Eight Lucky Aussie Pink Floyd Fans Experienced 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' Like Never Before

Pink Floyd decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side Of The Moon in the most Pink Floyd fashion ever: send fans to experience the album during a rare total solar eclipse at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Marine Park (Nyinggulu) in Exmouth, Western Australia.

On Thursday, the band invited eight competition-winning fans to a special secluded beach located in the region to hear The Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety – with Roger Waters's iconic closing lines “But the sun is eclipsed by the moon…” from the album’s final song Eclipse timed to align with the extraordinary moment of total eclipse at 11:29 am WST.

The eight fans - affectionately called the Astronome Domine 8 - witnessed the eclipse before a giant black pyramid framed by the horizon, constructed with creative oversight from Pink Floyd’s long-time Creative Consultant and Hipgnosis co-founder, Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell.

Source: Supplied

“This is something I’ll never forget,” 27-year-old Nathan said, revealing that his attendance was in tribute to his father, who loved Pink Floyd and sadly passed away in 2021. “It was like Dad was there with me.”

Monya, who journeyed with her husband Joseph after they connected over a shared love for Pink Floyd, said she was “speechless” and added, “I’ve listened to this album thousands of times – but never like this”.

Powell said about the competition upon its announcement, “Since its release 50 years ago, The Dark Side Of The Moon has been embraced by multiple generations across the world because it examines universal themes of greed, mortality, the dark and light sides of the human psyche and, of course, our place in the cosmos – I couldn’t think of a more fitting way to commemorate it’s release than with this rare and beautiful phenomenon that visually symbolises so much of what the album explores.”

The once-in-a-lifetime event was live-streamed on Pink Floyd’s YouTube channel - you can watch it below.

Pink Floyd are also commemorating the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side Of The Moon with an epic box set containing the original album remastered by James Guthrie on both CD (gatefold sleeve with 12-page booklet) and vinyl (gatefold sleeve with original posters and stickers). It also features Blu-Ray discs and DVDs for audiophiles with Surround Sound, DTS, Dolby Atmos, and more. 

There are also two books: a 160-page hardcover book with rare black and white photographs from the 1973 & 1974 tours in the UK and US, with the band photographed by Peter Christopherson, Jill Furmanovsky, Aubrey Powell, and Storm Thorgerson, as well as a 76-page music book that's a songbook of the entire album. 

For replica collectors, the Dark Side Of The Moon box set also has two replicas of the 7" singles of Money with Any Colour You Like and Us And Them with Time. Pre-order the box set and check out other items here.