The Pink Floyd tribute album Nick Mason called “terrific”
The weird world of tribute bands is a peculiar phenomenon of the modern age. Acts can play to thousands of people nightly by cosplaying as their heroes and letting the audience suspend their disbelief by imagining they are spectating the real thing. It’s a big business, and the market is flooded with tributes to Pink Floyd.
Boutique festivals across the United Kingdom are dedicated to staging tribute acts, and those involved take immense professional pride in their craft. While it’s still possible to become qualified as an Elvis Presley impersonator after purchasing a cheap wig, aviator sunglasses and a spray tan, most in the profession take their role with the same level of seriousness as the genuine bands.
Mostly, the tribute scene is awash with versions of bands who are no longer active, simply because it is no longer possible to see the real thing live in concert, hence why there is such demand for Pink Floyd. Although Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason still regularly play songs by the band during their respective solo concerts, that hasn’t dampened the appetite for Pink Floyd tributes.
The competition is now a crowded field, and according to reports, over 80 tribute bands to Pink Floyd are active. The industry leader is The Australian Pink Floyd Show, which formed in 1988 and has earned an immense reputation due to their expansive stage shows, which are extremely aesthetically pleasing.
Despite not playing original material, The Australian Pink Floyd Show regularly perform at arenas worldwide and have kept the music of Pink Floyd alive for 35 years. While Mason respects them greatly and referred to the band as his “favourite” Pink Floyd tribute band, the drummer prefers when a group takes the material in a new direction.
When speaking about his new band Saucerful of Secrets, who celebrate the Syd Barrett-era of Pink Floyd, Mason explained to Louder Sound: “What I really like is going back to the idea of actually improvising. First of all, there are people carefully studying every mistake I’ve ever made and recreating it. Although my favourite is still The Australian Pink Floyd, who had musical differences and split into the Brit Floyd.”
Mason elaborated on Pink Floyd tribute bands: “You’d have thought they’d have seen it coming. They do a great job. It’s not that I want to stop them, but I still have that rather pathetic notion that rock music is a sort of opportunity to express yourself. It’s this liberating thing, a bit loose and a bit wild, an opportunity for lots of new ideas, so in many ways, I’m more comfortable when people take something and rework it. I thought Dub Side Of The Moon was terrific.”
Dub Side Of The Moon, which Mason labelled as “terrific”, was released in 2003 by the New York-based reggae collective Easy Star All-Stars. They later returned to Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side Of The Moon in 2010 when they released Dubber Side Of The Moon, another reggae re-imagination of the classic progressive rock LP.
Listen to Dub Side Of The Moon below.
