Aussie Floyd Aussieome

Saw the Australian Pink Floyd Show at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga on Friday, October 26. Giving it an 8 of 10.

Loved the sound, the lights and most of the performances. Highlights were Shine On, The Fletcher Memorial Home, One of these Days, What Do You Want From Me and Comfortably Numb. Maybe a bit too much emphasis on the newer Floyd cuts otherwise but a good set list.
 
Lasers in action at Aussie Floyd show

The downside were some of the technical sounds they had - not being as Floyd like as the real thing. Some of this may have had to do with this being the first show of the Canadian leg of their Exposed in the LIght tour 2012. They actually had to stop set 1 early due to some sound problem at the keyboards. Not sure what it was and/or if we missed some of the set list because of it. The 2012 DVD has some tracks not played so we probably did miss something.
 
Light show from Aussie Floyd - lasers and lights

More to the problem was at the Steve Mac side of the stage. On Sorrow the guitar sounded very weak and the tone was all wrong. Same actually on the opening lead for Shine On. A bit too much pic on the pick ups - just a bit off - I think the levels on whatever rack settings he had going. As well, he had a talk box issue on Pigs 3 Different Ones.

Brit Floyd vs. Aussie Floyd
Of course, I saw Brit Floyd at their March 1, 2012 Toronto stop and can compare the two acts. They are really neck and neck. In some places the Brit Floyd was better while in others, the Aussie band gets a leg up. Actually some of the Brit Floyd members hail from the Aussie group. So, perhaps it's fair to say the original band had all the chops!

I saw the original line up at the Sony Centre some years ago (maybe it was 2003) and they were doing all of the Dark Side of the Moon at that point. So, it's a hard call. If audience perspective means anything, both crowds dug both groups pretty well the same. No, "odd dancing man" at the Mississauga show. This is the guy who's been at all the other tribute Floyd shows I've taken in. Just gets way into the show and moves his arms in quite a compelling dancing way. Maybe you have to see it to know what I mean.

Comfortably Numb
For me, the best judgement always can be made in how the band performs Comfortably Numb. I thought the solos from Steve Mac and David Domminney Fowler were just a head of what we got on Brit Floyd. If you've read my blogs around Floyd before, you'll know I'm not a fan of guitar solo wanking. None of that here at all - just pure tone and feel. And that, I find, very pleasing. Well done!
 
Inflatable Kangaroo from Aussie Floyd show

I add a special mention of The Fletcher Memorial Home. Not only did Colin Wilson do a fantastic job on the vocal, the film that ran along with the song was amazing. Well in line with what the original band might do.

Interpretations
I would add that another of the vocalists, doing mostly the rougher vocal sounding Gilmour parts, Alex McNamara, was maybe too over the top on a lot of the material. Now, I liked his voice and he has chops but he went far over what Gilmour would do. That's one of the places where the band went beyond cover/tribute to something a little more unique to them. That's not a bad thing but if you want to judge them on how closely they sound like the real Pink Floyd, you'd have to say they divert occasionally to something else that doesn't sound like a faithful reproduction but a great version of the song instead.

If you are a Floyd fan, you could do a lot worse than checking out both Brit Floyd and Aussie Floyd. If you had to choose only one - like on The Voice - I'd have to give it to the Aussie band - if only because of their great sense of humour in how they integrate a Kangaroo instead of a pig into their act. Just brings a dimension to the show that reminds they are great players in their own right.
 
Kangaroo on screen during stage projections for Aussie Floyd


No song for you on this post but you can always check out our covers of Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb ... apropos I'm sure :0)

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