I'm a bit of a guitar player in my spare time - nothing fancy - an old Roland amp, Line6 effects and my Bullseye custom Les Paul... (I've got a nice black Jackson too fact fans).. anyway.. if I was to decide to set up a tribute band.. I'd go for covering a band that I might have a chance of doing justice to without spending all day practising - something straightforward.
So when I heard about The Australian Pink Floyd Show the first thing I thought was "uh oh".
Then I was told they were doing the Wall album from start to finish... and I laughed!
Then I was told they were playing Oxford, not the Carling O2 but the proper grown up theatre and I laughed again and thought "this is going to be embarrassing"..but then I was told it was completely sold out... and they had the pukka light rigs, lasers, back drops, backing singers.. and I stopped laughing. I had a quick surf and this "Tribute Band" played the Albert Hall last year...not Bolton Albert Halls.. but THE Albert Hall..and the NIA.. and The Point in Dublin.. this year they play Wembley Arena for Christ's sake !
So I coughed up the cash, settled into my seat and waited... and from the opening of "In the Flesh" (just after a few notes of "Tie me Kangaroo Down" was heard) through to the acoustic ending of "Outside the Wall" and subsequent encores, I was utterly blown away! This is no tribute band .. this is the closest you will now get to seeing Pink Floyd in concert...and they're good.. they are very, very good.
The Roger Waters' vocal parts were performed admirably by Ian Cattell - just close enough to have the right vocal nuances and theatrics without sounding like a "Tonight Matthew I'm going to be...." kind of performance.
The rest of the vocals were shared across the band.. not imitating Dave Gilmour but again similar vocal nuances... all were excellent.
I was trying to work out as the videos played behind them how they got permission to use them then I realised they had remade them with some nice humorous touches - such as the iconic hammers in Another Brick In The Wall having kangaroos on the top.
From a guitarist geek what impressed me most (apart from their obvious skill) was their tone.. it sounded like Gilmour's famous black strat playing.
Highlights? Too many to mention but I have to praise their take on my favourite Floyd song - Comfortably Numb.. Damian Darlington's solo got a well deserved standing ovation from the whole audience... as did their encore of The Great Gig in the Sky. Talking of encores, again they could have played safe and gone for something like Money but I don't think this lot do "safe".. encores included the aforementioned Great Gig in the Sky, Shine on you Crazy Diamond and Wish You Were Here (with the theme tunes to Neighbours, Home and Away etc replacing the radio broadcasts at the beginning of the original)
Apparently they play Oxford every April and a lot of the audience were regular attendees. They are not the cheapest tribute band to see - but you get your money's worth. If they are playing near you - grab a ticket while you can- you won't be disappointed.
You can get info on tour dates on their website www.aussiefloyd.com and if you want to see them doing Comfortably Numb from the Albert Hall last year (albeit with a different vocalist performing the Roger Water's part) then click here
NR
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Monday, 13 April 2009
Metallica 02 Arena - 28th March 2009
First up The Sword.Canadian doom.Very slow very Sabbathy terrible sound and in such an enormous venue a bit lost I am afraid.
Next MachineHead.Been a fan since Burn My Eyes but like The Sword the sound did them no favours.The fans in the standing area seemed to enjoy them.Dave Mclain on drums is a demon but all you could hear where his bass drums.A cover of Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name went down well and lastly Davidian with everyone screaming Let Freedom Ring With A Shotgun Blast.Nice.
So Metallica's first full UK tour since 1996's Poor Touring Me jaunt.I have seen them 3 times in 18 months with Wembley and then the Death Magnetic release party!!
What has changed since that date.Well we are in luck as my workmate Steve Atkins( a Metallica virgin until this day)smuggled his camera in so we have some cool shots from the gig!!
The light rig had 4 enormous coffins in it which moved all over the place.There were 4 more in the corners of the arena to make the light show even bigger.For the first song all we had was lasers.And loads of pyro and I mean loads for the start of One as James picked out the intro there was 4 small fires around his feet very clever.And for a man famously singed once what a brave soul!
The setlist had 10 different songs to last time.
The setlist was :
That was just your life.
The end of the line.
Harvester of sorrow.
And justice for all.
One.
Broken beat and scarred.
My apocalypse.
Sad but true.
The outlaw torn.
The judas kiss.
The day that never comes.
Master of puppets.
Fight fire with fire.
Nothing else matters.
Enter Sandman.
Encores.
Overkill.
Hit the lights.
Seek and destroy.
So 2 and a quarter hours 6 off Death Magnetic and they all fit in so well.A stunning Overkill(yes that one!) and then Hit the Lights in the encores Fight Fire With Fire with pyro galore!!Really all of it.
A record O2 crowd of 19018(beating their own record!)all sang along to Nothing Else Matters.Funny on such a heavy night a ballad went down so well.Enter Sandman afterwards was immense too.
All the band were stars Kirk's solo in Hit The Lights worth the admission price alone.
We paid a lot more then the £5 release party do but who cares.Metallica continue to go from strength to strength even getting in The Rock n'Roll Hall Of Fame and for a band who play such heavy fast music fantastic.
Top night out even if we got stuck in the car park for nearly 2 hours and having to pay more on the gate as we had been sat there so long.Home at 2.50 with the hour lost 3.50 as Judas Preist say Living After Midnight!!!!!!
ME & SJE 10/10
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