The Division Bell Tour

Associated albumThe Division BellStart date30 March 1994End date29 October 1994Legs2No. of shows110Pink Floyd concert chronology

• A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour
  (1987–1990)
• The Division Bell Tour
  (1994)

The Division Bell Tour was the final concert tour by the English rock band Pink Floyd. It was performed in 1994 to support their album The Division Bell, which was released two days before the tour's start date. Following the tour's conclusion, the group quietly disbanded.

In 1995 the band released the live album Pulse to commemorate the tour.

History

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

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, which the reunion marked their first concert in 24 years since The Wall Tour (1980–1981) as a quartet, as well as their final concert before Richard Wright's death in 2008.

Sponsorship

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 was uncomfortable with the sponsorship: "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." He said he had donated the money he made from the sponsorship to charity.^[4]

Sales

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. However, this record was short-lived; 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, Roger Waters and Madonna remain the only acts ever to achieve a higher worldwide gross from a tour, even when adjusting for inflation. The stage set for the tour was designed by Stufish Entertainment Architecture, led by architect Mark Fisher.^{[citation needed]}

Personnel

Pink Floyd:

• David Gilmour – guitars, lead vocals, pedal steel guitar
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion
• Richard Wright – keyboards, lead vocals on 'Astronomy Domine," "Time" and "Comfortably Numb", backing vocals

Additional musicians:

• Guy Pratt – bass, lead vocals on "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell", backing vocals
• Jon Carin – keyboards, 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, lead vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky"
• Claudia Fontaine – backing vocals, lead vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky"
• Durga McBroom – backing vocals, lead vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky"

Set list

There were two typical set lists used throughout the tour. The first was used all tour, and the second was introduced on 15 July at the Pontiac Silverdome, and rotated with the first typical set list for the remainder of the tour.

Songs rarely played during this tour were:

• "One Slip" (only played once on 22 April 1994 in Oakland, California between "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Us and Them"; at this show, "Wish You Were Here" was played after "Us and Them")
• "Marooned" (only played twice on 29 and 30 August 1994 in Oslo, Norway before "Run Like Hell")

