notaussiefloyd.com

[Author’s note: To start, certain things need to be put into context. Without context, the opinions and observations below could be misinterpreted or misunderstood, and that wouldn't be fair to either you or me.]

My introduction to Pink Floyd came while I was in high school in 1985, with a couple of friends getting me to listen to “Dark Side of the Moon”. It blew my fifteen-year-old mind away, and wanting to know what to listen to next, I asked my friends which was the best album; what should I listen to next?. “They’re all the best…” was the reply. So I plunged into the collection, and was hooked from then forward, amassing a very large collection and coming into slightly regular contact (for a brief few months) with Durga McBroom after The Division Bell tour.

I'd very much like to say I'm a "Meddle forward" type of Floyd fan, with a good appreciation for David and Roger's solo works to boot. Before “Meddle,” while familiar with the albums, I don't listen to them regularly at all, but Syd's solo work sometimes moves me more than Piper or Saucerful ever really did. I liked “A Momentary Lapse of Reason,” but when compared to the “The Division Bell,” it really pales in comparison, except for a couple of standout bits, including “On the Turning Away” and “Sorrow.

I have seen Pink Floyd (Dave and company) three times, twice during the AMLOR tour and then at the beginning of The Division Bell World Tour here in South Florida. It rained at each one of those performances. While disappointing due to the weather, it did bring a certain poignancy to Dave singing “What Do You Want From Me,” with "Should I stand out in the rain…" echoing throughout Joe Robbie Stadium.

This year has been a very heavy Floyd year for me. I went to New York City to see David begin his U.S. tour at Radio City Music Hall in April, where “Echoes” left me so in awe that I had no idea if I could ever ask for a better performance of any piece of music in my life. At the end of September, I traveled to Chicago and say Roger Waters on his “Dark Side of the Moon” tour, wanting to see the album performed in its entirety at least once in my lifetime. Standout songs at this show were “Great Gig In The Sky,” the best live performance I’d ever heard, and “Any Colour You Like,” which I had never heard live previous to this performance.

As I left Roger’s show, fliers were being handed out for…The Australian Pink Floyd Show’s 2006 tour! Ben (our Ben here on the forum) had introduced me to their music when I visited him in December and I listened to them on my Ipod on my flight back to the States. “These guys are good!” just went through my mind again and again at the time. Now they’re coming here! When I got back to the hotel, I looked ‘em up and saw they were coming to South Florida! Yes! (After all, traveling to see Roger and Dave had somewhat tapped my personal travel budget for the year!) I snapped up my tickets a couple days later when I assembled who I’d go with…and then waited…patiently.

Thursday night couldn’t arrive fast enough for me. As Ben will attest, I wasn’t merely counting the days…but the hours and minutes until show time. It was my first time at the Au Rene theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (although I’m returning in January to see Spamalot), and I wondered how a theater venue would suit a performance like this. My fears were laid to rest once I arrived and peeked at the stage through the doors, seeing Mr. Screen and the setup clearly…nice open space for seating (I was 23 rows back from the stage)…this was going to be a good…no GREAT show! All 2000+ seats were sold out, and the crowd had a great mixture of young to old attendees (although more older people…60+…than I had ever seen at a Floyd show before).

Shortly after 8pm, the lights dimmed, the crowd got loud…and the opening notes of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” started to filter through the theater. Jason’s hypnotic synthesizer floated through the air, as the animation began to play on Mr. Screen…with nods to just about every iconic Floyd image from the various album covers included in it. When the man covered in light bulbs was shown, the mid 40-ish guy sitting next to me pointed to his girlfriend and excitedly said “OH! That’s Delicate Sound of Thunder!” Yeah…this was a good crowd to be in.

Ian’s vocals began, and the crowd was entranced. His voice is younger-sounding than most of Roger’s recordings, and without a certain ‘edge’ that Roger’s has always tended to have, which made me sometimes question Roger’s capabilities as a singer.  Ian’s voice is a welcome change, and covered both David and Roger’s parts through most songs. Being my first TAPFS concert, I didn’t notice until the second half of the concert that I wasn’t paying attention to who was singing, lost too much in the music. However, Ian sang through most of the first half of the concert, with Damian occasionally taking the lead.

