The Australian Rock Collective presents Pink Floyd tour brings together a great concept.
Four highly experienced and widely respected Australian musicians coming together in the form of a supergroup, playing two of the most outstanding and enigmatic albums from the past half-century – Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' and 'Wish You Were Here'.
The appeal of the idea is demonstrated by earlier sold-out shows at Sydney Opera House and Melbourne's Hamer Hall. In terms of the musicians, Australian Rock Collective (ARC) is made up of four luminaries from the Australian music scene from the past two decades.
Davey Lane is the lead guitarist for You Am I, and has slotted perfectly into that role; Darren Middleton was guitarist and co-songwriter for Powderfinger; Mark Wilson is bassist for Jet; and Mark Anthony Maher – better known to you as Kram – is drummer and vocalist for Spiderbait.
ARC is currently touring the two acclaimed Pink Floyd albums, but has also previously done tours of 'Zeppelin IV' (arguably the best of five Led Zeppelin albums!), and 'The White Album' by The Beatles.
Image © Bill Prendergast
The two Pink Floyd albums are highly enigmatic, comprised of incredible music, and are probably best described as progressive rock (especially 1975's 'Wish You Were Here'). The lyrics are deep, and deal in part with the mental health issues afflicting founding member, Syd Barrett, particularly the later album, 'Wish You Were Here'.
The later pieces on 'Dark Side Of The Moon' also refer directly to Barrett's frame of mind, with the 'Brain Damage' lyrics: 'And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes," perhaps best reflecting this.
Pink Floyd keyboardist, the late Richard Wright related the story of Barrett coming into studio during the recording of 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', but such was his physical decline, none of his former band members recognised him as he sat in the corner while they recorded the music.
According to various Pink Floyd members, they see these two albums as their greatest work, as they originate from a period where the band was most collaborative and therefore, happiest. Moving into the late '70s, 'Another Brick In The Wall' was seen as driven entirely by Roger Waters, and to a fair extent, as encapsulating his own life story, creating substantial angst between the members which simmered for decades, such that the remaining members are still not on speaking terms.
Image © Bill Prendergast
'Dark Side Of The Moon' from 1973 is famously one of the all-time greatest selling albums. In the US, while it was #1 for one week only, it remained in the Top 200 for more than 700 weeks!
Ahead of tonight's show (13 August), a number of questions spring to mind: who performs Clare Torry's stunning vocals for 'Great Gig In The Sky'? Is that song even possible to perform?
What about all the musical effects (clocks, cars), and the humorous lyrical additions throughout 'Dark Side Of The Moon'? Who plays keyboards, given the huge input of Wright on these two albums, and the importance of the keyboards especially for the later album?
Image © Bill Prendergast
The four ARC members took the stage shortly after 7pm, in front of a full house. They were joined on stage by keyboardist James Fleming, which was key as the first album of the evening was 'Wish You Were Here'.
The opener is introduced by the haunting keyboard leading into the guitar work of David Gilmour/ Davey Lane on 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'. Lane completely nailed the intricate guitar work on the 13-minute piece.
A further highlight was provided when saxophonist Nathaniel Poynter joined the stage late in the piece, first playing a large fixed baritone sax, then switching deftly to the tenor sax, as required by the original recording.
Image © Bill Prendergast
What was clear from this opening classic was that tonight would be an accurate rendition of the works, rather than an interpretation, and that was consistent throughout the evening, and in my view the correct way to treat this music.
Kram moved to the front of the stage for 'Welcome To The Machine', and late in the piece had his back to the crowd, up on a riser in front of the drums, playing the drummed windup. Vocals were taken by Darren Middleton for 'Have A Cigar', before two Maton acoustic guitars led off the opening of 'Wish You Were Here'. This was probably the crowd favourite off the album.
At times I feel the song has suffered from its huge success, constantly heard on commercial radio, yet the band tonight created a new interest in the song, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable rendition. The final progressive piece took the evening to an intermission, before the musicians returned for the second part of the evening, 'Dark Side Of The Moon'.
A glass slide featured across some of the music, and Lane opened with vocals and slide on 'Breathe'. 'Time' kicked off with the famous clocks and alarms, then Kram's drum piece. The drums weren't as deep or shocking as Pink Floyd's version, but that was more the nature of a smaller kit and logistics, as Kram's playing was excellent all evening.
For the entire evening, the crowd had been waiting in apprehension for the next moment. Singer Talei Wolfgramm moved from her position at the back of the stage, down to the main microphone.
The crowd wanted this to be a success, and was aware of how difficult the piece would be, yet Wolfgramm confidently launched into the famous vocal work of 'Great Gig In The Sky'. Wolfgramm, who has backed such singers as Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Jones, pulled this off beautifully, perfectly answering one of my questions leading into the evening.
Image © Bill Prendergast
The crowd appreciation was most intense after this work given its difficulty, and many of the audience were on their feet at its end. 'Money' is a little like 'Wish You Were Here' in terms of the commercial popularity, but was again a great performance, with bass player Mark Wilson really driving the piece with the famous bassline.
Middleton took vocals on 'Us And Them', before winding up the album with 'Brain Damage' and 'Eclipse' that saw Lane fingerpicking on his Stratocaster guitar. ARC were shortly back onstage for a four-song encore.
Kram played acoustic guitar unaccompanied on his favourite Pink Floyd song, 'Pigs On The Wing (Part 1)', and nailed the version. This was followed by Syd Barrett's earlier psychedelic song, 'Arnold Layne' which was very different to all of the other Pink Floyd works tonight, having a distinct 1960s feel.
'Another Brick In The Wall' – a great song, facing the same commercial overkill issue – followed, with the show culminating, as expected, with 'Comfortably Numb'. It's another amazing song, with solos being taken by Middleton, again leaving the audience (and Davey Lane) in awe.
Image © Bill Prendergast
The solos were more restrained than when Gilmour plays the piece, in that Gilmour's playing tends to rise far above the backing music, and this was less the case this evening, again probably due to the smaller venue, but it was an incredible piece with which to wind up the evening.
Admittedly cover bands are not usually my thing, but this was far more than a cover band. ARC has selected two truly incredible albums, wishing to highlight the quality and depth of the music through an accurate song-by-song rendition.
The evening was an entire success, with highly skilled musicians playing fantastic music that they clearly love, at a great local music venue.
More photos from the concert.
