Bonhams Auction House in London's Kensington have an achingly rare Pink Floyd item coming up for sale in their Rock, Pop & Film auction to be held from 1pm GMT on November 16th.

With a guide price of £30,000-40,000, which feels like an underestimate, the lot dates from 1967, and has each verse and the chorus of Vegetable Man written by Syd Barrett across 32 lines of two pages of lined paper in blue ballpoint pen, with handwritten musical chords, and accompanied by a letter concerning the provenance, and measures 8in x 13in (20.5cm x 33cm).

Vegetable Man was recorded by Pink Floyd in mid-October 1967 at De Lane Lea Studios, London, with Norman Smith as the producer. The song was originally intended for inclusion on the band's second album A Saucerful of Secrets and even considered for the third single release from the LP. However, it was later omitted. It was later released by Pink Floyd in 2016 as part of the anniversary boxset The Early Years 1965-1972, and Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets now perform it as part of their live set.

Bonhams believe this is the first time a complete set of Syd Barrett handwritten lyrics have been offered at auction, and certainly we've never seen any in all our years of collecting. This set was acquired by Pink Floyd's first manager at the time the song was written and has been in his possession since. Images of the lyrics have been seen and acknowledged by a representative for the Syd Barrett Estate. The lot is sold without copyright, all rights remaining with the Estate of Syd Barrett.

To keep an eye on how much these lyrics eventually sell for - or even, for those with deep pockets, to put a bid on - visit Bonhams.com where you can also see the image in greater detail.

UPDATE: Bids for the lyrics didn't meet the reserve price, so didn't sell in the auction.

Just announced is a further addition to the 2023 Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill European tour, and it's very good news for our friends in the north of England.

Roger and his band will be performing their "in the round" show at the AO Arena (formerly known as the Manchester Arena, MEN, etc.) on June 10th, 2023, which as things stand will be the final show of the tour - although we suspect more will be added elsewhere after the existing run of dates which begins in March 2023, in Lisbon, Portugal.

There is a Live Nation presale from 10am on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20th (details here), and for the regular sale of tickets, which starts on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21st at 10am (local time), CLICK HERE. Using this direct link also helps toward the ongoing running costs of this site, and is appreciated!

For the full list of shows announced so far, visit the 2023 Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill European tour page for dates, venues and ticket details.

Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon cover

March 2023 sees the 50th anniversary of the release of The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd, and as part of the anniversary celebrations, an official 160 page hardback book is being published on 1st March to commemorate the band and the album.

The album-sized (12" x 12") package features rare and unseen backstage and onstage photography of the band during the album tours of 1972 to 1975. 129 candid black-and-white photographs by Storm Thorgerson, Jill Furmanovsky, Aubrey Powell, Storm Thorgerson and Peter Christopherson document the soundchecks, the shows and the after shows. A review of the October 1972 Wembley gig, originally published in Melody Maker, provides insight into one of the Floyd’s most celebrated performances, and there is a complete listing of the tour dates.

This beautiful book also reveals the visual conception of the iconic album artwork.

At this stage, there is no indication of what the cover looks like, and as we get more information, including the cover, we will update this page.

ORDERING INFO:
Sounds like an essential book - and orders are now possible through a number of retailers. Ordering any item after entering Amazon through our links helps with BD's ongoing running costs, and we really appreciate it: Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon Spain and Amazon Italy.

A reminder: in one week's time (21st October) in the US, Canada, Australia and Mexico, the two physical versions of Pink Floyd's first newly recorded music in over 25 years, 'Hey Hey Rise Up' are released.

The single, which was initially released digitally in April in support of the people of Ukraine and reached number 1 in 27 countries, has been available on 7” and CD single in other regions, so next Friday's release will complete the release schedule for this single. Both formats also feature a newly reworked version of 'A Great Day For Freedom' taken from the band's 1994 album, The Division Bell.

The Floyd community has given a good reaction to the release. With the lead song being available back in April, the principle talk (other than the decent packaging of this limited release) is of the B-side/second track, 'A Great Day For Freedom', which is detailed below. This new version seems to be going down very well with fans, with its stripped back sound and fresh approach working well.

The lead track sees David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined by long time Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt, with Nitin Sawhney on keyboards, and features vocals by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox. Proceeds for the physical release and the ongoing digital proceeds will go to Ukraine humanitarian relief.

For this limited edition release, David Gilmour revisited The Division Bell track 'A Great Day For Freedom'. He has reworked the song using the original tapes which feature Nick Mason on drums and Richard Wright on keyboards, along with backing vocals from Sam Brown, Claudia Fontaine and Durga McBroom. The music for this song was composed by Gilmour with lyrics by Polly Samson and himself.

Talking about the inspiration for 'Hey Hey Rise Up' Gilmour commented, "Any war, but particularly a war that is started by a world superpower against an independent democratic nation, has got to raise enormous anger and frustration in one. As I said before, I have a small connection there; my daughter-in-law is from Ukraine. And the band Boombox are Ukrainian people that I already knew, not well, but from some time ago. It’s an enormously difficult, frustrating, and anger-making thing that one human being could have the power to invade another independent democratic nation and set about killing the population. It’s just obscene to an extent that is just beyond my belief."

Being a limited release - with proceeds to Ukraine humanitarian relief - it is worth securing your copy soon to avoid disappointment or hiked prices trying to track down a copy on eBay. Here's a selection of places you can get the two editions: