Pink Floyd Got Some Help From Paul McCartney and John Lennon at Their 1st Major Concert

If The Beatles and Rolling Stones started the fire that set England’s music scene ablaze in the 1960s, then Pink Floyd carried the torch. They evolved into a legendary classic rock band, just as Paul McCartney predicted they would, but not without the help of some benevolent benefactors. Pink Floyd had a little help from McCartney and John Lennon, who partially financed the event where Floyd played its first major concert.

Pink Floyd headlined a concert that Paul McCartney and John Lennon helped finance

The earliest Pink Floyd gigs were either groundbreaking experiences or forgettable performances, depending on who you asked. The band’s drummer Nick Mason said their early concerts were mostly rubbish, but music fans in swinging London’s psychedelic underground couldn’t get enough of them.

Long before The Beatles music made a nearly-hidden cameo on The Dark Side of the Moon, Lennon and McCartney helped foot the bill for one of Pink Floyd’s first major shows. According to Saucerful of Secrets author Nicholas Schaffner, The Beatles’ duo covered some of the costs to stage the 14-Hour Technicolour Dream. Nicky Hopkins, a peace activist who published the underground magazine International Times, organized the the April 29, 1967, event with some assistance from John and Paul:

“They were sort of putting back what they’d taken out,” Hopkins said. “Not that they’d taken anything out of us, but everybody helped in some way.”

The overnight event raised money for International Times, which had recently shut down after a police raid. Yoko Ono, not yet married to John, showcased her interactive art. Despite having just one single to their name, Pink Floyd headlined the event over other notable acts such as the Soft Machine, Pete Townshend, Savoy Brown, and Denny Laine, a founding member of the Moody Blues. 

By the time Paul and John helped finance part of Pink Floyd’s first major performance, The Beatles had stopped playing live. Aside from a few controlled instances — the “Hey Jude” video, the “All You Need Is Love” satellite hookup, the rooftop performance — the Fab Four rarely played live. In the decade after the 14-Hour Technicolour Dream, Pink Floyd concerts (and the band itself) grew to become massive spectacles.

Pink Floyd stepped out of The Beatles’ shadow in the 1970s

The upstarts in Pink Floyd recorded their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,  across the hall from the well-established Beatles, making Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, in 1967. A few years later, the Fab Four had broken up, and Floyd stood on the cusp of greatness.

Pink Floyd remained in its niche as a psychedelic rock band for several years after John and Paul helped foot the bill for their first major show. The band eventually found its way as a prog rock machine after founding guitarist Syd Barrett suffered a mental breakdown. The new-look created the impactful Dark Side of the Moon, one of the most universal albums ever, in 1973. 

At the tail end of the 1970s, after a decade of intense touring and a string of hit records, Pink Floyd released The Wall. The 1979 double album became another smash that sold better than any Beatles record.

Pink Floyd had some indirect financial help from Lennon and McCartney at their first major concert. The Beatles’ duo helped pay for the 14-Hour Technicolour Dream in April 1967. Floyd embarked on its first (brief) U.S. tour by the end of the year and left for a lengthy world tour less than a year later. Paul and John helped establish Pink Floyd, but a few years later, the apprentices supplanted the masters as one of the biggest bands in the world.

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