After the recent death of Richard Wright, I had to accept the reality that I'd never see a Pink Floyd reunion tour. Sadly this also meant that I'd never hear them perform one of my favorite songs from The Wall - Young Lust. While I've heard it countless times on bootlegs and later on "Is There Anybody Out There", I needed to hear it live in person. Luckily such an opportunity presented itself when "The Australian Pink Floyd Show" announced they would perform "The Wall" at their Madison show at the Overture Center (which used to be run by a family friend until said friend "retired" due to a sexual harassment lawsuit and was later sent to prison for tax evasion). I grabbed a ticket the day they went on sale and got orchestra row CC. Fast-forward to the week of the show and I warmed up by listening to ITAOT on my bedroom system. I was excited to finally see "The Wall" performed live even if it wasn't with the real Floyd (though technically it was only one less Floyd member than what Roger had on his tour if you exclude the pig). I even dug up my old MLOR tour shirts from back in 1987/1988 but unfortunately even though they were extra-large, they no longer fit and I ended up wearing my XL Division Bell tour shirt. The promos for the show promised inflatibles, lasers and video screens but I wondered how closely they would try to replicate the famous Wall shows of London/New York/LA/Berlin. Were they going to have a Gary Yudman clone emcee the show to keep some of the surreal feel of the original production?

As I waited for the theater to open, I wandered around to see if any other Floyd fans had worn their vintage tees. Unfortunately my 1994 vintage Division Bell shirt was the oldest I saw. I was hoping to see someone with a MLOR shirt or even a Roger Waters Hitchhiking or Kaos tour shirt but the only Waters shirt was from his DSOTM tour. When I presented my ticket to the usher, he led me to the fifth seat in the third row! Apparently row CC was the third row just ten feet from the four-high dual fifteen inch (or possibly eighteens) bass cabs and directly below the leftmost hanging speaker array. EXCELLENT!

I've listened to "The Wall" more times than I care to admit. I wore out my tape copy (from vinyl of course) before I finished my junior year of high school and quickly moved on to the CD as soon as I could afford a portable player. There were probably hundreds of people with similar stories in the audience. Drop in disc one of "The Wall" and zone out to music you know by heart. This led to a rather puzzling observation - during the first third of the performance, most people didn't clap or cheer. The performance was often a dead ringer for ITAOT (including the banter before "Run Like Hell") and it took most people (myself included) a few songs to snap out of their usual Floyd trance. Remember how close I was to the bass cabs? When the drummer hit one of his kick drums, it felt like my whole body jumped an inch or two into the air! Its hard to zone out when your ass-cheeks are constantly being bounced out of your seat. The crowd eventually loosened up and by the end of the show were standing and cheering.

The videos for The Wall were mostly computer animation copies of the Gerald Scarfe sequences from the movie. Maybe I'm spoiled by the jaw-dropping animation of Pixar studios but these backdrop videos felt like they were pulled from a 1990s PC CD-ROM games with very limited 3D models. Even Pixar wanna-bee movies like "Hoodwinked" were miles ahead of the Wall pieces. The animation simply looked cheap and it detracted from the show. There was one standout piece for the hotel room scene with the groupie from "One of My Turns". The video screen showed a comic book style sequence of panels of the singer/bassist sitting in an easy chair next to a lamp and TV and being annoyed by the groupie.

The Aussie Floyd group were not above having some fun with their material. The radio bits before WYWH in the last part of the show included "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" and the Men At Work song "I Come From a Land Down Under". In the videos, the heads of the hammers were sometimes replaced by Australia's most famous marsupial and the DSOTM prism was an outline of the land down under. There were a few more visual puns but I won't give away all the jokes. During intermission they used the intermission music from "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" and after the house lights came up they played the Loonie Tunes Porky Pig "Th-th-th-that's all folks!" There was even an unintentionally funny part during "In The Flesh". When a Floyd tribute band's singer belts out "They sent us along as a surrogate band. Now we're gonna find out where you fans really stand." that's ironic with a capital I. Same thing for the song "Waiting For The Worms" with the lyrics about Pink longing for the old British Empire - remember Australia's history.

I'm not sure I would drop another $60 to see them again but I was impressed. I could sit here all night and whine about little things that weren't up to the quality of the Floyd and solo shows I've been lucky enough to see but here is the bottom line - I had a great time and so did everyone around me. The Aussie Pink Floyd Show is second only to the real thing.

