Review: Brit Floyd: Immersion World Tour 2017

Brit Floyd is a Liverpool-based Pink Floyd tribute band, formed in 2011 as an off-shoot of another tribute band, The Australian Pink Floyd Show. Brit Floyd founder, guitarist and musical director Damian Darlington was a part of that group, but left because he felt he could do a better reproduction of a Pink Floyd show. I’ve never seen the Australian group, nor the real Pink Floyd for that matter, but after seeing the Brit Floyd recently, I’d have to say Mr. Darlington has produced an absolutely stellar show.

I’ve never been more than a nominal Pink Floyd fan. Dark Side of the Moon was my first introduction to the band, when I heard it played at a friend’s house when I was a high school junior. I was impressed enough to buy the album, and thought it was a stunning work. I was absolutely floored the first time I heard “Great Gig in the Sky,” and spent hours listening to the album through headphones.

I did my share over the years to keep Dark Side on the Billboard charts for 917 weeks, first buying it on cassette (probably wore out more than one), then on LP and eventually on CD. I was initially disappointed with the follow up album Wish You Were Here, and did not buy it until the ’90s, but have grown quite fond of it over the years. To date I haven’t acquired any other works of Pink Floyd, and have only heard “Another Brick in the Wall” on the radio, and bits and pieces of “Comfortably Numb” only in the last few years.






Brit Floyd came to my attention a couple of years ago when I happened across a couple of YouTube videos, and thought it would be a neat show to see. I’m currently in Corpus Christi for work and staying with my son Ryan and his family, and it came to my attention, only a couple of days before the show, that the band was coming to town. Judging by the size of the crowds apparent in their YouTube videos, I was surprised a show of this magnitude would come to such a small city. Equally surprising, tickets were dirt cheap – a bit over $50 each. You can’t lose at that price, so I decided to take my son to see the show. Ryan is even nominally less of a fan than I am, but some years back when we listened to Wish You Were Here together, he thought “We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl” was the best song lyric he’d ever heard. (My personal favorite is, “And then one day you find / ten years have got behind you...”)

The Selena Auditorium in the American Bank Center is a great little venue that only seats about 2500 and, according to Wiki, is renowned for its superb acoustics. It also has a state-of-the art line-array sound system. My wife and I saw Chicago there a few months ago and it was a great show. (I’ll drive to Corpus Christi any day for a concert, before I’ll brave the traffic and crowds typical of the venues back home in Houston, not to mention the expensive parking 1/4-mile away.)

I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of younger people there. A couple sitting behind us appeared to be teenagers. Our seats were 15-20 rows from the stage and a bit off center-of-house. A great place to be, because it was apparent from the first song that Brit Floyd was giving us a stereo mix. Something to keep in mind if you decide to catch this concert: You don’t want to be on the far left or right in the auditorium.

The show opened with a couple of tunes from Division Bell. Naturally I wasn’t familiar with either but thought it was great stuff. Next the band performed “Welcome to the Machine” from Wish You Were Here. For maximum effect, the band made use of the cool stereo sound effects that open the track on the album.

I’ll have to digress here and mention that barely into the first song, one couldn’t help but notice: The light show was nothing short of spectacular! According to Brit Floyd’s web site, the band strives to “Faithfully [recreate] the scale and pomp of the final 1994 Division Bell tour, complete with [a] circle screen and multiple moving light designs [and] lasers...”, and further claiming that “...a Brit Floyd show really is as close as fans will ever get to experiencing the magnificence of a Pink Floyd show live. ” As mentioned, I’ve never seen a Pink Floyd concert, but I can’t imagine that the lighting they had back in 1994 (when intelligent stage lighting was still in its infancy) could remotely approach the sophistication and technology available today, with computer-controlled LCD projectors, and laser- and LED-based luminaires.






After “Welcome to the Machine,” the band played a few more songs, including “Another Brick in the Wall.” The first half of the show closed with Dark Side of the Moon’s Side Two medley – “Us and Them,” “Any Colour You Like,” Brain Damage” and “Eclipse.” Sideman Jay Davidson was probably the hardest working musician on the stage, switching out at various times during the evening between percussion, keyboards, acoustic guitar and saxophone.

By this time, with a good number of tunes I was familiar with “under the belt,” I was duly impressed with the band’s ability to not only recreate the songs virtually note for note (with some embellishment as you’d expect to see with a live performance), but also their ability to recreate the sound of the guitars and keyboards on the albums. Especially the former. In other words, the guitar parts sounded like the same instruments that David Gilmour used on the recordings. I view this as something pretty remarkable – none of Chicago’s subsequent guitarists have ever replicated Terry Kath’s unique sound.

