I’ve never been a huge Pink Floyd fan, so when a buddy offered me the chance of seeing a Pink Floyd covers Band, I wasn’t overly enthusiastic. However, I heard some good things about the Aussie outfit and to be fair, I had nothing better to do.
If you’ve never seen a show at the Pops then it’s well worth – free car parking, reasonably priced ale (for a festival venue) and a really intimate atmosphere despite the three thousand or so capacity. What soon became apparent, there were a whole lot of die-hard Floyd fans in attendance who were looking forward to a good show, and that’s just what was delivered.
Kicking off with ‘Shine on you Crazy Diamond’ they easily slid into a note perfect performance of some of the great Floyd numbers. However, the crowd knew the songs so well that the vocals had to be turned up as they were being overpowered by the crowd singing along. You got the feeling that there were many in attendance that knew the songs just as, if not better, than the band did. The show was immense, with lasers, strobe lighting and a circular backdrop showing clips from the Floyds often drug filled fantasies. However, it didn’t stop there – a huge inflatable kangaroo and spinning mirror ball was also called into play and the backing singers gave many of the songs that ‘perfection’ touch. Even if you weren’t a Floyd fan, the atmosphere was electric and it was worth the ticket price just to see the show. It all added up to as being as near the genuine article as possible without Mr Gilmour et al strutting their stuff.
Unfortunately this was the first of two shows so the show often ebbed slightly when the band did some of the more instrumental tracks from ‘Wish you were here’ or Green inspired songs from ‘Piper at the gates of dawn’. Still, the classics were still pounded out with heart-stopping accuracy with all three front men taking a turn at the vocals. ‘Time’ ‘Money’ and ‘Comfortably Numb’ was performed with rigour and style and ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ was the set highlight with everyone up and dancing (with some of the more ‘happy’ audience dancing on their chairs in writhing in a near sonic-induced ecstasy).
In the final analysis, the Australian Pink Floyd were sublime and when others say they are better then the original article, I am inclined to agree with them.
