Pink Floyd World Tour 1968

Pink Floyd World Tour 1968

Tour by Pink Floyd
Start date	17 February 1968
End date	28 December 1968
Legs	3
Number of shows	88
Pink Floyd concert chronology

Pink Floyd World Tour 1968 was a Pink Floyd world tour spanning February to December 1968 in which the group visited Europe and North America.

History

The tour began with difficulty as the band's lead guitarist, vocalist and primary songwriter Syd Barrett left the band in April 1968. Despite leaving in April, Barrett had only played in the band in January this year, when they were briefly a five-piece with the addition of guitarist David Gilmour, but he soon replaced Barrett entirely. As the main frontman, Barrett had initially been a central part of live performances, although bassist Roger Waters was able to steer the band through a potentially difficult series of live concerts based mainly on the European mainland. Many of these performances took place at multi-artist music festivals in Europe, although the band were starting to establish a successful university circuit around the UK. In these venues, the band were greeted with respect and during some performances the audience would remain silent until the very last note was played.

The tour began on 17 February at the Patronaatsgebouw, Netherlands and ran until a final performance in the Netherlands on the 28 December. The tour was fitted in and around recording commitments and the band did not perform consistently during this period.

After Barrett's departure, many of his songs were gradually dropped from the band's set lists, but some compositions that the band had performed with Barrett remained in their repertoire until 1971, notably "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Astronomy Domine". The latter track was doubled in length with an additional organ solo and repeated verses. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" had been performed in late 1967 with Barrett, but the band increasingly extended it to feature more guitar and organ work. This song would be played at almost every Pink Floyd concert until 1972. In 1968, a large gong also became a characteristic part of the band's live show following its introduction at the "Games for May" concert in 1967.

"Careful with That Axe, Eugene", which was introduced in early 1968 under the titles "Murderistic Women" and "Keep Smiling People", would develop into a major part of the band's live shows up until 1973. The song was gradually extended as the year progressed, with initial performances lasting only four minutes and then growing to reach 8 minutes and more. At the latter end of 1968, Waters' vocalizations and climactic screams became a focal point of this piece.

Another increasingly regular addition to Pink Floyd performances was "The Massed Gadgets of Hercules": an early, shorter version of "A Saucerful of Secrets". Like "Eugene", the song was gradually extended from 6 minutes up until around 11 minutes as Gilmour took the wordless vocal on the closing "Celestial Voices" section of the song.

