This past Saturday night the Australian Pink Floyd show came to Portland's Keller Auditorium. The band's show has been heralded around the world as the closest to a live Pink Floyd set as you can possibly get, a fact that has been validated by the legendary band members themselves.
The band, made up of talented Aussies with a dedication to recreating some of Floyd's most beloved tunes quite flawlessly, brought a packed crowd of people that likely listened to Dark Side of the Moon in earphones when it first came out. Starting the first set with the epic "Shine on You Crazy Diamond Pt. 1", the band members slowly came to the stage. Keyboardist Jason Sawford was the first to the stage, starting the slow burn of the song as guitarist Steve Mac needled through the opening solo. The rhythm section of drummer Paul Bonney and bassist Colin Wilson were the next to come to the stage, arriving just in time for the rolling thunder right before the first verse.
Other guitarist David Domminey Fowler joined the band shortly after, playing some of the more memorable shredding from Floyd's catalog like to the famous solo on "Comfortably Numb", while singer Alex McNamara did his best David Gilmour impression throughout the sets. Also the amazing trio of women that sang backup to the band featured Lorelei Mc Broom, who often sang with Pink Floyd on their last tours without Roger Waters.
The band played a good range of tunes, dipping into a few older songs like "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "One of These Days", but mostly stuck to the band's final few album. The light show was of course solid, as you'd expect from a Floyd cover band, and there was even a couple of blow up animals and odd creatures that appeared on certain tunes.
Overall, for a Pink Floyd fan, you're not going to get any closer to seeing the real thing than this. These talented Aussies know their Floyd, and while a fan like I would have appreciated some deeper cuts in their catalog, it was still a fantastic experience that fans new and old could enjoy.