As you may know, I have a great appreciation for Progressive Rock music and one of the most amazing things I have ever heard is music from the tour that Pink Floyd did in 1969.

“The Man and The Journey tour” was an informal (mostly English) concert tour of a few dates by Pink Floyd during which the conceptual music piece The Man and The Journey was played.

A typical “The Man and the Journey tour” set list would include:

Set One

1. “Daybreak” (“Grantchester Meadows,” released on Ummagumma)

2. “Work” (Percussion and vibraphone with musical sawing & hammering)

3. “Teatime” (The band were served tea on stage)

4. “Afternoon” (“Biding My Time,” later released on Relics)

5. “Doing It!” (part of “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party” section 2 (“Performance”) on Ummagumma, or sometimes a medley of “Up the Khyber” (More soundtrack) and “Heart Beat, Pig Meat” (Zabriskie Point soundtrack))

6. “Sleep” (“Quicksilver,” also released on More soundtrack)

7. “Nightmare” (“Cymbaline,” also released on the More soundtrack)

8. “Labyrinth” (instrumental Alarm clocks, or the “Exit” movement of “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party”)

Set Two

1. “The Beginning” (“Green is the Colour,” also released on the More soundtrack)

2. “Beset By Creatures of the Deep” (“Careful With That Axe, Eugene,” b-side of “Point Me at the Sky”)

3. “The Narrow Way” (Part 3, from Ummagumma)

4. “The Pink Jungle” (“Pow R. Toc H.,” from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn)

5. “The Labyrinths of Auximines” (Instrumental section of “Let There Be More Light,” from A Saucerful of Secrets)

6. “Behold the Temple of Light” (Jam of a piece briefly included at the very end of “The Narrow Way” (part 2) on Ummagumma)

7. “The End of the Beginning” (“Celestial Voices” from “A Saucerful of Secrets”)

There were bootleg versions of Pink Floyd playing this set of songs but they were hard to come by and of dubious quality and provenance but Pink Floyd did eventually release a set of rare recordings and one of this series was called “The Early Years 1969 Dramatis/Ation”. The second disk of this two disk release was of a performance of The Man and The Journey recorded in Amsterdam.

Also, RPWL, a German progressive rock band I have been to see on many occasions, performed several live shows, based on the above setlists. A high quality recording of these performances was released in 2016. It is titled ‘RPWL Plays Pink Floyd’s The Man and the Journey’ and I have also included it here for comparison.

If you get the opportunity and/or have the desire, lie back, relax and listen to the whole thing. You might understand why some of us are, to this day, still fairly mellow people.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm……nice!

Keith.

Pink Floyd Plays “The Man and The Journey” in Amsterdam

RPWL Plays Pink Floyd’s “The Man and The Journey”