Setlist
"The Wall" as heard on "Is There Anybody Out There?"
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Great Gig In The Sky
Wish You Were Here
Learning To Fly
One Of These Days...
Brain Damage/Eclipse

p.s. When somebody finally invents a time machine, I want to be first in line at a 1980 Earls Court show!

WE see thsi show on the 5th in Eugene at the Hult Center for the Performing arts in Eugene OR. and I guess sitting up close would be an option. But having been to 2 other Aust. Floyd shows I went a different direction and got 2nd row first balcony dead center. As I want to see the light show. Which for previous shows has been amazing. I figured up close it would be hard to see the whole thing. And I know I would not have enjoyed being close to any of the speakers. Hard to hear all the music when you only get one side.

Having seen the Divison Bell tour in Vancouver BC in 94 I thought the Aust Floyd show is a better show to watch.

We will see.

Sounds like you have a great evening :music:; thanks for sharing it! :thmbsp:

I saw the Roger Waters "Wall" tour here a while back; they played various songs in the first half, and "re-created" the entire Wall album/concert in the second half, but obviously adjusted somewhat from the really big, original stadium shows of the real PF. Still, I thought at the time (posted about it somewhere in the archives) that they did a remarkable job of sounding like the original, and re-creating some of the ambience. About as close as it could get, in another time and with many substitute members (albeit extremely good and well-chosen ones! ... and of course, Roger still sounds like Roger!).

I'd go see the Aussie version, too, if they play in HK. Even if it isn't "the real thing", there is something nice about hearing that music done LIVE. :yes: :music: :thmbsp:

Occasionally, I put on the "Pulse" live concert recording on LD, project the image large scale, and crank the sound up. Not quite like a live concert, but the next best thing to it! :D

Again, thanks for sharing your impressions. Glad you enjoyed yourself!

Easily the loudest concert I've been to in years. Dangerously loud.

My buddy went to that concert here at work, and said it was great. Overature center is gorgeous to boot.

Glad you enjoyed.

Evan

Did they build the wall?

The "wall" was only on the video screen during a few parts of the show with the aforementioned cheesy CGI animation.

Arkay: On his last two US tours Waters did DSOTM. No idea what he did in your neck of the woods.

I was worried about hearing protection as well but I barely needed my earplugs. Either I was in a quiet spot or my ears are totally shot.

Just received an email about "Think Floyd" (aka The American Pink Floyd Show) performing at the Park West in Chicago on Jan 24th. I believe they performed at Summerfest (not sure - didn't attend SF this year).

On the subject of "The Wall", there is a tape of Wall demos that Floyd fanatics need to check out. Its called "The Wall - Under Construction" and iirc I found it through Neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk. If you think "The Wall" is a dark album, you should hear the demos (especially Comfortably Numb). The are some "Final Cut" demos floating around as well.

The "wall" was only on the video screen during a few parts of the show with the aforementioned cheesy CGI animation.

Arkay: On his last two US tours Waters did DSOTM. No idea what he did in your neck of the woods.

I was worried about hearing protection as well but I barely needed my earplugs. Either I was in a quiet spot or my ears are totally shot.

Just received an email about "Think Floyd" (aka The American Pink Floyd Show) performing at the Park West in Chicago on Jan 24th. I believe they performed at Summerfest (not sure - didn't attend SF this year).

On the subject of "The Wall", there is a tape of Wall demos that Floyd fanatics need to check out. Its called "The Wall - Under Construction" and iirc I found it through Neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk. If you think "The Wall" is a dark album, you should hear the demos (especially Comfortably Numb). The are some "Final Cut" demos floating around as well.

They might have picked up a new sound tech. The show I was at there was no escaping the SPL.

Glad it was tolerable for you.

I saw them a few weeks ago, and was amazed at the talent of these guys!
Note for note perfect, as close as you could get to the real thing.:thmbsp:

I saw them last week. Musically they were fantastic. I was surprised at how much like Floyd they sounded. I never really broke the feeling that I was listening to a cover band, but they were top notch. I was a bit disappointed by the animation. For what the show cost (for a cover band!) I expected more than bad digital animation. Your mid-90s CDrom game comment is spot on. It looked like the cheesy animation in the director's cut of Live at Pompeii. Funny how adding something 'modern' can instantly date something that's already classic. I liked the Pig, though. Was that the pig from the Gilmour years? Didn't look like the real pig, and I never paid much attention to Floyd w/o Waters, as I felt if lacked the darkness/angst that was one of their big draws with me.

