Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon' Fulldome Experience Is Taking Over the Brisbane Planetarium
You've got more than six months to catch this mind-bending show, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s classic record.
There's nothing like watching a film at the planetarium, but it's something that most of us mightn't do all that often. Daytime sessions often cater to school groups. While the Brisbane International Film Festival has hosted fulldome programs in the past, they aren't a regular occurrence. Here's something that might get you staring up at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium ASAP, however: Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience.
The band's iconic album turned 50 in 2023, so the Mt Coot-tha venue is celebrating with stunning visuals set to 42 minutes of the record — views of the solar system and beyond. Each track gets a different set of images, with some pondering the future, others delving into the band's history, and all toying with space and time.
The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience is popping up around the world, but only at select places. In Australia, Brisbane joins a past season in Melbourne. The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium isn't just devoting a couple of days or weeks to it, either, with the mind-bending Pink Floyd tribute sticking around from September 2023–March 2024.
Screening in Brisbane since the beginning of spring, The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience is already selling out — and expect that to continue. But, you have options for heading along, with the six-month-plus season including 3pm shows on Wednesdays, 6pm and 7pm sessions on Fridays, 4pm and 5pm projections on Saturdays, and a 2pm Sunday slot.
If you haven't been to the planetarium since your school days, you will still be sitting in reclining chairs, peering up at the 12.5-metre domed ceiling and soaking in the fulldome experience — with a Pink Floyd soundtrack.
The venue is almost as old as the album that it's celebrating, with the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium opening at the base of Mt Coot-tha in 1978 and celebrating its 45th birthday in 2023. Over that time, the domed building has played host to plenty of wonders — and, every week, it asks audiences to look up at programs on everything from the moon to stars to the dark universe, often with a guided run-through of Brisbane's own skies at the end.
Check out the trailer from Melbourne's season of The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience below:
The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience is playing at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, Mount Coot-tha Road, Mount Coot-tha until March 2024 — head to the Brisbane City Council website for further details.
