Revisiting Pink Floyd’s Far Out 1971 Tour: Crazy Concerts

Get ready to hop in the time machine back to 1971! Over 50 years ago, the epic rock band Pink Floyd was just starting to make it big. They had some hit songs like “See Emily Play” and “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” but were still playing small venues and colleges. Things were about to change in a major way though in 1971 when Pink Floyd set out on a monster tour across Europe, America, and even Japan and Australia!

Kicking It Off Right: Europe and Japan

Pink Floyd revved up their custom-painted trucks and got the show on the road in January 1971 with some university shows in England. Can you imagine seeing Pink Floyd play at your college?! After warming up with students, they brought along an orchestra and choir for a trippy twist in Germany. The costs of transporting all those musicians must have been crazy!

During an epic 12 day run, Pink Floyd trucked their equipment over 5,000 miles across Europe. Talk about a road trip! One night in France, they played on a national TV show. Even though they were gaining fame, Pink Floyd still did some free concerts too, like one in June in Amsterdam that over 10,000 people attended!

If touring all around Europe wasn’t enough, Pink Floyd took their act to Japan in August. They rocked massive festival crowds, dazzling fans who had never experienced their unique brand of psychedelic space rock before. Just imagine what the Japanese fans must have thought when an inflatable octopus and gong-banging giant showed up on stage!

Taking America by Storm

After their summer abroad, Pink Floyd returned to England to put the finishing touches on their new album Meddle. As soon as it was completed, they immediately launched a three week tour of North America.

Their first stop – San Francisco, the hippie mecca! The funky posters painted for the show look like something straight out of a comic book. Over the next month, they played everywhere from Los Angeles to New York City, hitting college towns and big cities. They drove thousands more miles in their tricked out trucks emblazoned with weird aliens. Talk about arriving in style!

The new songs they played must have blown people’s minds. One concert-goer said it was so loud that they felt like they “had been picked up and shaken like a mad dog.” Crazy!

Back Home to Record a Classic

Exhausted from all that touring, Pink Floyd headed home to England in late November. They went straight into the recording studio to start laying down tracks for their next album, The Dark Side of the Moon. That record would eventually go down in history as one of the best albums ever when it came out in 1973!

But the band didn’t actually get to rest for long. Soon their managers lined up another tour of North America set for early 1972. The road beckoned again!

Going the Distance for Rock & Roll Dreams

It’s just mind-boggling thinking about everything Pink Floyd accomplished back in 1971. They traveled what must have been hundreds of thousands of miles around the world – and that was all in the days before cell phones, internet, or private jets!

Loading in their epic light shows and giant floating props at each stop couldn’t have been easy either. Yet they still hauled their 15 ton of equipment everywhere they went, determined to give fans an unforgettable sensory experience. Talk about dedication!

Even with all those long distances between cities, Pink Floyd somehow managed to find time to write new songs too. Many of the ideas they came up with backstage, in hotels, or on their custom tour bus blossomed into tracks on their later albums. Their creativity sparked non-stop!

So the next time you get worn out from traveling to sports practice or school events, just remember what Pink Floyd went through! Hopefully their legendary journey around the globe over 50 years ago will inspire you to keep chasing your dreams no matter how challenging it gets. With enough passion and perseverance, you can accomplish great things too!