But by and large it was a great show, much more enjoyable than I thought a cover band would be. I saw Waters last year during the DSOTM tour, and it certainly wasn't up there with that, but it was awesome to hear The Wall live, even if it was a surrogate band.

Also..nice that they were actually covering The Wall live performances, and not just the wall as recorded. 'What shall we do now?" is such a great song. Wish it was on the record. The lyrics are slightly different in a couple of songs as done live, too, and they did them like that. Fantastic!

Heh.


Not a huge Floyd fan here but am going tommorrow nite to see this gig. My buddy makes a living out of going to concerts. Especially digs Floyd. Should be fun.

(I'm sure his stash of "Maui-Wowee" will make it better. ;))


:smoke:


Matt

Thanks for the review Gonzo. I was curious about this show. My 15 year-old got very excited after seeing the ad on local TV here. "Pink Floyd is coming!" "No honey, they're not" I replied with a 'there is no Santa Clause' tone in my voice. I dismissed them as cheese covered cheese. Sounds like I jumped the gun.

I did catch them when they were the first band to play Camp Randall. I believe it was the Delicate tour. Unfortunately I was so excited I 'over-medicated' to calm myself down and barely remember being there. I do remeber thinking that was one of the greatest shows I'd ever seen. Luckily I caught them with a full compliment of brain cells the next time they played the same venue.

Twas' a goooood show!

I was uber-impressed! My friend was slack-jawed in amazement of how much these guys sound like PF. I could have done without the "laser-light-show" schtick (it was lame), but the performance was outstanding.

Excellent, just excellent.

Matt

I've been seeing good comments about this show. Makes me want to go next time around.

I've seen PF twice, both shows at Milwaukee County Stadium in the 70's, and David Gilmour On An Island tour 2006 (with Richard Wright) in Rosemont (Chicago).

News flash from Roger Waters' manager - he is considering/planning a Wall tour in 2010/2011! Does anyone care to wager if he can sweet-talk Dave into an Eagles-ish "When Hell Freezes Over" gig?

I'd drop a Benjamin easy for a Roger tour of the Wall. Hopefully he'll play a venue with really good sound. The Rosemont Theater is nice but really too small for a Wall performance. Has anyone been to the new place that replaced Poplar Creek (shudder)?

I saw Australian Pink Floyd in Calgary early fall. I was very impressed, and having it in the the venue where the Philharmonic Orchestra plays meant good seating and good sound compared to a sports arena.
Money well spent.

Sounds like you have a great evening :music:; thanks for sharing it! :thmbsp:

I saw the Roger Waters "Wall" tour here a while back; they played various songs in the first half, and "re-created" the entire Wall album/concert in the second half, but obviously adjusted somewhat from the really big, original stadium shows of the real PF. Still, I thought at the time (posted about it somewhere in the archives) that they did a remarkable job of sounding like the original, and re-creating some of the ambience. About as close as it could get, in another time and with many substitute members (albeit extremely good and well-chosen ones! ... and of course, Roger still sounds like Roger!).

I'd go see the Aussie version, too, if they play in HK. Even if it isn't "the real thing", there is something nice about hearing that music done LIVE. :yes: :music: :thmbsp:

Occasionally, I put on the "Pulse" live concert recording on LD, project the image large scale, and crank the sound up. Not quite like a live concert, but the next best thing to it! :D

Again, thanks for sharing your impressions. Glad you enjoyed yourself!


. . . sorry for sneaking this into the thread, but would you know if it is very hard or not to track down the "PULSE" live album on Vinyl? (I do realize it is out of print, but I was wavering recently about whether it would be worth my time and not-a-lot-of-money to seriously start looking for a playable/VG+ minimum copy. Did you buy your new at the time of it's release? Again sorry for sort of sneaking this in here; no offense meant.

Heh.


Not a huge Floyd fan here but am going tommorrow nite to see this gig. My buddy makes a living out of going to concerts. Especially digs Floyd. Should be fun.

(I'm sure his stash of "Maui-Wowee" will make it better. ;))


:smoke:


Matt



. . . I would think it would next to impossbile to calculate how many bad to downright horrible shows were made tolerable - or, at extremely bad concerts, even "survivable" - by our dear old Mrs. GREEN. :yes: :smoke: