POSTED BY AESTHETIC MAGAZINE ⋅ JULY 8, 2023 ⋅
By: Curtis Sindrey –
What is there left to say about Pink Floyd? A lot apparently with the opening of a new exhibition that extensively details every era of the iconic psych-rock band’s multi-decade career that produced some of the most beloved rock music of all-time including the now legendary albums Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and Dark Side of the Moon.
As soon as you put on the complimentary headphones, and you walk into the exhibition, it’s more than overwhelming to take everything in. The exhibition, which opened on June 16th, features over 350 objects from throughout Pink Floyd’s existence, from concert posters, to original instruments, to stage props, and everything in between.
Starting in the mid-1960’s, you quickly get introduced to the band’s initial lineup featuring troubled frontman Syd Barrett, who struggled with mental health issues throughout his tenure with the band. During this time, the band developed a strong appreciation for blues legends like Blind Boy Fuller, along with Pink Anderson, and Floyd Council, the band’s namesakes.
As Pink Floyd dived deeper into the 1960’s, so did their level of experimentation and their embrace of everything psychedelia. By the release of their 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the group had already been heavily experimenting with projectors and light/sound manipulation to give the audience an elevated experience. And by their 1970’s creative peak and beyond, it was so enlightening to see the band’s sonic evolution in terms of the on-stage visual effects they once used, to the wide assortment of guitars, basses, drums, synths, and other instruments that came to define the Pink Floyd sound.
One of the most interesting aspects of the exhibition was the complete visual history of the band. Brought to life in part by designer duo Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, the exhibition includes many concert posters, album designs, and more, that take you into the creative brainstorm of some of Pink Floyd’s most iconic album covers. It was especially fascinating to see the creative process behind a pair of my favourite album covers of Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. The WYWH section goes into great detail about the making of the inner sleeve artwork (spoiler: the “wave-less” effect was made with the model doing a handstand while wearing a scuba mask underwater). The exhibition also shows the design process behind the iconic WYWH album cover that depicts too men shaking hands with one of the men on fire.
Overall, this new Pink Floyd exhibition is a must-see for not only Pink Floyd fans but for fans of that beloved era of music. There are so many pieces of memorabilia, instruments, etc, that you almost need to walk through twice just to take everything in. The exhibition is a touching, informative, entertaining, and exhaustive examination of a band’s influence that goes beyond music and extends almost into the cosmos.
How rare footage of Pink Floyd concert dubbed 'the Woodstock of Hamilton' made it to the big screen
An estimated 52,000 people attended the 1975 show.
Nowadays it's hard to imagine being Jim 'Speedy' Kelly, the lone man with a camera in a crowd of 52,000 fans at the 1975 Pink Floyd show at Hamilton's Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Speedy's footage gives a glimpse into an almost-forgotten moment in Hamilton history.
More than 50,000 hippies made a pilgrimage to the heart of Hamilton to see the psychedelic British band.
"When the gates got torn down, thousands of people poured in there," said Rob Gronfors, who went to the concert when he was around 12 with his older brother.
A prolific concert videographer, Speedy caught bands like Rush, Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper on Super 8 film.
When Speedy died in 2021, he left all of his films to Gronfors, his good friend — including the Pink Floyd concert at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Gronfors said the original Super 8 film was grainy, but he was approached by a few people who said they could restore the footage into 4K quality, with the help of artificial intelligence.
The rare footage of the Hamilton Pink Floyd concert is part of a double bill alongside Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii at Playhouse Cinema, playing Saturday evening and then again on Aug. 2.
"Pink Floyd never recorded anything in 1975. It's just not out there on any YouTube channels or anything," Gronfors said.
The Ivor Wynne show was "like the Woodstock of Hamilton," said Jacob Tutt, manager of Playhouse Cinema.
Tutt said footage of Pink Floyd was so rare in the 70s that most fans likely wouldn't have recognized the band members.
"Through the 70s and 80s, there's very little concert footage that's out there to see of Pink Floyd playing," he said.
Photos from the concert show the toll the 52,000 fans took on the quiet neighbourhoods surrounding the stadium.
Gronfors described the scene to CBC's Commotion earlier this week.
"The stadium was right in the middle of a wartime-houses subdivision," he said.
"They had the nice porches with the pillars and little tiny front yards to the street. Well, everybody's front yard was just full of all these... hippies, I'll say, passing joints around, drinking—just enjoying the day and having fun."
"It was the first major concert event that happened at Ivor Wynne Stadium," Tutt said.
The promoter who booked Pink Floyd, Tutt said, had a number of other major acts set to play at stadium. But the Pink Floyd concert "set a precedent" against large concerts in the city for decades.
"There were never any concerts or major musical acts that played at Ivor Wynne Stadium until I think 2012, when The Tragically Hip played," he said.
Gronfors said the show itself "made history."
It was the last North American date of the 'Wish You Were Here' Tour, he said, and the band didn't want to bring any leftover fireworks back to England.
"They decided to blow them all off. Let's have a huge send off and and unfortunately some of them hit the scoreboard and wrecked the Hamilton Tiger Cats scoreboard," he said.
Gronfors posts the restored footage shot by Speedy on the YouTube channel he created last year, where you can also see clips and hear audio from Van Halen, Alice Cooper, Rush, Cheap Trick and others from the 1970s. Gronfors, who goes by the name Dolph on the channel, also tells the stories of some of the shows.
But while the channel lets people watch the concerts at home, Gronfors said he knows Speedy would be happy his videos are being screened at a theatre.
"He would be ecstatic. He would be so happy. It makes my heart boom. You know, I'm a spiritual person, so Speedy is definitely there through my eyes. He's definitely going, 'Way to go, Dolph. Way to go.'"
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