Australian Pink Floyd Show
The Australian Pink Floyd Show (aka TAPFS) are a tribute band of Pink Floyd. Formed in 1988 in Adelaide, South Australia, they are considered by some to play shows that closely duplicate actual Pink Floyd concerts, and have become so popular that they do international Arena tours.[1]
Band Members
The band consists of:
- Paul Bonney - Drums
- Ian Cattell - Bass guitar,Vocals
- Damian Darlington - Guitar, vocals
- Steve Mac - Guitar, vocals
- Jason Sawford - Keyboards
- Colin Wilson - Bass guitar, vocals
- Mike Kidson-Saxophones
- Ola Bienkowska - Backing vocals
- Emily Gervers - Backing vocals
- Amy Smith - Backing vocals
- Jacquie Williams - Backing vocals
Additional Touring Members :
- Jamie Humphries - Guitar, North America 2006, 2007
- Carl Brunsdon-Saxophones
History
In 1993, the band flew from Australia to perform at the First International Pink Floyd Fan Convention at the Wembley Convention Centre. An event organised in conjunction with the Pink Floyd fanzine Brain Damage. The lineup consisted of 5 Adelaide musicians; Lee Smith, Grant Ross, Jason Sawford, Steve Mac and Colin Wilson. In January 1994 Guitarist Lee Smith retired from the band and was replaced by Damian Darlington. In 1998 drummer Grant Ross also retired from the group and was replaced by Paul Bonney. Since 2002 the band has expanded to include female backing singers and a saxophone player. Additional musicians have also been recruited to enable the band to fulfill its demanding and ever increasing worldwide tour schedule.
In 1994, David Gilmour attended an Australian Pink Floyd Show performance at The Fairfield Halls in Croydon . [2] He subsequently invited the band to attend the end of tour after-show party for The Division Bell tour at Earl's Court in London.[3]
They are the only Pink Floyd tribute act to play for any Pink Floyd member. In 1996, TAPFS performed at David Gilmour's 50th birthday. [4] They are the only Pink Floyd tribute act to have performed at the Royal Albert Hall, performing there on November 26th 2001, being joined with the choir from Islington Green School for a rendition of Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2. Roger Waters is reported to have attended this performance.
In 1994, the band appeared on Irish national television performing Young Lust on the chat show Kenny Live[5]
In 1998, the band played at the Glastonbury Festival on the acoustic stage.[6]
In 2003, the band performed The Dark Side of the Moon at the Liverpool Summer pops, King's Dock which was recorded and released as a DVD the following year.
In 2004, the band commenced a major tour of
In 2005, the band released a CD of live recordings of Animals and
Wish You Were Here again at the Liverpool Pops. In the same year the
band undertook a 2 week tour of South America consisting of dates in Mexico City,
In 2007, the band performed at several major European Music Festivals including the Sweden Rock Festival, Malta Jazz Festival[8], Arrow Rock Festival, Rock Werchter, and Festival do Sudoeste.
In September 2007, the group commenced its longest ever continuous tour of the Americas, performing for the first time in Panama, Venezuela and Chile. In the same month a performance of the show in Buenos Aires was aired on Argentinian national television as part of the Pepsi music festival[9]
Concept and Character of the Show
Their shows include not only music originally written by Pink Floyd, but also a psychedelic lightshow modeled after the lightshows used by Pink Floyd during their 1987 and 1994 world tours.[10] The show includes a round screen with intelligent lights arranged around the perimeter. During each 2½ hour concert, movies and animations are displayed on the screen while lights and lasers turn the stage and auditorium into a swirling mass of colour. Inflatables such as the pig used by Pink Floyd during the 1994 Division Bell tour and the band's own giant pink kangaroo are also used.[11]
The show employs much of its own imagery based on Floydian imagery but altered to include humorous australianisms and the use of the band's own trademark pink kangaroo, which appears on many of its posters and t shirts.[12][13]
The shows typically follow the format of one hour of music followed by a 20 minute intermission, resuming with another hour of music, often concluding with an encore of 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Run Like Hell'. Sometimes the band will play certain Pink Floyd albums in their entirety during a show, usually as a first set. To date they have performed in this format Dark Side of the Moon, Animals and Wish You Were Here. When not performing a specific album the band will perform songs from all periods of Pink Floyd's oeuvre including early material by Syd Barrett and longer songs such as Dogs and Echoes to later material from the albums The Wall, The Final Cut, Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell.
