The ode to the imposing musical legacy of Pink Floyd continues in the metropolis. Next month, the Montreal Planetarium will host a show highlighting the 50th anniversary of the mythical album The Dark Side of the Moon which promises to plunge the followers of the group into the stars.
On February 27, 1973, record company EMI Records held a press conference at the Planetarium in London to launch the eighth album by British rock band Pink Floyd. Fifty years later, a new projection has been created to pay homage to this timeless opus by using today’s technologies to dazzle viewers with spatial images blending into the 42 minutes of the album, for which an expensive box set anniversary was launched last month.
“To have these spectacular images to accompany this music is quite exceptional and it’s interesting to be able to present it here in Montreal”, rejoices in an interview with the Duty the director of the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, Olivier Hernandez. However, the astrophysicist warns connoisseurs of astronomy: “This is not a scientific spectacle. It’s still a Pink Floyd show. »
Thus, we allowed ourselves certain generosity in the interpretation of our universe. Nevertheless, the projected images will be “surprising and very beautiful, since these are the last available images that we obtain from telescopes”, notes Mr. Hernandez.
Technology at the rendezvous
This show, already offered in a dozen planetariums in Germany, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and the United States, in particular, will be offered to Montreal fans of the group from May 3.
The Montreal Planetarium will present this show in its Théâtre du Chaos, which offers an immersive 360-degree experience. “All the technology of the Planetarium supports these images”, underlines Olivier Hernandez, while specifying that the projectors in this room were replaced barely two years ago, in the midst of a pandemic.
Thus, each song on the album – which has 10 – will be accompanied by different images showing in particular the birth of the Earth and the evolution of the solar system, while paying homage to the retro visual signature of Pink Floyd.
For now, the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium plans to offer this show in its lair until September 4. But the establishment does not rule out offering this show for a longer period if the demand is there. Last year, L’Arsenal contemporary art, also in Montreal, had extended for a second time at the beginning of the year its exhibition Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains, a sign of Montrealers’ unconditional love for this immortal band. “If we see that there is really a demand, we will extend the offer,” promises Mr. Hernandez.