Ever wondered what listening to Pink Floyd does to your brain? Now you can find out…

Pink Floyd in 1973 — (Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images))

To mark the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, a special event is taking place in London where 100 lucky listeners will have their brainwaves monitored whilst taking in a Dolby Atmos mix of the album classic The Great Gig In The Sky. At this next-level listening party, part of The Brainstorms Project, which has been organised by Pollen Audio Group, Richard Wright Music and Dolby Laboratories, participants will also receive a bespoke piece of artwork based on how their brain reacted to the track, which has been chosen for featuring no lyrics and allowing for “uninterrupted focus on the brain’s response to the music”.

Speaking about the project, Creative Director Gala Wright said, “When I came to Pollen in 2021, I was thinking about interesting ways to celebrate Dark Side of The Moon in its 50th year. We are guardians of Richard Wright’s legacy but having taken no part in creation of the music, we were sensitive to propose ideas which did not comment on the album’s meaning or artistic contribution. Producing an elegant visual which directly represents how people are affected while listening to the music, seemed a perfect way to shine a light on one of the album’s most loved tracks. We are very grateful to have the support of Richard’s former band mates to pursue this project with The Great Gig in the Sky, and hugely excited to begin the first stage with Dolby.”

Interested in taking part? You can sign up here. The 100 selected candidates will be asked to attend on a date between 2-6 October. Brainstorms: The Great Gig in the Sky will be presented and open to the public at an iconic London venue later in the year.

Niall Doherty is a writer and editor whose work can be found in Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Week, FourFourTwo, Champions Journal, on Apple Music and more. Formerly the Deputy Editor of Q magazine, he co-runs the music Substack letter The New Cue with fellow former Q colleague Ted Kessler. He is also Reviews Editor at Record Collector. Over the years, he's interviewed some of the world's biggest stars, including Elton John, Coldplay, Radiohead, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Florence + The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant and more.