3 January 1972
Pink Floyd began two weeks of gig rehearsals at the Rolling Stones' rehearsal facility in Bermondsey, South London.
17 January 1972
Pink Floyd spent three days in production rehearsals at London's Rainbow Theatre. The band road-tested not only a brand new
PA but also a new piece of music, titled The Dark Side Of The Moon, which they had been working on intermittently at Abbey Road.
20 January 1972
What should have been the live debut of The Dark Side Of The Moon at
Brighton's The Dome was cut short when technical problems led to the band abandoning
the piece mid-way through the song Money. After a break, the group completed
the gig with performances of: Atom Heart Mother; Careful With That
Axe, Eugene; One Of These Days; Echoes. The encore was A
Saucerful Of Secrets.
21 January 1972
Pink Floyd played 16 UK dates, featuring full performances of a work-in progress version of The Dark Side Of The Moon. The tour culminated with four
nights at London's Rainbow Theatre.
23 February 1972
Pink Floyd began a week-long recording session at Château d'Hérouville
studios near Paris, working on music for the soundtrack to More director
Barbet Schroeder's next film, La Vallée.
6 March 1972
Pink Floyd began a whistle-stop tour of Japan beginning in Tokyo and ending on 13 March in Sapporo. Their set list included The Dark Side Of The Moon.
23 March 1972
The band spent four days completing the soundtrack to La Vallée at Château d'Hérouville. During downtime, Pink Floyd roadie Chris Adamson was challenged by Roger
Waters to eat a stone (14lbs) of raw potatoes in one sitting. Waters later said that the stunt was abandoned after Adamson had consumed "around two and a half pounds".
6 April 1972
Pink Floyd finished mixing the soundtrack to La Vallée, now called Obscured By Clouds, at London's Morgan Studios.
14 April 1972
Pink Floyd's 17-date US tour commenced at Fort Homer Hesterly Armory Auditorium in Tampa, Florida, and ended on 4 May at the Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.
21 May 1972
Pink Floyd headlined the second day of the three-day '2nd British Rock Meeting' festival in Germersheim, West Germany. Other bands on the bill included The Kinks, The Faces, and Status Quo.
24 May 1972
Pink Floyd began a month-long recording session at Abbey Road. At this point, working titles for the songs that would make up The Dark Side Of The Moon included Travel (instead of Breathe),
Religion (instead of The Great Gig In The Sky) and Lunatic (instead of Brain Damage).
2 June 1972
Obscured By Clouds was released in the UK, where it reached No. 6 in the charts. Tracklisting: Obscured By Clouds; When You're In; Burning Bridges;
The Gold It's In The...; Wot's... Uh The Deal; Mudmen; Free Four; Stay; Absolutely Curtains. The final track, Absolutely Curtains, included a vocal
performance from members of the Mapuga Tribe of New Guinea.
17 June 1972
Obscured By Clouds is released in the US, where it reached No. 42 in the charts.
28 June 1972
Pink Floyd played the first of two shows at Brighton's Dome, as a replacement for the abandoned show in January.
29 August 1972
La Vallée (Obscured By Clouds) is premiered at the Venice International Film Festival.
2 September 1972
Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii premieres at 26th Edinburgh Film Festival in Scotland.
8 September 1972
Pink Floyd returned to the US for a 17-date American and Canadian tour, opening at Austin, Texas' Municipal Auditorium and ending with a matinee and evening performance at Vancouver's Gardens Arena.
21 October 1972
Pink Floyd played a benefit gig for the 'War On Want' and 'Save The Children' charities, performing The Dark Side Of The Moon and More at the Empire Pool, Wembley.
10 November 1972
Pink Floyd's seven-date European tour included five performances in Marseille, France.
Here, the band accompanied choreographer Roland Petit's Ballets de Marseille
dance company, performing the four-movement Pink Floyd Ballet (featuring:
One Of These Days; Careful With That Axe, Eugene; Obscured
By Clouds; When You're In; Echoes).
25 November 1972
The cinematic premiere of Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii, which was due to take place at London's Rainbow Theatre, was cancelled, partly because the theatre's owners discovered
that the film had not yet been granted a certificate by the British Board Of Film Censors.
28 November 1972
Pink Floyd returned to France for a further nine shows, opening and closing at Toulouse's Palais Des Sports.
