INTERSTELLAR Pink Floyd

Interstellar hit the stage with Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Right from the start, the crowd was behind them -
Next up was a favourite of the crowd - Learning to Fly. Being the newest song the band played, I can only guess this was the Floyd album that the crowd had heard of! Whatever - the guys did it proud, excellent guitar work from Mark. This was followed - according to the play list - by On The Turning Away which isn't something I am familiar with and don't remember. Best move on then... The guys then took us on a trip through Dark Side Of the Moon with five tracks all totally suitable to the time and the place. Backing tapes of alarms rang in Time which was followed by an excellent version of Us & Them which saw Dani on backing vocalist really coming into her own. Really got the hairs on the back of my neck leaping around!
What next? Well, the title track of the vacation - Brain Damage followed by Eclipse. I really can't over-state exactly how relevant these tracks were. Totally bizarre situation and the Floyd seemed to have predicted it - back in 1973! We completed the Moon tracks with a rocking version of Money. The crowd was really raucous and their dancing fast approaching a riot - so what do you play? Well, maybe the anarchic Another Brick in the Wall part 3 wasn't the best choice! Somehow the venue survived as the dancers decided singing the chorus (which they all knew - at least by the third calling) was better than burning effigies of the barman!
More of the newer stuff with Coming Back To Life before the guys interrupted their tribute set with an original song. Sacrilege! What is a damned good tribute band thinking by playing something new and original? For those of you who consider tribute bands to be a shadow of the 'real' bands - check out Interstellar Rockstar - . A cracking good song which was greeted by polite applause. Originality is all good and well, but the crowd wanted songs they already knew. What chance do you have to make as an originals band? Well, I liked it!
Succumbing to massed media demand, the set was completed with one of the best known Floyd tracks - a superb version of Wish You Were Here - which I had been hammering to death on the car's cassette player all week. A great end to a superb set. And of course, they were never going to get away with that - the Band Club went crazy (not a long journey for some of them!) until the band returned to the stage for an epic finale of Comfortably Numb followed by Run Like Hell. I suspect the foundations are still rocking to this day!
Anne and I had to disappear of back to our bed & breakfast further down the coast and so didn't join the throngs mobbing the band after the set. Chatting to Mark over the ether later, he was knocked out by the response. The whole mini-tour had gone down well, but the Band Club proved a pinnacle for them too. What a night!
For more information about The Interstellar Pink Floyd Show, contact Mark Emery at mark1records@gmail.com

Frank Blades for Alternative View - Frank Blade Alternative View