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
Europe
17 February 1968	Terneuzen	Netherlands	Patronaatsgebouw
22 February 1968	Leuven	Belgium	Rijschool
23 February 1968	Antwerp		Pannenhuis
24 February 1968	Brussels		Cheetah Club
25 February 1968	Bussum	Netherlands	De Engh
26 February 1968	Cambridge	England	Lion Hotel
9 March 1968	Manchester		Manchester Technical College
14 March 1968	Belfast	Northern Ireland	Whitla Hall 2 shows
15 March 1968	Oxford	England	Stage Club, Clardendon Restaurant
16 March 1968	London		Casino Hotel, Tagg's Island
20 March 1968	Liverpool		New Grafton Rooms
22 March 1968	London		Woolwich Polytechnic
18 April 1968	Rome	Italy	Piper Club
19 April 1968
20 April 1968	RAF Waddington	England	Raven Club
3 May 1968	London		Westfield College
6 May 1968	Rome	Italy	Palazzo dello Sport EUR
11 May 1968	Falmer	England	University of Sussex
17 May 1968	London		Middle Earth
23 May 1968	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Paradiso 2 shows
24 May 1968	Lapworth	England	The Punchbowl Hotel
25 May 1968	Wishaw		The Belfry Hotel
26 May 1968	London		PF Middle Earth (OZ Magazine benefit)
31 May 1968	Amsterdam	Netherlands	The Paradiso
			The Fantasio
1 June 1968			Lijn 3
	Bussum		De Engh
2 June 1968	Vlissingen		Concertgebouw
3 June 1968	Heesch		De Pas
8 June 1968	Haverfordwest	Wales	Market Hall
12 June 1968	Cambridge	England	May Ball - King's College
14 June 1968	London		University College London
15 June 1968	Manchester		Magic Village
21 June 1968	Oxford		Commemoration Ball - Balliol College
22 June 1968	The Hague	Netherlands	Houtrusthallen
26 June 1968	Sheffield	England	Sheffield University
28 June 1968	Shrewsbury		Music Hall
29 June 1968	London		Hyde Park Free Concert - Hyde Park
North America
8 July 1968	Chicago, Illinois	United States	Kinetic Playground
12 July 1968	Detroit, Michigan		Grande Ballroom
13 July 1968	Ann Arbor, Michigan		Fifth Dimension
15 July 1968	New York City, New York		The Scene
16 July 1968
17 July 1968
18 July 1968	Boston, Massachusetts		Boston Tea Party
19 July 1968
20 July 1968
24 July 1968	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania		Philadelphia Music Festival
26 July 1968	Los Angeles, California		Shrine Exposition Hall
27 July 1968
2 August 1968	San Francisco, California		Avalon Ballroom
3 August 1968
4 August 1968
9 August 1968	Seattle, Washington		Eagles Auditorium
10 August 1968
11 August 1968
16 August 1968	Sacramento, California		Sound Factory
17 August 1968
23 August 1968	Los Angeles, California		The Bank
24 August 1968
Europe
24 August 1968	Prestatyn	Wales	The Royal Lido, Central Beach
31 August 1968	Kasterlee	Belgium	Kastival 68 Festival
1 September 1968	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Paradiso
4 September 1968	Richmond	England	Richmond Athletic Club
13 September 1968	Erdington		Mothers
20 September 1968	Bristol		Victoria Rooms
27 September 1968	Dunoon	Scotland	Queens Hall
1 October 1968	Glasgow		The Maryland Ballroom
4 October 1968	Erdington	England	Mothers
6 October 1968	London		The Country Club - Belsize Park
16 October 1968	Lyon	France	Théâtre du Huitième
19 October 1968	Brussels	Belgium	Théâtre 140
20 October 1968			Théâtre 140 2 shows
5 October 1968	London	England	The Boat House - Kew
26 October 1968			Imperial College London
7 November 1968			Porchester Hall - Bayswater
8 November 1968			Fishmonger's Arms - Wood Green
16 November 1968	Olten	Switzerland	Restaurant Olten-Hammer
17 November 1968	Zurich		Kongresshaus
22 November 1968	Richmond	England	Richmond Athletic Club
23 November 1968	London		Regent Street Polytechnic
24 November 1968	London		Country Club - Belsize Park
27 November 1968	Newcastle-under-Lyme		Keele University
29 November 1968	London		Bedford College
5 December 1968	Bournemouth		Royal Arcade Ballrooms
15 December 1968	Newcastle upon Tyne		Newcastle City Hall
27 December 1968	Rotterdam	Netherlands	De Doelen
28 December 1968	Utrecht		Margriethal-Jaarbeurs

Set list

A typical set list would include some of the following:

1. "Astronomy Domine"
2. "Interstellar Overdrive"
3. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
4. "Pow R. Toc H."
5. "Let There Be More Light"
6. "The Massed Gadgets of Hercules" (first performed on the 23 May 1968, renamed "A Saucerful of Secrets")
7. "Flaming"
8. "Keep Smiling People" (a prototype version of "Careful with That Axe, Eugene")

Other songs

1. "Remember a Day" (played only once on 6 May 1968)
2. "It Would Be So Nice" (played only once on 11 May 1968)
3. "Matilda Mother" (played only once on 26 July 1968)

Tour band

• David Gilmour – guitar, vocals
• Roger Waters – bass, vocals
• Rick Wright – keyboards, vocals
• Nick Mason – drums

Additional musicians

• Roy Harper – cymbals on "A Saucerful of Secrets" at Hyde Park 29 June

References

• Brain Damage.co.uk