Prolific English prog-rock band Pink Floyd on Friday, April 17th, streamed their historic ‘Pulse’ concert in full, which is now free to view on YouTube. 

As the coronavirus lockdown is being extended in many parts of the world, including the United Kingdom, people are finding it harder and harder to pass the time cooped up in their homes. In an effort to make the quarantine period easier, the rock legends have decided to roll out full-length recordings to some of their iconic live performances, kicking things off with the psychedelic, laser-light infused show Pulse.

Pulse was recorded in 1994 at Earl’s Court Arena in London while the band were on tour for their album, The Division Bell, but also featured many of the band's hits from previous releases, including, ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, and ‘Money.’ What made the concert stand out, however, were the stunning visuals projected on a screen behind the band, filled with a dazzling light display, complete with drummer Nick Mason using luminescent sticks. The visuals were true to the band's pioneering progressive aesthetic and make the show a treat for the eyes even as the band's groundbreaking discography scores the performance. 

The band's decision to upload these concerts comes after some build up, where they uploaded snippets of performances to their social media pages before finally announcing their full plan in a tweet on Friday, dubbing it a part of the ‘YouTube Film Festival.’

Starting today at 5pm UK (12pm EST) is the @YouTube Film Festival. Over the next 4 Fridays, we're posting full concert performances on YouTube: PULSE, the Floyd's and @DavidGilmour's Pompeii gigs, and the 1970 KQED TV broadcast. Hopefully something to enjoy while we #StayHome! pic.twitter.com/lq1HFlvIQV

— Pink Floyd (@pinkfloyd) April 17, 2020

The band plans on releasing one live show every Friday for the next three weeks. The ones going up will be two shows from Pompeii, one with the whole band in 1972 and the other by guitarist and singer David Gilmour in 2016, as well as a 1970s performance in the KQED television studio before the band found mainstream success with Dark Side of The Moon in 1973.

 

 

 

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Today we mark the 1994 release of The Division Bell, an album with many highlights for fans of this latter period Pink Floyd. What's your favourite song on the album?

A post shared by Pink Floyd (@pinkfloyd) on Mar 28, 2020 at 9:31am PDT

In providing some much-needed respite for the homebound listener, Floyd aren’t the only superstars with charitable hearts. English band Radiohead have been regularly uploading their live shows on YouTube as well, along with uploading them all to the Radiohead Public Library, an online archive for all of the band's work. Hard-rock legends Metallica have also followed suit, and other contemporary musicians like Major Lazer are even live streaming concerts on social media for fans to enjoy.