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 went on indefinite hiatus after the tour eventually disbanding officially in 2008 with the death of Richard Wright. Recordings were released on the 1995 live album Pulse.

History 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. 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.VOLA Archive Three stages leapfrogged around North America and Europe, each long and featuring a 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 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. In 1995, Gilmour said he had donated the money he 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."

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. 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.

Personnel Pink Floyd: David Gilmour – guitars, lead vocals, console steel guitar Nick Mason – drums, percussion Richard Wright – keyboards, co-lead vocals on 'Astronomy Domine," "Time" and "Comfortably Numb", backing vocals

Additional musicians: Guy Pratt – bass, 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" Douglas Adams – guitars, special guest for 28 October 1994 concert

Tour dates + List of 1994 concertsDateCityCountryVenueAttendanceRevenue30 MarchMiami GardensUnited StatesJoe Robbie Stadium 54,738 / 54,738 $1,975,6653 AprilSan AntonioAlamodome 44,331 / 44,331 $1,499,1885 AprilHoustonRice Stadium 45,021 / 47,000 $1,502,0479 AprilMexico CityMexicoAutódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 90,476 / 90,476 $5,235,86210 April14 AprilSan DiegoUnited StatesJack Murphy Stadium 51,610 / 51,610 $1,594,06916 AprilPasadenaRose Bowl 129,060 / 129,060 $4,703,29017 April20 AprilOaklandOakland–Alameda County Coliseum 155,662 / 155,662 $5,249,77821 April22 April24 AprilTempeSun Devil Stadium 63,827 / 63,827 $2,259,83326 AprilEl PasoSun Bowl Stadium 34,945 / 37,000 $1,148,22828 AprilIrvingTexas Stadium 87,400 / 87,400 $2,944,61829 April1 MayBirminghamLegion Field 55,169 / 55,169 $2,944,6183 MayAtlantaBobby Dodd Stadium 71,272 / 80,000 $2,426,7204 May6 MayTampaTampa Stadium 55,987 / 55,987 $2,038,8158 MayNashvilleVanderbilt Stadium 41,169 / 41,169 $1,348,50510 MayRaleighCarter–Finley Stadium 46,656 / 48,000 $1,597,28312 MayClemsonMemorial Stadium 50,569 / 50,569 $1,733,61914 MayNew OrleansLouisiana Superdome 41,475 / 41,475 $1,401,44518 MayFoxboroughFoxboro Stadium 137,175 / 137,175 $4,975,36519 May20 May22 MayMontrealCanadaOlympic Stadium 187,302 / 187,302 $5,301,11723 May24 May26 May 1994ClevelandUnited StatesCleveland Stadium 108,205 / 110,000 $3,807,15327 May29 MayColumbusOhio Stadium 75,250 / 75,250 $2,406,92031 MayPittsburghThree Rivers Stadium 55,054 / 55,054 $1,879,3302 JunePhiladelphiaVeterans Stadium 152,264 / 152,264 $5,091,1203 June4 June6 JuneSyracuseCarrier Dome 38,901 / 38,901 $1,338,07310 JuneNew York CityYankee Stadium 103,690 / 103,690 $3,765,09011 June14 JuneIndianapolisHoosier Dome 44,762 / 44,762 $1,487,44816 JuneAmesCyclone Stadium 46,273 / 46,273 $1,514,83818 JuneDenverMile High Stadium 69,788 / 69,788 $2,375,71420 JuneKansas CityArrowhead Stadium 57,003 / 57,003 $1,914,31822 JuneMinneapolisHubert H. Humphrey MetrodomeN/AN/A25 JuneVancouverCanadaBC Place26 June28 JuneEdmontonCommonwealth Stadium 57,701 / 57,701 $1,834,0041 JulyWinnipegWinnipeg Stadium 42,616 / 42,616 $1,234,1173 JulyMadisonUnited StatesCamp Randall Stadium 60,960 / 60,960 $1,942,7805 JulyTorontoCanadaExhibition Stadium 158,593 / 158,593 $4,431,1086 July7 July9 JulyWashington, D.C.United StatesRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium 98,570 / 98,570 $3,313,37810 July12 JulyChicagoSoldier Field 51,981 / 51,981 $2,056,10514 JulyPontiacPontiac Silverdome 111,355 / 111,355 $3,772,95015 July17 JulyEast RutherfordGiants Stadium 118,554 / 118,554 $4,474,22018 July22 JulyLisbonPortugalEstádio José Alvalade23 July25 JulySan SebastiánSpainAnoeta27 JulyBarcelonaEstadi Olímpic Lluís Companys30 JulyChantillyFranceHippodrome de Chantilly31 July2 AugustCologneGermanyMüngersdorfer Stadion4 AugustMunichOlympiastadion6 AugustBaselSwitzerlandSt. Jakob Stadium7 August9 AugustMontpellierFranceParc du Château de Grammont11 AugustBordeauxEsplanade des Quinconces13 AugustHockenheimGermanyHockenheimring16 AugustHanoverNiedersachsenstadion17 August19 AugustViennaAustriaFlughafen, Wiener Neustadt21 AugustBerlinGermanyMaifeld am Glockenturm23 AugustGelsenkirchenParkstadion25 AugustCopenhagenDenmarkParken Stadium27 AugustGothenburgSwedenUllevi29 AugustOsloNorwayValle Hovin30 August2 SeptemberWerchterBelgiumWerchter festival ground3 SeptemberRotterdamNetherlandsStadion Feijenoord4 September5 September7 SeptemberPragueCzech RepublicStrahov Stadium9 SeptemberStrasbourgFranceStade de la Meinau11 SeptemberLyonStade de Gerland13 SeptemberTurinItalyStadio delle Alpi15 SeptemberUdineStadio Friuli17 SeptemberModenaFesta de l'Unità19 SeptemberRomeCinecittà20 September21 September23 SeptemberLyonFranceStade de Gerland25 SeptemberLausanneSwitzerlandStade Olympique de la Pontaise13 OctoberLondonEnglandEarls Court Exhibition Centre273,474 / 273,474$9,188,72614 October15 October16 October17 October19 October20 October21 October22 October23 October26 October27 October28 October29 October

Cancelled shows +List of cancelled showsDateCityCountryVenueReason1 September 1994HelsinkiFinlandOlympiastadionPoor sales

Notes

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