Just in time to celebrate the confirmation of gravitational waves, and with all eyes turned towards the heavens, Brit Floyd lands in the US with their Space and Time Continuum, World Tour 2016!
On the heels of its hugely successful 146 concert date tour around the globe in 2015, Brit Floyd, who is considered to be the world's greatest Pink Floyd Show, will be here, to share a journey of fifty years of Pink Floyd. They promise to play from the huge catalogue of music, performing favorites from The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall and The Division Bell. This year they are performing their rendition of Echoes, in its entirety, from the landmark album Meddle.
I was fortunate to be in the audience at the Beacon Theater last year. As our universe opens up in all directions, The Wall symbol seems even more instructive as we contemplate Donald Trump's plans for US borders. Then there is the subject of the Berlin Wall in the film Bridge of Spies and the highly politicized walls of old Jerusalem. With this in mind, I spoke to musical director, lead vocalist and guitarist Damian Darlington about their upcoming tour.
N: I loved the show last year... was blown away. What can we expect in 2016?
Damian: It's a continuation of last year's theme, celebrating fifty years of Pink Floyd. We'll play a representative set list of their career, bringing in new songs and songs not done in a while, like Echo, the whole side of the original metal album.
We're playing four songs never done before. We really want people to have the chance to experience the music live.
N: Where have you felt the greatest reception?
Damian: USA is top on the list...then there's Eastern Europe, Slovenia, Belarus, Bulgaria... and Lebanon. Five thousand people must demonstrate its universal appeal.
N: What makes it so universal?
Damian: Well, the quality of the songs, they're timeless; they don't age. The things being explored in the lyrics are truly timeless; the music is beautiful. What's being said...like in The Dark Side of the Moon...the themes are life and death and madness. It's not overtly political... they make general comments on life.
At this point, I brought up of Roger Waters, lyricist and co-founder of Pink Floyd. He has been political in a few arenas like UK hunting and global change and more recently making waves by backing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (DBS) movement against Israel. He has been called anti-Semitic by the director of the Anti-Defamation League and criticized Bon Jovi for performing in Israel. He insists that he is against Israel's treatment of Palestinians and not anti-Semitic.
N: So what about Roger Waters... will your show deal with his politics?
Damian: Roger Waters lost his father in the war and deals with his anti-war sentiments in The Wall and Final Cut. But that's his own feeling of having lost a father to war. We're about the music. I don't think it affects our concert. I've had no personal experience with that.
N: One of most exciting parts of your show last year was the visuals. The art and light show were amazing...what's happening this year?
Damian: Artist Bryan Kolupski will be on tour with us again. Very lucky.
Bryan Kolupski, an American artist, creates the phenomenal animation and videos for the backdrop screen.
N: How do you keep your energy up ...you really give the audience your all... an amazing output of musical skill, power and stagecraft.
Damian: Well, we're toughened living on the road. And lucky for us, it's still fun. And the music is great.
Brit Floyd will be at the Beacon Theatre on April 8 in New York City. See the websites for other dates around the country and Canada.
www.britfloyd.com
www.facebook.com/britfloydshow
www.youtube.com/britfloydshow
http://bk1productions.com/