Recently the band has begun to include minor theatrics in some performances which presently consist of Ian Cattell sitting in an armchair watching television whilst singing Nobody Home, the action making an allusion to a scene in the film of The Wall
Other Information
The guitar rig of Steve Mac closely recreates David Gilmour's guitar set up including custom made elements made by Pete Cornish[14]
The show has also had associated with it , people who have worked with Pink Floyd over the years, including Colin Norfield who has worked as a sound engineer for David Gilmour for both his solo work and on the Division Bell tour[15][16], and also the drummer Clive Brooks as a drum technician. Brooks was also a founder member of the English progressive rock band Egg and was the drummer for the British blues band The Groundhogs
The saxophone player Mike Kidson is a former member of the Liverpool based band The Muffin Men and has also played with Dream Theater in a performance of Dark Side of the Moon[17]
There is a mention of TAPFS in the Rough Guide Music Series paperbacks called 'The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd' by Tony Manning. Published 31 August 2006
There is a mention of TAPFS in the book 'Pink Floyd' by Patrick Humphries.Published by Andre Deutsch Ltd 23 Sept 1997
The book 'Echoes - a complete history of Pink Floyd' is written by Glen Povey who managed the band in the early years of TAPFS in the UK (1993-1995)
In 2005 a documentary about the group was shot at the Bell Center in Montreal,Quebec and broadcast in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2007.[18]
References
- ^ * [1] Guardian Article on the tribute scene including interview with keyboardist of The Australian Pink Floyd Show.
- ^ http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/gilmourdotch.htm
- ^ http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2006140003-2007170069,00.html
- ^ http://www.cmpentertainment.com/index.php?action=display_artist_biog&artist_id=274&archive=0
- ^ The broadcast is featured on the 'TAPFS-Live at Liverpool' DVD which was recorded at the Liverpool Pops in 2004.
- ^ http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/glastonbury/1998/alpha.shtml
- ^ http://tpt.blogs.com/newsletter/2007/08/august-6---augu.html
- ^ http://www.maltajazzfest.com/Lineup2007.html
- ^ http://www.last.fm/event/278276
- ^ http://news.etnow.com/etnews.nsf/0/e6c515c8e895b122802572c6002f089f?OpenDocument
- ^ http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/live_reviews/s/1005/1005322_the_australian_pink_floyd_show__men_arena.html
- ^ http://www.aussiefloyd.com/
- ^ http://www.lpcexpress.org/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=650eabfb-1852-4c49-bafa-68c272a8d899
- ^ http://petecornish.co.uk/client.html
- ^ http://www.entec-soundandlight.com/news36.htm
- ^ http://72.30.186.56/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Australian+Pink+Floyd+britannia+Row&fr=slv8-acer&u=www.davidgilmour.com/press/april06/TotalProduction_April06.pdf&w=australian+pink+floyd+britannia+row&d=KIlGo-dmPcTS&icp=1&.intl=uk
- ^ http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/dream_theater_perform_pink_floyds_dark_side_of_the_moon.html
- ^ http://www.exn.ca/onTv/episode.asp?episode=61809689&TZ=1
- [2] Interview with Colin Wilson, bass player of The Australian Pink Floyd show
- Mojo Magazine August 2007. Interview with Colin Wilson and pictures at Cardiff International Arena.
See also
External links
- Aussie Floyd.com - the official Australian Pink Floyd Show website
- Unofficial Australian Pink Floyd Show website, notaussiefloyd.com Fan site and forum.
- [3] Link to Youtube clip of Royal Albert Hall Show in 2007
- [4] Pete Cornish Website
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