CloZee & LSDREAM at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
20th July 2024Tedeschi Trucks Band is One of Rock Music’s Most Celebrated Live Acts
21st July 2024Brit Floyd, which bills itself as the world’s premier Pink Floyd experience, brought laser light shows, projections and inflatables to Luhrs Performing Arts Center on Friday night. Led by guitarist, singer and musical director Damian Darlington (former musical director for Australian Pink Floyd Show).
Great songs, though the soaring “Great Gig in the Sky” can become somewhat repetitive. We give it a rating of 7.5 out of 10, because this movie deserves to be heard!
The Early Years
Damian Darlington has traveled around the world performing Pink Floyd music to sold-out audiences and understands how hard it can be to do justice to their intricate repertoire. At the same time, American audiences seem very appreciative.
The Early Years is the opening disc in this voluminous 27-disc box set collection and depicts an uncertain band after Barrett had left, seemingly uncertain about its next direction.
They knew they could rely on Barrett for one thing in particular – lengthy improvisations that were often acoustic and ethereal, featuring taped sounds like ticking clocks and footsteps as psychedelic stimuli; playing songs such as Us and Them, Shine on You Crazy Diamond and Comfortably Numb in an introspective yet cathartic style often described as Gilmouresque (with long string bends that moved from mournful introspection to catharsis).
The Dark Side Of The Moon
Dark Side stands out as an unforgettable classic due to its lush cinematic soundscape and profound subject matter; touching upon universal issues like time, money and mental illness in ways that still resonate today.
Waters also used echoes and careful placement to make certain surprises less readily evident; for instance, in “Money”, Waters used voices from the studio as part of its composition. He brought in studio staff members one by one to ask them questions about fear, death, and violence before using echo effects to make these voices almost appear on track.
Pink Floyd’s seminal work The Dark Side of the Moon remains one of its signature albums and has had an immense influence on music over decades since. Sales from its sales even helped finance Monty Python’s 1975 comedy film comedy, The Holy Grail! Today, psychedelic space-rock bands may be all the rage; this album helped kick start it all.
The Delicate Sound Of Thunder
When people think of tribute bands, they often envision local bar bands covering your favorite artists like a living jukebox or trying so hard to sound like the group they’re paying tribute to that it doesn’t sound very good – Brit Floyd stands apart.
Pink Floyd released their first live album since their greatest successes occurred during their most popular period – in the 70s – called The Delicate Sound Of Thunder in August 1988 over five nights at both Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York and Versailles, France, which were mixed at Abbey Road Studios before filming took place on 35mm film.
2020 marked its release on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time, as well as adding Money to the set list (it wasn’t included on Pulse video release). Percussionist Gary Wallis spent most of the show unnecessarily shadowing what Nick Mason and David Gilmour were doing, while backing singers Rachel Fury and Durga McBroom created layers which may overcomplicate the experience.
The Wall
Ummagumma peaked at Number Five on Billboard 200 while The Wall broke all charts, cementing their status as true pioneers of stadium rock. Their soundscapes were further complemented by Hipgnosis’ psychedelic album cover art as well as cutting-edge light shows.
Even at their most successful, Pink Floyd was divided in its direction; albums like Atom Heart Mother, Meddle and Shine On You Crazy Diamond showcased this disunity between members. Waters had an iron fist for rule, which made it harder for Gilmour and Mason to remain strong under their name – particularly during album sessions such as Atom Heart Mother, Meddle and Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
But in 1977 he came up with an audacious concept so monumental, so visionary that it revolutionised their group. The double album The Wall detailed the life of rock star ‘Pink’ who was kept from communicating with his audience by personal demons such as dead father, spiteful teachers and business partners.
