The Division Bell Tour

The Division Bell Tour was the final concert tour by the English rock band Pink Floyd, held in 1994 to support their album The Division Bell. Pink Floyd disbanded after the tour. Recordings were released on the 1995 live album Pulse.

The Division Bell Tour
Tour by Pink Floyd
Location
  • America
  • Europe
Associated albumThe Division Bell
Start date30 March 1994
End date29 October 1994
Legs2
No. of shows110
Pink Floyd concert chronology

History

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Pink Floyd spent most of March 1994 rehearsing in a hangar at Norton Air Force Base in California and a soundstage at Universal Studios Florida.[1] The Division Bell Tour was promoted by the Canadian musician Michael Cohl and became the highest-grossing tour in rock music history to that date. Pink Floyd played the entirety of their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon in some shows. They first played the whole of The Dark Side of the Moon on 15 July at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, which was the first time since 1975 it was played.

The concerts featured even more special effects than the previous tour, including two custom designed airships.[2] Three stages leapfrogged around North America and Europe, each 180 feet (55 m) long and featuring a 130-foot (40 m) arch resembling the Hollywood Bowl venue. All in all, the tour required 700 tons of steel carried by 53 articulated trucks, a crew of 161 people and an initial investment of US$4 million plus US$25 million of running costs just to stage. This tour played to over 5 million people in 68 cities; each concert gathered an average audience of 45,000.

The shows are documented by the Pulse album, video and DVD. The final concert of the tour on 29 October 1994 turned out to be the final full-length Pink Floyd performance, and the last time Pink Floyd played live before their one-off 18-minute reunion with Roger Waters at Live 8 on 2 July 2005, their first live appearance as a quartet in 24 years since The Wall Tour (1980–1981), as well as their last before Richard Wright's death in 2008.

Sponsorship

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A Volkswagen Golf Pink Floyd Edition

The tour was sponsored in Europe by Volkswagen, which also issued a commemorative version of its top-selling car, the Golf Pink Floyd, one of which was given as a prize at each concert. It was a standard Golf with Pink Floyd decals and a premium stereo, and had Volkswagen's most environmentally friendly engine, at Gilmour's insistence.[3] In 1995, Gilmour said he had donated the money had made from the sponsorship to charity, and was uncomfortable with it: "I don't want [Volkswagen] to be able to say they have a connection with Pink Floyd, that they're part of our success. We will not do it again."[4]

Sales

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At the end of the year, the Division Bell Tour was announced as the biggest tour ever, with worldwide gross of over £150 million (about US$250 million). In the U.S. alone, it grossed US$103.5 million from 59 concerts. Less than a year later, the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge Tour finished with a worldwide gross of over US$300 million. The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Metallica, U2, the Police, Bon Jovi, Madonna and the former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters are the only acts to achieve a higher worldwide gross from a tour, even when adjusting for inflation. The stage set was designed by Stufish Entertainment Architecture, led by the architect Mark Fisher.[citation needed]

Personnel

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Pink Floyd:

Additional musicians:

  • Guy Prattbass, co-lead vocals on "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell", backing vocals
  • Jon Carin – keyboards, co-lead vocals on "Comfortably Numb" and "Hey You", backing vocals
  • Gary Wallis – percussion, additional drums
  • Tim Renwick – guitars, backing vocals
  • Dick Parry – saxophones
  • Sam Brown – backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky"
  • Claudia Fontaine – backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky"
  • Durga McBroom – backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky"

