Games for May was a
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
concert that took place at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall on 12 May 1967, three months after the venue opened.
It was one of the first significant concert events held by
Pink Floyd.
[ The show was organized by Pink Floyd managers Andrew King and ]Peter Jenner
Peter Julian Jenner (born 3 March 1943) is a British music manager and a record producer. Jenner, Andrew King and the original four members of Pink Floyd were partners in Blackhill Enterprises.
Early career
Peter Jenner is the son of Willia ...
of Blackhill Enterprises
Blackhill Enterprises was a rock music management company, founded as a partnership by the four original members of Pink Floyd ( Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright), with Peter Jenner and Andrew King.
Blackhill were th ...
, and promoted by classical music promoter Christopher Hunt.[
]
History
Games for May was described as a "Space age relaxation for the climax of spring – electronic composition, colour and image projection, girls, and the Pink Floyd".[ The concert featured some of the band's early singles as well as material from their yet-to-be-released debut album – '']The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 5 August 1967 by EMI Columbia. It is the only Pink Floyd album made under the leadership of founding member Syd Barrett (lead vocals, g ...
''. During the performance, some of the band members created sound effects by chopping up wood on stage,[ and the bubbles produced from a machine while the show was in progress stained all the furniture in the hall.][ As a consequence, Pink Floyd were banned from ever playing there again.][
It was the first concert in Britain to feature both a complex light show and a four channel ]quadraphonic
Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for th ...
surround sound speaker system.[
A sound mixing device called the " Azimuth Co-ordinator" was used to direct sounds to multiple speakers all around the room.]Rick Wright
Richard William Wright (28 July 1943 – 15 September 2008) was an English musician who was a co-founder of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He played keyboards and sang, appearing on almost every Pink Floyd album and performing on a ...
while the ending piece was constructed by Barrett.[ At this time, the song that would become "]See Emily Play
"See Emily Play" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd, released as their second single in June 1967. Written by original frontman Syd Barrett, it was released as a non-album single, but appeared as the opening track of the U.S. edition of ...
" was known as "Games for May."[
]
Setlist
The following songs were performed at the show (all songs written by Syd Barrett, unless otherwise noted)[
*Dawn (tape recording)
*"Matilda Mother"
*"Flaming (song), Flaming"
*"The Scarecrow (song), The Scarecrow"
*"See Emily Play, Games for May"
*"Bike (song), Bike"
*"Arnold Layne"
*"Candy and a Currant Bun"
*"Pow R. Toc H." (Barrett, Roger Waters, Waters, Richard Wright (musician), Wright, Nick Mason, Mason)
*"Interstellar Overdrive" (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason)
*Bubbles (tape recording)
*Ending (tape recording)
Encore:
*"Lucifer Sam"
]
See also
*The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream
References
* Nick Mason, Mason, Nick. ''Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', 2004.
External links
An article at Offthetelly.co.uk about a contemporary television appearance by Pink Floyd, including a description of Games for May
{{Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
1967 in London