Pink Floyd had worked out a basic structure of Dark Side of the Moon in late 1971, and played it at almost every gig the following year, alongside a set of earlier live favourites.

[2] Shortly after the release of the album Meddle, the group booked Decca Studios, Hampstead from 29 November – 10 December 1971 to write new material that would form part of a stage show.

The group hired lighting engineer Arthur Max, who they had met two years earlier playing at the Fillmore West, San Francisco, to design a new rig for the tour.

[7] The title of the suite was originally Dark Side of the Moon – A Piece for Assorted Lunatics, the name under which it made its press debut in February 1972.

[13][14] "The Great Gig in the Sky", whose working title was "Religion" or "The Mortality Sequence", originally consisted of an organ solo and various tapes of "preachers" either preaching or reading from such passages as from Chapter 5, Verse 13 of Ephesians, a book of the Bible, or reciting the Lord's Prayer, including soundbites from broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge.

[10] The first London performance, and the first to the press was on 17 February 1972 at the Rainbow Theatre,[15] where the band played for four consecutive nights, following which the group took a break from touring to work on the soundtrack album Obscured by Clouds.

[17] Following the European shows, recording began on The Dark Side of the Moon on 24 May, beginning with basic backing tracks derived from the live versions.

[18] As a replacement for the first Brighton Dome show which was abandoned during Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd gave two concerts at the venue on 28 and 29 June.

Engineer Alan Parsons was asked to run the front of house sound, setting a trend for Pink Floyd inviting studio personnel out on tour.

[20] Richard Wright had now written the piano music to "The Great Gig in the Sky", replacing the earlier "Mortality Suite" piece, and it was performed in the arrangement per the finished album, without vocals.

[22] The group returned to the UK to play a sell-out charity show at the Empire Pool, Wembley on 21 October, supporting War on Want and Save the Children.

[34] Some of the 1973 shows only featured the ballet playing to pre-recorded tracks, as the group were trying to finish recording The Dark Side of the Moon at this time.

For the first time, the group took additional musicians with them; saxophonist Dick Parry (an old childhood friend of David Gilmour) and three female backing vocalists who had been touring with Leon Russell.

[43] On 4 November 1973, Pink Floyd played two charity shows at London's Rainbow Theatre as a benefit for Robert Wyatt, formerly the drummer of UFO Club contemporaries Soft Machine, who had become paralysed after falling out of a window.