Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press

Pink Floyd will stream their 1970 KQED broadcast An Hour With Pink Floyd in full this Friday.

The footage was captured on April 30, 1970, three years to the month before The Dark Side of the Moon reached No. 1 in the US album charts in 1973.

Even before Floyd came close to cracking the charts they had built a large and devoted underground following in the US.

North American music fans who were already familiar with The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin‘s Big Brother and the Holding Company, as well as Jefferson Airplane, eagerly embraced the toast on England’s own psychedelic underground.

Amongst the band’s west coast following was an employee of local San Francisco broadcaster KQED, who convinced the band to collaborate on what could be considered to be their first concert film, An Hour With Pink Floyd.

Performed at iconic San Francisco venue The Filmore Auditorium, the set comprised of ‘Atom Heart Mother’, ‘Cymbaline’, ‘Grantchester Meadows’, ‘Green Is the Colour’, ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’, ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ and Syd Barrett era competition  ‘Astronomy Domine’.

The film was initially broadcast on local television and radio by KQED yet so strong was the response the program was also picked up by larger station PBS and twice screened nationally.

Pink Floyd gave the rights to the video to the station for a paltry $200 and, after being widely bootlegged for several decades, the footage was eventually reacquired for what can only be assumed to be a considerable sum.

KQED broadcast was re-released on 2016’s The Early Years boxed set.

Pink Floyd’s KQED performance will screen for free via YouTube 5pm UK time and 12pm Eastern standard time from May 1.

An Hour With Pink Floyd will be available on-demand until May 8.

Its release follows the streaming of 1995 concert film Pulse and 1972’s Live At Pompeii. 

David Gilmour’s own 2016 solo Pompeii performances will stream for free May 8.

Tomorrow at 5pm UK/12pm EST is the next Floyd offering in the @YouTube Film Festival: the 1970 KQED broadcast, An Hour With Pink Floyd, available to view on demand for a week. Hopefully you'll enjoy these while we all #StayHome!https://t.co/pwUHHpnv7E

— Pink Floyd (@pinkfloyd) April 30, 2020