How to Hear and Watch Pink Floyd’s 1975 ‘Wish You Were Here’ Tour

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)