Next up was “Learning To Fly,” with its thumping bass guitar intro; not particularly my personal favorite AMLOR song, a bit too mechanical for my particular taste compared to my favorites “On the Turning Away” and “Sorrow”, but still a good choice as it’s more ‘accessible’ to the general fan base due to it being the first single from AMLOR.

I digress for a moment to point out that at David’s show in Radio City, I was 11 rows from the stage and the bass was incredibly loud; my HAIR was moving to the bass that was cranking from the speakers. I also heard from others that being close to the stage (first few rows) for TAPFS, the sound is real load. I’m confused by those who want to sit so close not just because of the noise, but because of the vantage point for the visuals. You can’t see the lasers going out over the crowd, take in the full stage with the lights, etc. without turning your head constantly. Trust me…sit back 20 rows…that’s a proper place to be, and the sound will be loud, but at least you’ll be able to hear the next day!

“Learning” was well accepted by the crowd, with the light bulb fanatic to my right doing his best air drums that he could. I’ll admit…I like doing air drums as well, being an instrument I’m slightly more familiar with, but this guy was INTO it. Very amusing, and this show lasted throughout the concert in addition to TAPFS.

Cash registers! Coins clinking! “Money”! The roar of acceptance from the crowd grew, but the crowd stayed seated through almost the entire first half of the concert. However, arms were up in the air, and air drummer next to me was crashing his virtual cymbals as best he could. One thing I noted was that the band didn’t use a quadraphonic speaker setup like Floyd. I wasn’t sure if this was normal or not, but with the sound effects from “Money” playing…I didn’t seem to hear them behind me, nor did I see any speakers behind me when I looked during the break. Damian and Jamie’s synchronized guitar solo was flawless! And Mike’s saxophone solo built on his excellent work from SOYCD earlier.

Naturally segueing out of “Money” came “Us and Them.” A good tone down from the energy of “Money”, and the corresponding visuals on Mr. Screen were well done. “Us and Them” always is a neat song to listen to for the musical elements that really aren’t there…and how much your brain fills in what’s not there during most of the song. You think you hear more piano, organ, drums…but they’re really very light through most of the song. But all the pieces fit well together, and the composition works beautifully as a whole. Tie that in with TAPFS’ visuals…and it was a perfect rendition. Jason’s keyboards throughout played great tribute to Rick Wright’s renditions!

One of Roger Waters’ favorites came next, “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, which unlike “Money” and “Us and Them,” was just not as familiar to the crowd, or not to their liking. Many got up to go get extra drinks or use the restrooms, and that was a great shame, as they missed Mike’s superb saxophone work again during the climax of the song. Too bad you all got up from your seats, because it was well worth sitting through those extra few minutes that you paid for!

The rhythmic guitar from “Take It Back” started to play, and the crowd was filtering back to their seats and cheering, again being more familiar with one of the most recent Floyd songs released. Again, not my favorite from “The Division Bell” due to its too-U2-sounding rhythm guitar that lasts through the entire song, it has grown on me quite a bit, and the performance reminded me very vividly of TDB tour’s version of it. I saw TAPFS up there performing it, but in my ears it was all original Floyd…now that’s saying something!

To close out the first half of the show, “Dogs”. While I’m familiar with the piece from “Animals”,  I came to appreciate it more from listening to recordings from the “Wish You Were Here” Floyd tour when they demo’d it for the crowd as “You Got To Be Crazy”. From my perspective, the crowd really enjoyed it, especially Damian and Jamie’s guitars throughout (my personal favorite part of the song). However, the guys noted later that they didn’t seem to think the crowd enjoyed it much. I beg to differ, and the crowd really seemed to get into it, especially the solos.

During the intermission, I went and bought my t-shirt, magnet, and most importantly, the live DVD set! Make sure you get your copy of the DVD while they’re here…it’s fantastic! To quote forum Ben, “Get it! Get it! Get it!”

