New Delhi: To keep fans entertained during quarantine, English rock band Pink Floyd will stream its full-length archival concerts for free every Friday, starting 17 April, on YouTube.
“Starting later today, at 5 pm UK time (12 pm EST) is the @YouTube Film Festival, which Pink Floyd and David Gilmour are participating in. Whilst the band have been running #PinkFloydFriday for a couple of years, releasing a different music video at 5 pm UK every seven days to start the weekend in style, for the next four weeks, a full concert performance will be available at YouTube.com,” the band posted Friday on its Facebook page.
The first concert to be streamed is ‘Pulse‘, the 90-minute concert film recorded in 1994 at the Earls Court in London during the band’s ‘Division Bell Tour’.
Until now, this legendary music band had been sharing snippets and short video clips from its archives, but with the UK extending its lockdown period to at least another three weeks, Pink Floyd has decided to stream concerts for free.
Earlier this month, the band had hinted at giving people some “interesting and diverting” music to help them get through the lockdown.
“We’d like to wish you all the best, and hope that you and your families are staying safe and well in these difficult times. With many people confined to home, we will continue to post as normal to hopefully give you some interesting and diverting images, music and video to help us all get through this,” the band had posted on its Facebook page on 1 April.
Also read: How an interview with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters in London made us celebrities back home
Other initiatives
Pink Floyd isn’t the only music band offering free concerts during the coronavirus pandemic. Other iconic bands like Radiohead and Metallica have also been sharing full-length concerts to help fans overcome this grim period.
On Easter Sunday, opera singer Andrea Bocelli’s live concert ‘Music for Hope’ that was shot at the deserted Duomo di Milano in Italy broke world records with 35 million people viewing the 30-minute performance.
In an attempt to help frontline healthcare workers, Global Citizen is also hosting a virtual concert series on 18 April (Saturday). Called ‘One World: Together At Home‘, it will have artistes playing from across the world for a global audience.
The concert will be hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert. Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra have also pledged to join the initiative.
Health care workers on the frontlines of the #COVID19 crisis need our support. That’s why I’m standing in solidarity with @glblctzn and @WHO for One World: #TogetherAtHome — a one-night special event on April 18. Find out how and when you can tune in: https://t.co/UlyDDSy7Rl pic.twitter.com/SOVmaF86ps
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) April 14, 2020
Also read: ‘The Wall’ cemented Pink Floyd’s fame – but destroyed the band