'Dark Side' in Pittsburgh: 1973
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In January of 1972, Pink Floyd launched a tour that showcased its unrecorded work, "Eclipse," later to be called "The Dark Side of the Moon." The world tour brought them to the late Syria Mosque on April 20, 1972, just a few months before entering Abbey Road studio to record it. (The band's Pittsburgh debut, by the way, was on Nov. 19, 1971 at the Mosque.)
When Pink Floyd returned to play the Civic Arena on June 20, 1973, "Dark Side" had been out for two months. The Post-Gazette review of the show by Mike Kalina did not recognize the genius at hand. Here is the full review:
"Pink Floyd last night at the Civic Arena came up with some sounds that haven't been heard outside a sound-stage at a horror-film studio.
The four-man British rock group played an interesting though uninspired set, which showed only spasmodic flashes of brilliance. They seemed more interested in sound effects than music, and as they performed they seemed very tired. [Editor's note: i.e., David Gilmour is not Mick Jagger.]
Yet the experimental rock sound they put out was intriguing and very clean. One big factor that helped the group was their fantastic sound system -- one of the best in the world.
The concert got off about two hours late because of an airline problem, but the near-capacity crowd was quite patient, though restless.
Incidentally, the group opened its concert almost exactly as Deep Purple did there recently -- with smoke rising around the members of the group as the house light went down. The type of 'puff'-ery is becoming trite."
Thirty years later, puff-ery is still pretty popular.
-- Scott Mervis
First Published September 21, 2006 12:00 am
