Dance - The End Of It All Ball», Music Hall, Shrewsbury, England
Audience member:
«But it will have been an unforgettable night for 17-year-old Lyn Ellis, a student at Priory School in the town. Feeling "a little bit depressed" after finishing her O-level exams, she went to the dance at the Music Hall and came away with the "Miss Shropshire Student 1968" beauty queen title. Lyn, of Mytton Oak Road, said afterwards: "It was a real tonic winning after my exams." That gig by The Pink Floyd - that's how they were billed - was at a students' celebration dance at the Music Hall on Friday, June 28, 1968, and it was described as "The End Of It All Ball," perhaps referring to the end of term or end of exams. The students' beauty contest was all part of the evening's fun.
Of course, for Floyd that gig and others during that tour which coincided with the release of their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, was far from the end of it all as they went on to achieve international stardom.
And now an author who wants to tell the story of Floyd's early years through eyewitness accounts is appealing for people who were there on that night to contact him. Richard Houghton, of Manchester, said: "Before selling out arenas around the world, Pink Floyd started out playing smaller venues, including the Music Hall in Shrewsbury in June 1968 for the Students Celebration Dance. "I'm interested in capturing people's memories of this gig for posterity and hopefully in the process telling the band's story in a slightly different way via first hand accounts of their earliest shows. "I'd love to hear from anyone who saw them in their early career and I can be reached at isawpinkfloyd@gmail.com." Houghton has already written books about the early years of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones using the accounts of concertgoers. According to the pre-concert advertising, "The Pink Floyd" were appearing with supporting groups, and the event was from 9pm to 2am. The cost of being a part of pop and rock history would have been 10 shillings a ticket - 50p - or 12s 6d paying on the door, which works out at about 62p. The Floyd line-up at the time would have been David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Rick Wright - Syd Barrett had left the band a couple of months earlier»
«Pink Floyd's gig at Shrewsbury beauty contest», Shropshire Star WebSite, 19 August 2017
CONCERT DATE| The Town Hall concert scheduled on June, 29th is cancelled in order to prepare the forthcoming US tour.
CONCERT DATE | 29 June 1968 « Midsummer High Weekend », The Cockpit, Hyde Park, London, England
Roy Harper joins the band on stage to playing cymbals on A Saucerful of Secrets. The rest of the band offers a white Stratocaster to David as a welcome gift
Picture by Angela WILLIAMS
Andrew king:
«Le gouvernement (Anglais) est plus accommodant; il veut faire les chose «friendly» pour les jeunes. Le «Baillig» du parc était contre, au départ, pour une histoire de traditions. Nous avons alors écrit à un membre du Parlement, ancien journaliste - Lord Cannet - et, à peine une semaine après il nous donnait n rendez-vous»
«Actualités - Stone Ground et War à Hyde PArk», Rock&Folk, October 1970
John Peel:
«Pink Floyd played better than I've ever heard them play before. I don't know what it was, it must have been the people there, the feelings that everyone was generating, because they played superbly. It was nice to hear them play that well, because they've been through a lot of very sad things in the past year»
«Top Gear», BBC Radio, 30 June 1968
John Peel:
«The best outdoor event that I’ve been to was the Pink Floyd concert in Hyde Park, when i hired a boat and rowed out (on the Serpentine), and i lay in the bottom of the boat … and just listened to the band play, and their music then, as I think, suited the open air perfectly … They just seemed to fill the whole sky»
«The Pink Floyd Story», Capital Radio, 24 December 1976
Gilmour: « When I joined the band the price was very low and it carried on getting lower for the next four or five months after I'd joined and then the first thing we did the Middle Earth gig and Hyde Park. And that was really the start of the road back up»
Interviewer: «That was the first free concert in 1968 ?»
Mason: «Right, and it was fantastic.
Gilmour: « That was just after we'd done "Saucerful" on the LP and the piece "Saucerful of Secrets" and we did that last on the LP. And having that new piece to do on stage well it was a whole new direction for the band to start on»
«Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast», Daily Planet, 15 September 1971
Interviewer : « L’atmosphère de ces concerts à cette époque dans le parc (…) …»
Roy Harper : «Je me souviens du premier, je pense que le premier était le meilleur, avec le Pink Floyd, moi, Tyrannosaurus Rex et Jethro Tull. Je pense que c’était le meilleur, je ne pense qu’il y ait eu mieux que celui-ci, j’ai terminé en jouant avec la batterie de Nick à un moment … j’avais les mailloches sur les cymbales … c’était une atmosphère brillante. Il y avait seulement 10 ou 15 mille personnes mais c’était vraiment génial.»
«Roy harper talking to bob harris», Greater London Radio, 11 Novembre 1996.
Peter Jenner, Jeff Dexter, Andrew King (left) and John Peel (right) photographed at Hyde Park.
ALBUM RELEASE | 28 June 1968 Pink Floyd's second album, « A Saucerful Of Secrets » was released in the UK and reaches No. 9 in the charts.
