February 27 2014 – When you label yourself “The World’s Greatest Pink Floyd Show” you better be able to back that up. Brit Floyd is a band we have seen twice and they certainly would get our vote of confidence on their bold claim.
Brit Floyd is back for 2 incredible shows in our area – Tuesday April 8th at the Sony Centre in Toronto, and Wednesday April 9th at the Hamilton Place Theatre. Tickets WILL sell out for both shows so do not wait to get them. This is a must see show that will blow you away as it did us. We also have a pair of tickets to give away so keep reading and to whet your appetite this is our conclusion of Brit Floyd’s 2012 review.
Verdict 5 out of 5: Pink Floyd’s timeless masterpieces presented in a barrage of sight and sound that would make Misters Waters, Gilmour, Mason, Wright (and Barrett) proud of their legacy.
Check out the full review of the Toronto 2012 show here, and the Hamilton 2013 show here. Last year we were able to interview the band’s bassist vocalist Ian Cattell here, and now we are lucky enough to get to chat to the band’s guitarist/vocalist Damian Darlington.
T-Mak World: Damian we have seen Brit Floyd the last two times you were in the Toronto area, is there anything different this time round?
Darlington: The theme of this year’s tour is based upon Pink Floyd’s recent Discovery box set release which covers all of Pink Floyd’s studio albums. We thought it would be cool to represent all the era’s of Pink Floyd including the early Syd Barrett era and those early gems as well as of course the tracks that most people are familiar with from Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. We really are comprehensively covering all of Pink Floyd’s output through the years with this tour.
T-Mak World: Very cool, how do you guys decide the set list – not only which songs to include but the running order as well?
Darlington: Well it can be tricky business. Obviously there are things people want to hear that you have to include such as Wish You Were Here, Money, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Another Brick In The Wall and over and above that there are so many amazing Floyd tracks to choose from so it becomes a bit difficult. When it comes to the running order it’s a whole skill in itself to get the concert to have natural peak and troughs, get the uptempo songs and more of the full Floyd tricks and mixing them together in the correct order is tricky and hopefully we have done it and get people excited throughout the whole concert.
T-Mak World: Does it get tiring playing so many shows? You guys have been on the road for 3 years now and have played hundreds of shows.
T-Mak World: Mozart and Beethoven pieces were written 200 years ago and still are considered the pinnacle of a certain era. Do you believe Pink Floyd would have the same longevity 200 years down the road. Is Pink Floyd timeless or just a reflection of a certain time and age that is on its last wings currently?
Darlington: I definitely believe it is timeless. I have been doing this for 20 years (playing Pink Floyd music around the world) and it amazes me how many young people come out to the shows. They weren’t even alive when I started doing this, let alone when Pink Floyd started doing this. There is a definite lasting appeal going down the generations. This is profound music, it can be fun music, it is thought-provoking and new audiences keep discovering it all the time as much as people did 30-40 years ago.
T-Mak World: We hear both David Gilmour and Roger Waters are working on new albums. What are your thoughts on the post Floyd stuff and are you excited about new material coming from them.
Darlington: I’m always excited when Waters or Gilmour do something. Post Waters Pink Floyd and solo Gilmour and Waters albums are great pieces of work. The fact that some brand new material is coming out from these guys is very exciting for me.
T-Mak World: Speaking of DVD’s Brit Floyd has one coming out soon can you tell us about that please?
T-Mak World: What about you, are you working on anything on your own in terms of solo material perhaps?
Darlington: I have something called Acoustic Unlimited – original compositions, mostly instrumental stuff and more inspired by artists such as Pat Metheny, or John McLaughlin which is quite different from Pink Floyd. I also just finished a short tour in the UK with something called the Classic Rock Show which has songs from bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who, AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac and on and on. Lots of fun.
T-Mak World: Damian thanks a lot for your time and we look forward to seeing you in Toronto and Hamilton, best of luck with the shows!
Darlington: My pleasure, thanks a lot and take care.
Brit Floyd on Channel 17 at 7:30 tonight.
I know they are begging for money but that is nice of the band to let they use their show.
It is live from Red Rocks a great venue for this show.