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Tickets sold/available	Box office
Rehearsals
3 March 1994	San Bernardino	United States	Norton Air Force Base	-	-
23 March 1994	Orlando		Universal Studios Florida
North America
30 March 1994	Miami Gardens	United States	Joe Robbie Stadium	54,738 / 54,738	$1,975,665
3 April 1994	San Antonio		Alamodome	44,331 / 44,331	$1,499,188
5 April 1994	Houston		Rice Stadium	45,021 / 47,000	$1,502,047
9 April 1994	Mexico City	Mexico	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	90,476 / 90,476	$5,235,862
10 April 1994
14 April 1994	San Diego	United States	Jack Murphy Stadium	51,610 / 51,610	$1,594,069
16 April 1994	Pasadena		Rose Bowl	129,060 / 129,060	$4,703,290
17 April 1994
20 April 1994	Oakland		Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	155,662 / 155,662	$5,249,778
21 April 1994
22 April 1994
24 April 1994	Tempe		Sun Devil Stadium	63,827 / 63,827	$2,259,833
26 April 1994	El Paso		Sun Bowl Stadium	34,945 / 37,000	$1,148,228
28 April 1994	Irving		Texas Stadium	87,400 / 87,400	$2,944,618
29 April 1994
1 May 1994	Birmingham		Legion Field	55,169 / 55,169	$2,944,618
3 May 1994	Atlanta		Bobby Dodd Stadium	71,272 / 80,000	$2,426,720
4 May 1994
6 May 1994	Tampa		Tampa Stadium	55,987 / 55,987	$2,038,815
8 May 1994	Nashville		Vanderbilt Stadium	41,169 / 41,169	$1,348,505
10 May 1994	Raleigh		Carter–Finley Stadium	46,656 / 48,000	$1,597,283
12 May 1994	Clemson		Memorial Stadium	50,569 / 50,569	$1,733,619
14 May 1994	New Orleans		Louisiana Superdome	41,475 / 41,475	$1,401,445
18 May 1994	Foxborough		Foxboro Stadium	137,175 / 137,175	$4,975,365
19 May 1994
20 May 1994
22 May 1994	Montreal	Canada	Olympic Stadium	187,302 / 187,302	$5,301,117
23 May 1994
24 May 1994
26 May 1994	Cleveland	United States	Cleveland Stadium	108,205 / 110,000	$3,807,153
27 May 1994
29 May 1994	Columbus		Ohio Stadium	75,250 / 75,250	$2,406,920
31 May 1994	Pittsburgh		Three Rivers Stadium	55,054 / 55,054	$1,879,330
2 June 1994	Philadelphia		Veterans Stadium	152,264 / 152,264	$5,091,120
3 June 1994
4 June 1994
6 June 1994	Syracuse		Carrier Dome	38,901 / 38,901	$1,338,073
10 June 1994	New York City		Yankee Stadium	103,690 / 103,690	$3,765,090
11 June 1994
14 June 1994	Indianapolis		Hoosier Dome	44,762 / 44,762	$1,487,448
16 June 1994	Ames		Cyclone Stadium	46,273 / 46,273	$1,514,838
18 June 1994	Denver		Mile High Stadium	69,788 / 69,788	$2,375,714
20 June 1994	Kansas City		Arrowhead Stadium	57,003 / 57,003	$1,914,318
22 June 1994	Minneapolis		Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	N/A	N/A
25 June 1994	Vancouver	Canada	BC Place
26 June 1994
28 June 1994	Edmonton		Commonwealth Stadium	57,701 / 57,701	$1,834,004
1 July 1994	Winnipeg		Winnipeg Stadium	42,616 / 42,616	$1,234,117
3 July 1994	Madison	United States	Camp Randall Stadium	60,960 / 60,960	$1,942,780
5 July 1994	Toronto	Canada	Exhibition Stadium	158,593 / 158,593	$4,431,108
6 July 1994
7 July 1994
9 July 1994	Washington, D.C.	United States	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	98,570 / 98,570	$3,313,378
10 July 1994
12 July 1994	Chicago		Soldier Field	51,981 / 51,981	$2,056,105
14 July 1994	Pontiac		Pontiac Silverdome	111,355 / 111,355	$3,772,950
15 July 1994
17 July 1994	East Rutherford		Giants Stadium	118,554 / 118,554	$4,474,220
18 July 1994
Europe
22 July 1994	Lisbon	Portugal	Estádio José Alvalade
23 July 1994
25 July 1994	San Sebastián	Spain	Anoeta
27 July 1994	Barcelona		Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
30 July 1994	Chantilly	France	Château de Chantilly – (Hippodrome de Chantilly)
31 July 1994
2 August 1994	Cologne	Germany	Müngersdorfer Stadion
4 August 1994	Munich		Olympiastadion
6 August 1994	Basel	Switzerland	St. Jakob Stadium
7 August 1994
9 August 1994	Montpellier	France	Parc du Château de Grammont
11 August 1994	Bordeaux		Esplanade des Quinconces
13 August 1994	Hockenheim	Germany	Hockenheimring
16 August 1994	Hanover		Niedersachsenstadion
17 August 1994
19 August 1994	Vienna	Austria	Flughafen, Wiener Neustadt
21 August 1994	Berlin	Germany	Maifeld am Glockenturm
23 August 1994	Gelsenkirchen		Parkstadion
25 August 1994	Copenhagen	Denmark	Parken Stadium
27 August 1994	Gothenburg	Sweden	Ullevi
29 August 1994	Oslo	Norway	Valle Hovin
30 August 1994
2 September 1994	Werchter	Belgium	Rock Werchter
3 September 1994	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Stadion Feijenoord
4 September 1994
5 September 1994
7 September 1994	Prague	Czech Republic	Strahov Stadium
9 September 1994	Strasbourg	France	Stade de la Meinau
11 September 1994	Lyon		Stade de Gerland
13 September 1994	Turin	Italy	Stadio delle Alpi
15 September 1994	Udine		Stadio Friuli
17 September 1994	Modena		Festa de l'Unità
19 September 1994	Rome		Cinecittà
20 September 1994
21 September 1994
23 September 1994	Lyon	France	Stade de Gerland
25 September 1994	Lausanne	Switzerland	Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
13 October 1994	London	England	Earls Court Exhibition Centre	273,474 / 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

List of cancelled shows, showing date, city, country, venue, reason and reschedulation date

Date	City	Country	Venue	Reason	Rescheduled to
1 September 1994	Helsinki	Finland	Olympiastadion	Poor sales[5]	Cancelled
12 October 1994	London	England	Earls Court	Seating stand collapse[6]	Rescheduled to 17 October 1994

See also

• List of highest-grossing concert tours
• List of most-attended concert tours

References

External links

• Pink Floyd Drums: The Division Bell Tour Drums