February 17 2015 – First things first – Pink Floyd fans, scratch that, music fans please mark March 31 2015 on your calendar and make your way down to the Sony Centre in Toronto to see the most amazing show possible. Tickets are available here and are running out fast so don’t hesitate.
However let us assume for a minute you are not aware of Brit Floyd – well here is the lowdown.
“Brit Floyd – The World’s Greatest Pink Floyd Show, returns in 2015 to launch its most ambitious tour to date, with a spectacular new light show, an even bigger stage production and over 100 concerts planned throughout the United States and Canada between March and August 2015.
Celebrating five decades of Pink Floyd, from their creation in 1965 right through to the release of their brand new album, ‘The Endless River’, this amazing show includes performances from all Pink Floyd’s biggest selling albums, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall and The Division Bell plus a host of other Pink Floyd musical surprises.
Paying attention to every musical detail and faithfully recreating the ‘true’ live Pink Floyd concert experience, Brit Floyd bring together all the best moments from the timeless Pink Floydback catalogue, and combining the latest state-of-the-art sound and light technology, to create a performance that is both sonically perfect and visually awesome. Brit Floyd’s World Tour 2015 promises to be their best yet.
For both the well seasoned Pink Floyd connoisseur and newcomer alike – close your eyes, and let Brit Floyd take you to the Dark Side…and to the unmistakable sound…of Pink Floyd.”
We previously had the opportunity to interview guitarist/vocalist Damian Darlington here, and bassist/vocalist Ian Cattell here. We are now focusing on the band’s other guitarist/vocalist Bobby Harrison as we work through our way through the Brit Floyd roster in a chance to get to know them all!
T-Mak World: Bobby thanks for the time, Brit Floyd is coming back to Toronto for a fourth year in a row. Last year we gave the show a glowing review (read it here). Tell our readers what (if anything) will be different from last year?
Harrison: The average length of a Brit Floyd set is 2 hours and 40 minutes and this year, we’re planning to tour not one, but TWO alternating and very different Pink Floyd sets. Of course, both sets will have songs in common and both will cover all eras of Pink Floyd’s career, but we’ve decided to treat the audience to an even wider selection of material this time.
T-Mak World: Bobby I asked Ian Cattell this question when we interviewed him and I would like to recycle it for you. In one of our earlier reviews of Brit Floyd we stated that for a tribute show 3 things matter. The music, the visuals, and the experience. Needless to say the band nails the music and the visuals with ease, but the intangible is the experience. It is hard to describe but being at a Brit Floyd show for me had the feeling of tricking my mind into believing that I was seeing Pink Floyd in a very hypnotic sort of way. Why is it that you think Brit Floyd succeeds in that experience?
Bobby: I feel that it’s a shared love of Pink Floyd’s music between band and audience. The evening is a celebration of Floyd’s career, both for the musicians on stage and the fans. When I say “fans”, I mean Pink Floyd’s fans, as opposed to Brit Floyd’s. Everybody in the room is a fan of the music, both on and off stage, so we’re all sharing the same experience and vibing off of one another.
T-Mak World: What is the most fun song for you to play on stage with Brit Floyd?
Bobby: It varies from night to night, although Echoes is great fun to play, since it’s very organic and never quite the same from one show to the next. It’s one of those rare musical occasions (for us, at least) where we can all take a little artistic license, while retaining the essence of Pink Floyd.
T-Mak World: Aside from Brit Floyd what are you involved with (musically and non)?
Bobby: Shameless self-promotion alert! For the past 4 years, myself and my good friend and guitarist Nick Radcliffe have been running an online guitar tuition website called FretHub (www.frethub.com). We provide a wealth of video guitar lessons for people of all levels and our content is ever-growing. We wanted to create the kind of website that we would have wanted to learn from, had the internet existed back when we were starting out.
T-Mak World: One thing I like to talk about is the longevity of classic rock. I don’t think a perfect storm will ever exist again to bring us bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who all at the same time. The riches these bands enjoyed commercially are no longer available to young rock bands. Having said that I believe rock will exist for a very long time through tribute bands and Brit Floyd is setting a very high standard for cover/tribute shows. Do you believe the music of Pink Floyd will be played 100 years from now and if so why?
Bobby: I most certainly do. Not only the music of Pink Floyd, but also the music of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Queen, to name but a few. The 60s and 70s were, I feel, the golden age of rock music. Perhaps that has as much to do with the music industry at the time as it does the artists of the time. I don’t believe that musicians and songwriters these days are any less creative and innovative as they were back then, it’s just that the industry has changed so much and continues to do so. There are so many artists hoping to be discovered today, yet and it’s becoming harder and harder to secure any kind of meaningful recording contract, since so few of the larger Companies are willing to invest in an artist’s longevity.
T-Mak World: Brit Floyd has played to over 1 million people. How do you process that? Does it excite you when you actually think of how huge that number is?
Bobby: It’s surreal and mind-blowing in equal measures. In fact, that figure (1 million) was mentioned over a year ago, so the total is even higher now. I’m trying to process it as we speak, but my brain is melting!
T-Mak World: Bobby, thank you so much for your time. We look forward to enjoying the show in Toronto once again and watching you close your eyes and deliver those timeless notes. Any last words for our readers?
Bobby: Thank you all so much for your continuing support. We love Toronto and we’re all so grateful to see all you come back, year after year. We hope you enjoy this year’s show as much as we will enjoy performing it for you.
Thanks Bobby! To celebrate the event Brit Floyd has given our readers a chance to win a pair of tickets to the Toronto show! To enter send an email to contests (at) tmakworld (dot) com and include BRIT FLOYD in the subject line and tell us your favorite Pink Floyd song and your name. Bonus entry for liking the T-Mak World Facebook page! Winners will be selected March 28th and prize tickets will be available at box office the day of the show (must show ID to pick them up).
So many to choose from lol
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