After a brief intermission, Brit Floyd returned to the stage with several more unfamiliar songs (for those interested, I think the set list for the CC show is pretty much the same as the one seen here), before returning to Dark Side of the Moon with the medley of “Time” and “Breathe (Reprise).” As the last refrains of “Breathe” faded away, the lights dramatically faded to black for several seconds. Then, keyboardist Thomas Ashbrook began the opening chords of “The Great Gig in the Sky.” I was stunned – I couldn’t believe they were actually going to attempt to pull off this song! Guitarist Damian Darlington manned the pedal steel guitar for the beautiful introduction, and at the right moment Spanish backing vocalist Angela Cervantes stepped up to the mic and wailed away.

What can I say? She absolutely nailed it – it was magnificent and brilliant beyond words! The whole house was on their feet by the time she was finished, the only song to get a standing ovation the whole night. I must say, it was the highlight of the show – it still practically moves me to tears just thinking about it. That one song and the light show were easily worth three times the price of admission! Ms. Cervantes is apparently a humble lady in addition to being an first-class vocalist: She took her bows, yet constantly and graciously waved towards the band, over and over, to give them recognition, as the audience applause for her performance went on and on.






Once the crowd calmed down, Brit Floyd broke into “Money.” On this one there was substantial deviation from the template, most of which was very good. The band then took a toned-down and somber mood with “Wish You Were Here” (the tune my son had been waiting for), followed by “Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-VIII).”

Once again, the band’s ability to closely replicate the sounds of the guitars from the original recording added greatly to the experience. I expect this may be something a tribute band would take more seriously than even the original band would, since it’s possible they might use instruments in the studio that they would not want to subject to the abuse and rigors of the road.

The Floyd (can I call them that?) closed out the second set with a rousing rendition of “Comfortably Numb.” I’m not sure how closely Damian Darlington’s guitar solo tracked David Gilmour’s, because I’m not real familiar with that song (I know, I know, I need to do something about that, don’t I?), but it seemed to go on for a really long time. In any event, it was a positively smashing solo (to borrow from our British friends), another highlight of the evening.

Would that the band had ended the night on that positive note. Unfortunately, they encored with a couple of songs from The Wall and Final Cut that were basically just noise. Admittedly a big reason for that assessment is that I’d never heard them before. But another reason is that the low end in the room was simply undefined mush. The bass line is essentially what defines a song’s chord progression, and without that foundation it’s difficult to determine the song’s direction, especially when the backing accompaniment is a thick “wall of sound,” such as you often have with an up-tempo song in a live performance.






Indeed, this is my only complaint with the show. Basically, bass player Ian Cattell might as well have left his guitars back in England. “Money” was about the only song the whole night where I could hear a defined bass line, and then only barely. Granted, this problem can often be attributed to a room’s acoustics. But when the bass part from background music played during the intermission is fairly discernable, it says the problem lies with the sound engineer’s inability to properly EQ each channel to clear up the “mud.”

However, the low-end problem, irritating as it was to a guy who plays bass, can’t detract from the fact that this was an absolutely stellar concert, probably the best I have ever attended. At the risk of being redundant, the light show in itself was worth the price of admission – you could bring a deaf friend and they would have a memorable evening. I’m not kidding in the slightest.

If the Immersion Tour comes anywhere near your town, you owe it to yourself to see it, even if you’re only a “nominal” Pink Floyd fan like me. I certainly plan to see this show anytime Brit Floyd comes to Corpus Christi, from now on. I certainly have a new appreciation for Pink Floyd, and I definitely see some new CDs in my future, probably everything post Wish You Were Here for starters (sorry people, I don’t download). Being more familiar with the material can only insure that I will enjoy the next show even more.

By the way, a must-have item for any concert goer is a pair of Etymotic Research ear plugs. They reduce the sound level to something comfortable, with no loss in fidelity as you have with foam plugs. They do color the sound a bit, but it’s an acceptable tradeoff to ensure you’ll be able to enjoy concerts for decades to come.


Screenshots from YouTube, courtesy of TheTonebear

Unfortunately, they haven't come back here. I'll keep an eye on their schedule - maybe I can catch them in San Antonio or down in the Rio Grand Valley.

Scatch that second option - there probably aren't enough Floyd fans down there to fill a junioir high auditorium. LOL

Regards,
Wayne