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Australian Pink Floyd
Summer Pops, Kings Dock
13th July 2003
Review: Phil Broster
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When I heard that Australian Pink Floyd were coming to the Summer Pops I thought..nar ! if it ain't real Pink Floyd then it ain't Pink Floyd, maybe I'll give them a miss….
Pink Floyd were, and still are, one of my favourite all time bands and for a week or so before the gig on Sunday I heard people telling me that the Aussie version 'aren't bad y'know', and, 'I saw them at New Brighton, they sounded good to me', so change of mind and off I went. How wrong could I have been.
Pre-show, an eight foot Kangaroo was wandering the theatre welcoming people to their seats, this was going to be a good night. Then right on eight o'clock the show opened with dazzling light effects, simulated thunder storms and a solid single beat which literally had the place vibrating, and then on they came with 'Shine on you crazy Diamond'.
The band was note perfect, the vocals matched and even the backing singers sounded like the real thing, whatever that may be. This was excellent. We were treated to the whole range of the format on the real Floyds' 'Echoes' album which is a compilation of best album tracks, particularly the acclaimed 'Dark Side of the Moon' album. Close your eyes and it was the real thing, open them for that matter, the same applied.
Tracks like 'Astronomy Drive', 'Hey You', 'Marooned, were all covered and we went into a twenty minute interval more than aware that this was no ordinary tribute band.
On with the show, we had back screen video, lights around the big top scaffolding, every sound effect Floyd have ever used and the audience loved every minute of it.
Then came 'The Great Gig in the Sky', for want of a better description, the one with the wailing female vocal. This got the biggest single applause so far, the girl could wail with the best of them, again, note perfect.
Then, a helicopter hovered above, at least it appeared to, and searchlights filled the stadium, we were into that classic anti-establishment anthem, 'The Wall', complete with marching hammer video, everyone sang to this, by now the stadium was wild.
The lead singer asked had we enjoyed ourselves, daft question, and then to finish off, a classic version of 'I Have Become Comfortably Numb'. Superb, we left after the first stage-call, and as we made our way across the car park and drove off the dock, they were still playing, the sound drifting away as we drove home. 'A fitting way to end', I thought.
We had seen and heard Pink Floyd at its best and this WAS Pink Floyd.
