My wife and I saw The Australian Pink Floyd Show at Uptown Theater in Kansas City last night.
Pros...
-killer sound (possibly even the best sound mix I have ever heard there)
-tasteful lighting (easy on the eyes, not too over-the top, appropriate for each song) [Pink Floyd Experience was the most annoying lighting of any show I have EVER seen]
-great vocals (both gilmour and roger waters parts)
-great backing vocals (blown away by the great gig in the sky backing vox)
-great setlist. normally i would hate getting a greatest hits setlist, but since this was my first time seeing them it was great because it let me be very critical of their handling of Syd, Waters, and later Gilmour material.
-very trippy and humorous visuals and very professionally made. (they did not use cheesy canned footage that looked like it was purchased from some generic bank of footage like PFX)
-music, sounded phenomenal and very close to the albums with just a bit of shredding here and there
-visual screen. Very badass and even though this is the smaller one it still took up the entire stage at Uptown. (they also have the arched screen purchased from Pink Floyd for larger venues)
Cons...
-ticket price (Tributes should not cost as much as seeing the real thing.)
-no lasers or inflatables. But that is actually a good thing. Uptown Theater is a beautiful venue and seriously, there is no room for either here. I love the balcony and always buy tix there. I don't think you could use lasers in a venue this small. (plus i thought PFX's pig was cheesy as hell and took up too much room)
-female vox on Pigs. They did not suck, but they seem like they were used to avoid doing the harder Waters vox. (but then they played sheep Ian did ALL waters vox and they sounded great)
-same setlists every night and no room for improvisation (The Machine)
Really, my only complaint if you read this closely is ticket-prices. But they do have all those mouths to feed and all that gear to bring with them.
I've seen close to a few hundred concerts including Roger Waters (twice), Radiohead, Tool(5 times), Dream Theater(4 times), and Porcupine Tree. Very tight, visual, and pretentious concerts are my forte!
As a Floyd fanatic I was really critical of the entire show from beginning to end. This show was a test for me and they passed with flying-pig colors. Next time I will kick back and enjoy the show for exactly what it is...
A Pulse-sized show squeezed into a small or mid-sized theater!
Yes, I will definitely see them again!
To those who say the Aussies are better than seeing Roger Waters are on crack. I saw Roger Waters in 2007 and he absolutely rocked a venue of 18 thousand people. Trust me, you are insane if you thank that the Aussies are better than that. I did not see people going insane for 30 minutes after the show, in the streets, dancing on cars like Mr. Waters last show!
Now I need to see The Machine. I have a feeling they will be the Holy Grail of Floyd cover-bands for me based on their cds/DVDs. I just like how they jam and leave more breathing room in the music and tackle more obscure songs, change up their setlists, and even play solo Syd Barret material.