The lights dimmed quickly, and the biggest and most welcome surprise of the night for me started to play: “Astronomy Domine.” When Floyd opened up TDB tour in 1994, they had promised a surprise for everyone, and they started the concert/tour with AD. I remember the chills I felt then (not due to the rain!), and the same chills came back. I never actively enjoyed the song until that show, and hearing it live again was fantastic! The solar system animation was also a lot of fun.

I had been taking photos throughout the concert, and around this time the “camera police” came by and said “no cameras”. Fine…I stopped for a bit, and then continued again.

Up next was “Time”, with Paul’s excellent drum solo-into combined with Ian’s bass getting the crowd onto their feet, and Damian taking the lead vocals. This song started to break the ice for the crowd and more people started to get into the show. Merging beautifully into “Breathe (Reprise)”, the crowd’s applause grew to the loudest it had been up until that point. Damian’s singing on both songs was superb! He brought a bit of David’s rough voice to each…very nicely done!

I hoped that “The Great Gig In The Sky” would be next, but apparently Ola wasn’t feeling too well after performing it in the subsequent two shows. Instead the heavy guitar and bass of “What Do You Want From Me” began. I always believed this song works better live than it does on the album (where it’s still excellent!), because I really believe the lyrics of this song was the band (not particularly David, or in tonight’s show, Ian) communicating directly with the audience…even in TAPFS’ case! Emily, Jacquie and Ola’s backing vocals contributed to rounding out this stellar performance.

Returning to “Animals”, “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” was up next. About halfway into the song, the giant inflatable pig (yes, one of the original ones from Floyd’s 1994 Division Bell tour!) made its appearance next to Jamie, practically licking his head with its protruding tongue. The crowd went nuts, and was up on its feet, giving the band a standing ovation at the end. The energy had really hit the crowd!

Calming the proceedings down was “The Gunner’s Dream”, with Ian continuing to take the lead vocals after doing “Pigs.” And he nailed the performance…absolutely perfect. And the crowd’s reaction to the lyrics “..and no one kills the children anymore…” was moving.

All the lights were out between songs as we heard the familiar tuning of the radio dial, flipping between different programs (including a great nod to another famous set of Aussie’s, Men At Work!), when the notes of “Wish You Were Here” began to play. Damian took the vocal reins, and led the crowd in a spectacular rendition of this classic.

The beating bass line was back…and the whirling wind…it was time for “One of These Days”! Always one of the favorites, especially with the lights going around Mr. Screen, and Damian’s incredibly good steel guitar work! And, growing to full life behind Damian…SKIPPY!...who happily (angrily?) bounced up and down through the song!

Searchlights from the stage started to move around the crowd, along with the ever familiar helicopter whirring, the crowd’s hands raising as the lights went over them. Ian sang through “The Happiest Days Of Our Lives”, with him and Damian taking the vocals of “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” next, as a crowd was up and dancing, and a virtual wall built up on the projection screen behind the band.

Jason introduced the band before they closed out the second half with “Comfortably Numb”, with Ian taking Roger’s vocals, and Damian taking David’s. The guitar solo combined with the mirror ball was over the top…better than almost every other performance I’d seen of it by Floyd, David or Roger. Just jaw dropping for it’s energy and spectacle. This song along was easily worth the price of admission alone!

The band went offstage for a few minutes (I’m sure to collect their breath after “Numb”, which they must surely have felt after that rendition!) and came back to do “Hey You”, led by Ian (and great supporting air drums by the guy to my right, as well as another guy to my left now), and then closed “Run Like Hell”.

Awesome…just awesome. The guys put on one hell of a show, and I really wish that I could catch them again on this tour. The way the band has been varying the set list each night brings a new experience to each audience, something that you really couldn’t say for Roger’s Dark Side tour due to this need to synchronize with the video projections that he used throughout the concert. Damian, Jamie, Ian, Paul Jason, Ola, Emily and Jacquie…thank you for a great show! And it was great meeting you after the show.