Tour dates

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DateCityCountryVenueTickets sold/availableBox office
Rehearsals
3 March 1994San BernardinoUnited StatesNorton Air Force Base--
23 March 1994OrlandoUniversal Studios Florida
North America
30 March 1994Miami GardensUnited StatesJoe Robbie Stadium54,738 / 54,738$1,975,665
3 April 1994San AntonioAlamodome44,331 / 44,331$1,499,188
5 April 1994HoustonRice Stadium45,021 / 47,000$1,502,047
9 April 1994Mexico CityMexicoAutódromo Hermanos Rodríguez90,476 / 90,476$5,235,862
10 April 1994
14 April 1994San DiegoUnited StatesJack Murphy Stadium51,610 / 51,610$1,594,069
16 April 1994PasadenaRose Bowl129,060 / 129,060$4,703,290
17 April 1994
20 April 1994OaklandOakland–Alameda County Coliseum155,662 / 155,662$5,249,778
21 April 1994
22 April 1994
24 April 1994TempeSun Devil Stadium63,827 / 63,827$2,259,833
26 April 1994El PasoSun Bowl Stadium34,945 / 37,000$1,148,228
28 April 1994IrvingTexas Stadium87,400 / 87,400$2,944,618
29 April 1994
1 May 1994BirminghamLegion Field55,169 / 55,169$2,944,618
3 May 1994AtlantaBobby Dodd Stadium71,272 / 80,000$2,426,720
4 May 1994
6 May 1994TampaTampa Stadium55,987 / 55,987$2,038,815
8 May 1994NashvilleVanderbilt Stadium41,169 / 41,169$1,348,505
10 May 1994RaleighCarter–Finley Stadium46,656 / 48,000$1,597,283
12 May 1994ClemsonMemorial Stadium50,569 / 50,569$1,733,619
14 May 1994New OrleansLouisiana Superdome41,475 / 41,475$1,401,445
18 May 1994FoxboroughFoxboro Stadium137,175 / 137,175$4,975,365
19 May 1994
20 May 1994
22 May 1994MontrealCanadaOlympic Stadium187,302 / 187,302$5,301,117
23 May 1994
24 May 1994
26 May 1994ClevelandUnited StatesCleveland Stadium108,205 / 110,000$3,807,153
27 May 1994
29 May 1994ColumbusOhio Stadium75,250 / 75,250$2,406,920
31 May 1994PittsburghThree Rivers Stadium55,054 / 55,054$1,879,330
2 June 1994PhiladelphiaVeterans Stadium152,264 / 152,264$5,091,120
3 June 1994
4 June 1994
6 June 1994SyracuseCarrier Dome38,901 / 38,901$1,338,073
10 June 1994New York CityYankee Stadium103,690 / 103,690$3,765,090
11 June 1994
14 June 1994IndianapolisHoosier Dome44,762 / 44,762$1,487,448
16 June 1994AmesCyclone Stadium46,273 / 46,273$1,514,838
18 June 1994DenverMile High Stadium69,788 / 69,788$2,375,714
20 June 1994Kansas CityArrowhead Stadium57,003 / 57,003$1,914,318
22 June 1994MinneapolisHubert H. Humphrey MetrodomeN/AN/A
25 June 1994VancouverCanadaBC Place
26 June 1994
28 June 1994EdmontonCommonwealth Stadium57,701 / 57,701$1,834,004
1 July 1994WinnipegWinnipeg Stadium42,616 / 42,616$1,234,117
3 July 1994MadisonUnited StatesCamp Randall Stadium60,960 / 60,960$1,942,780
5 July 1994TorontoCanadaExhibition Stadium158,593 / 158,593$4,431,108
6 July 1994
7 July 1994
9 July 1994Washington, D.C.United StatesRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium98,570 / 98,570$3,313,378
10 July 1994
12 July 1994ChicagoSoldier Field51,981 / 51,981$2,056,105
14 July 1994PontiacPontiac Silverdome111,355 / 111,355$3,772,950
15 July 1994
17 July 1994East RutherfordGiants Stadium118,554 / 118,554$4,474,220
18 July 1994
Europe
22 July 1994LisbonPortugalEstádio José Alvalade
23 July 1994
25 July 1994San SebastiánSpainAnoeta
27 July 1994BarcelonaEstadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
30 July 1994ChantillyFranceChâteau de Chantilly
(Hippodrome de Chantilly)
31 July 1994
2 August 1994CologneGermanyMüngersdorfer Stadion
4 August 1994MunichOlympiastadion
6 August 1994BaselSwitzerlandSt. Jakob Stadium
7 August 1994
9 August 1994MontpellierFranceParc du Château de Grammont
11 August 1994BordeauxEsplanade des Quinconces
13 August 1994HockenheimGermanyHockenheimring
16 August 1994HanoverNiedersachsenstadion
17 August 1994
19 August 1994ViennaAustriaFlughafen, Wiener Neustadt
21 August 1994BerlinGermanyMaifeld am Glockenturm
23 August 1994GelsenkirchenParkstadion
25 August 1994CopenhagenDenmarkParken Stadium
27 August 1994GothenburgSwedenUllevi
29 August 1994OsloNorwayValle Hovin
30 August 1994
2 September 1994WerchterBelgiumRock Werchter
3 September 1994RotterdamNetherlandsStadion Feijenoord
4 September 1994
5 September 1994
7 September 1994PragueCzech RepublicStrahov Stadium
9 September 1994StrasbourgFranceStade de la Meinau
11 September 1994LyonStade de Gerland
13 September 1994TurinItalyStadio delle Alpi
15 September 1994UdineStadio Friuli
17 September 1994ModenaFesta de l'Unità
19 September 1994RomeCinecittà
20 September 1994
21 September 1994
23 September 1994LyonFranceStade de Gerland
25 September 1994LausanneSwitzerlandStade Olympique de la Pontaise
13 October 1994LondonEnglandEarls Court Exhibition Centre273,474 / 273,474$9,188,726
14 October 1994
15 October 1994
16 October 1994
17 October 1994
19 October 1994
20 October 1994
21 October 1994
22 October 1994
23 October 1994
26 October 1994
27 October 1994
28 October 1994
29 October 1994

Cancellations and rescheduled shows

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List of cancelled shows, showing date, city, country, venue, reason and reschedulation date
DateCityCountryVenueReasonRescheduled to
1 September 1994HelsinkiFinlandOlympiastadionPoor sales[5]Cancelled
12 October 1994LondonEnglandEarls CourtSeating stand collapse[6]Rescheduled to 17 October 1994

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Pink Floyd - The Official Site". pinkfloyd.com. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. ^ VOLA Archive TIME TO BREATHE - A Tribute to the Classic Sound of Pink Floyd at the Wayback Machine (archived 10 April 2005)
  3. ^ The Spiegel-Translation
  4. ^ "The 30-Year Technicolor Dream". Mojo. July 1995.
  5. ^ Mattila, Ilkka (29 August 1994). "Pink Floyd tekee jättishown valoilla". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). p. D 10.
  6. ^ "Pink Floyd 'very angry and upset' over accident: Human error could". The Independent. 14 October 1994. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
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