Atom Heart Mother World Tour

The Atom Heart Mother World Tour was an international concert tour by Pink Floyd. It commenced during September 1970 and ended during October 1971. It marked the first time the band visited countries such as Japan and Australia. Intended to promote their new album Atom Heart Mother, the band hired local orchestras and choirs on some dates to perform the title piece while performing it in a four-piece arrangement on other occasions.

History

Early in 1970, Pink Floyd performed at gigs a piece from their film soundtrack for Michelangelo Antonioni's film Zabriskie Point referred to as "The Violent Sequence". This was the musical basis for "Us and Them", from their The Dark Side of the Moon album. Lacking only the lyrics, it is identical to the final song^[1] and is the earliest part of the seminal album to have been performed live. The song "Embryo" was also a part of the live repertoire around this time, but was never to appear on a studio album until the compilation album Works.

On 17 January 1970, the band began performing a then untitled instrumental piece, which would eventually become the title track to their next album Atom Heart Mother. At this point, it had no orchestra or choir accompaniment. This is the first time they performed a song live in an unfinished form as a work in progress, something they continued to do until 1975. The song officially debuted at the Bath Festival, Somerset England on 27 June 1970 under the title "The Amazing Pudding" (later the name of a Pink Floyd fanzine) and for the first time with orchestra and choir accompaniment.

Announced as "The Atom Heart Mother" by legendary British broadcaster John Peel on his BBC Radio 1 show "Peel's Sunday Concert" on 16 July 1970, a name suggested by him to the band,^[2] it was also announced as "The Atomic Heart Mother" two days later at the Hyde Park free concert.^[3] Partly due to the difficulties of finding and hiring local orchestras and choirs, the band often played what is referred to as the "small band" version of the song when they performed it live.

Pink Floyd also appeared at a free festival in Canterbury on August 31, which was filmed. This was the end leg of the Medicine Ball Caravan tour organised by Warner Brothers, which was later made into a film of the same name. It appears that the Pink Floyd footage was not included in the movie but spectators report that Atom Heart Mother was part of the set that was recorded.^[4] The audience must have been one of the smallest to see Pink Floyd at this era, only 1500 were present as the festival was not widely promoted.

In contrast, over 500,000 people witnessed their show at Fête de L'Humanité, Paris on 12 September 1970, their largest crowd ever. Filmed by French TV, the show was never broadcast.^[5]

Experimental on the album Atom Heart Mother, the song "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" was performed at a few gigs in December 1970. "Breakfast" being made was part of the song. The first part of this lasted around four minutes. The second part of "breakfast" preparation was around a minute followed by a 3-minute tape of British DJ Jimmy Young, whom the band disliked. The song lasted a little over 24 minutes.^[1]

Tour band

• David Gilmour - guitar, vocals
• Roger Waters - bass, acoustic guitar, vocals
• Richard Wright - keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion

Additional musicians:

• Local orchestras and choirs, on some dates

Set list

A typical 1970 set list would include some of the following:

• "Astronomy Domine"
• "Interstellar Overdrive"
• "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
• "A Saucerful of Secrets"
• "Cymbaline"
• "Green Is the Colour"
• "Quicksilver"
• "Main Theme"
• "Careful with That Axe, Eugene"
• "Sysyphus", pts. 1–4
• "Moonhead" (only played twice)
• "Grantchester Meadows"
• "Embryo"
• "The Violent Sequence"
• "Heart Beat, Pig Meat"
• "Atom Heart Mother"
• "Fat Old Sun"
• "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"
• "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" (partially)
• "Corrosion"
• "More Blues"
• "Echoes"

Tour dates

References

External links

• Brain Damage.co.uk
• Pink Floyd Archives