- Australian Pink Floyd 10th March 2014
Some
how I missed out on Pink Floyd in the 1970's and regarded them with
contempt, together with other such worthies as Jethro Tull and Queen
when I became serious about music in 1976 with the advent of punk and
new wave.
It
was The Stranglers and Generation X that burnt my candle and the old
music was washed away, irreverent, to my youthful ears.
Strange
when you think that there really was only a matter of 5 or 6 years
between the Progressive rock and Glam eras of Bowie and Floyd
before Punk and yet it seamed to me at the time that it was all
distant history.
Fortunately
our tastes change over the years and as a result I have come round
to like many of those progressive pioneers. In addition the next
generation of the genre, bands like Marillion, became to me firm
favourites.
Marillion,
still going strong making brilliant music, Fish still rattling out
new material and touring regularly.
It
was in fact my brother, who is 4 years younger than me, who
introduced me to Pink Floyd. Whilst I was listening to Simple
Minds,Soft Cell and Human League he was listening to The Wall. Really
it was down to repeated listening through his closed bedroom door!
I
also had a lovely story from my ex mother in law about David Gilmour
to attract me.
My Ex MIL is an absolute diamond and taught music at
Checkendon School a tiny school in rural Berkshire. The school was
made up of only one class and for the Christmas play they wanted to
record some sound effects and Dave Gilmour, who lived nearby, offered
his home studio for the children to do the recording. MIL Kay told me
that her enduring recollection is of the children sitting on his
snooker table, legs dangling down, waiting to do their stuff in the
studio. How could you not love him after hearing that?
Subsequently,
in 1999, I was introduced to the double CD 'Pulse' during a very
traumatic upheaval period of my life and at last I began to 'get it'
and watched the televised shows from this time with avid interest and
appreciation of the band. I acquired my own copy of Pulse in Germany
but disappointingly my l.e.d. on the packaging has never 'pulsed'
I thought it would be a
good idea to go to this concert with my brother as a belated
Christmas present, he being Mr Pink Floyd and all.
We
met up mid afternoon for a stroll around the Barbican and the Hoe
before finding an appropriately pleasant hostelry. Highly recommend
the Maritime Inn at the Barbican area. Lovely Landlady, keen on
keeping her real ales well and a Summerskills MRB to savour. Oh, and
at £2.30 a pint, lovely!
Me
and the Drew had an interesting discussion over a few beers before
the show about the relative value of 'tribute bands'. Many obviously,
try to offer some kind of direct replacement for the original band by
going for lookalike as well as soundalike show, and I for one have
felt critical where it hasn't been a total success. Particularly, I
recall a Queen act where I remember thinking afterwards 'well he
wasn't a very realistic Freddy was he? and that guitarist didn't look
remotely like Brian May even with that ridiculous wig on.....
But
on the other hand do we really want to lose the live experience of
the music if the original artist is no longer performing it? Nobody
worries that other people are performing Mozart since he isn't around
to do it himself. There is no requirement to perform as a Mozart
lookalike either.
So
no firm decision then as to that argument, but my preference is for a
band that sounds like the original, the whole impersonation look- a-
like doesn't really work for me.
Australian Pink Floyd, a
band I have seen a couple of times before definitely fall into the
category of trying to create the sound of Pink Floyd without any
attempt whatsoever to look like them.
The
show was part of the 'Set the Controls' tour, where apparently you
could vote for the songs to be played, but I hadn't been involved in
any of that. The set was split into two and drew heavily on the
albums 'Dark Side of the Moon' 'Wish You Were Here' and 'The Division
Bell' with ''The Wall' thrown in for good measure. Although to be
absolutely honest I only own 'Pulse' and 'Dark Side of the Moon' so I
am not the expert here.
This
is a rough idea of the setlist:
2nd
Set :
Encore:
The
show was quite similar to that I saw last year. If anything, with
less of the laser and light show so associated with Pink Floyd, but I
don't recall the giant teacher blow up puppet who joined for Another
Brick.
I
love the Giant kangaroo too, for 'One of These Days.'
So
what did I think?
This
is a show and a tribute to Pink Floyd that really does allow you to
experience a 'Pink Floyd' concert in a smaller venue, without losing
any of the atmosphere. The musicians are incredibly talented and get
the sound down to the exact. Close your eyes and you really wouldn't
know you weren't experiencing the real thing. The Australian take on
the visuals keep it tongue in cheek and gives you the impression
they don't take it too seriously but at the same time delivering a
very serious musical performance.
I'm
told the laser and lighting rigs are ex Floyd themselves, so
seriously does David Gilmour take them and certainly you won't
witness a more impressive light show in this kind of venue.
It
was very enjoyable experience being with family and friends alike so
maybe again next year? Who Knows....
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