Since launching a year and a half ago, Brit Floyd has enjoyed phenomenal success, with fans declaring that seeing and hearing them play live, with note for note perfection, is as good as watching the real thing.
All the band members have been in the Australian Pink Floyd Show, which has enjoyed worldwide success, so it was something of a natural progression to create a British version of the show.
The brand new show for 2012, which plays Eden Court Theatre in Inverness tonight, aims to be a genuine recreation of the Pink Floyd live experience, celebrating the amazing musical legacy of the band who had worldwide hits with tracks including Money, Another Brick in the Wall, Is There Anybody Out There and Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
As well as being the band’s musical director, Damian Darlington is a singer and guitarist for the band.
He needs little introduction as he was in the Australian Pink Floyd Show for 17 years, and even performed at Floyd guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour’s 50th birthday party.
“The difference between the Australian show and the British version is that we’re taking it in a slightly different direction and putting our energies into making a more faithful recreation of a Pink Floyd show by playing the music note for note,” said Damian.
“We aren’t a lookalike band, in that we don’t try to dress like them, but of course the stage looks like a Floyd stage show, with the production, lights, circular projection screens the same.
“The Pink Floyd band members tended to be quite anonymous on stage and are not the sort of band that we would try to look like by donning wigs and so on.”
Damian has played more than 1,500 tribute gigs in his time, which he jokes is probably more than the original band members have played.
“Pink Floyd released their first album in 1967, two years before I was born, but as I teenager I got into their music,” said Damian, 43.
“The first Floyd album I heard was The Wall, which wasn’t like anything else I’d heard at that point, so I was very captivated by it and drawn into listening to more of their music from that point onwards.
“Fans coming along to the show tend to be a mixture of people who have been following the band since the 1960s and new generations of people who have got into their music of late, which means sometimes you have whole families, including grandparents and teenage grandchildren, attending.”
Tonight’s show will include Hey You, See Emily Play, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, Another Brick In the Wall Part Two, Have a Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Time, The Great Gig In the Sky, Money, Comfortably Numb, High Hopes, Learning To Fly, The Fletcher Memorial Home, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Brain Damage, Eclipse and Run Like Hell.
As an extra bonus it will also include a full 23-minute show-stopping rendition of Echoes, taken from Pink Floyd’s classic 1971 album, Meddle.
“Of all the tracks at our disposal, a favourite I never tire of is Comfortably Numb, because I get to play the long, classic guitar solo at the end of it, which is a great experience as a guitarist,” said Damian, who has met all the original members of the band, bar Roger Waters.
“I played at Dave Gilmour’s 50th birthday party, which was an amazing experience, especially as, while we were performing Comfortably Numb, Rick Wright quietly asked if he could join in with us to play the Hammond organ, which was really special.
“Doing what I do, it just doesn’t get any better than that.”
Brit Floyd: A Foot In The Door World Tour 2012 visits Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, at 8pm tonight. Call 01463 234234 for tickets. Tomorrow, the show is at Perth Concert Hall.
