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09/08/2015
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Review: Australian Pink Floyd Show shines on for Labor Day weekend concert

The Australian Pink Floyd Show at Irvine Amphitheater

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“Remember when you were young...” The timeless lyrics of Pink Floyd echoed through the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater (formerly the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater) on Sunday night, as the world-famous Australian Pink Floyd Show brought California fans the sights and sounds of Pink Floyd’s greatest hits.

The Australian Pink Floyd Show, now entering their 27th year of existence, have earned a reputation for being much more than a simple tribute band. Their full scale production includes lights, lasers and even a nod to the famous flying pig. The band’s guitarists and vocals faithfully reproduce every nuance of Floyd’s music, nailing the studio overdubs as well as the live improvisations added by David Gilmour in the band’s later years to offer the closest possible replication of the true Pink Floyd experience.

The Irvine amphitheater was somewhat undersold for Sunday night’s show, unsurprising for a holiday weekend which saw the majority of Los Angeles trying to get out of town, but that simply added intimacy for the several thousand Floyd fans in attendance. Irvine doesn’t have a bad seat in the house, and the magic of the music could be felt in every corner and on the smiles of every fan’s face.

The band opened with The Wall’s In The Flesh and followed with Astronomy Domine, but it was Shine On You Crazy Diamond that really brought the show up to an ethereal level, featuring a stunning saxophone solo to go along with the melancholy tune. Fans continued to swoon for a hard-hitting Time, and then collectively lost their minds as the band followed directly into Great Gig In The Sky. The group’s three female vocalists traded off on the high pitched vocal solos to wild, almost unbelieving applause.

What Do You Want From Me and Keep Talking were visited next, a surprising foray into the Gilmour-led era of the band’s music and ones that not many other tribute acts often play. Guitarist Steve Mac worked his talkbox on Keep Talking, in absolute harmony with the rest of the vocals, and reminded us all that there is much more to the Pink Floyd legend than simply Another Brick In The Wall.

Thus, the band immediately followed with the entire Happiest Days Of Our Lives/Another Brick In The Wall sequence, breaking out custom animation and a massive 50 foot tall Schoolmaster puppet that danced on the side of the stage. Shouts of “we don’t need no education!” rang out from every section as fans sang along to the pop megahit and cheered along all the way through the final keyboard solo.

The night continued with the “best of Pink Floyd,” as the band delivered a soulful Wish You Were Here, featuring green laser lights vibrating in time with the plucked guitar strings. The heavy metal-esque One Of These Days absolutely crushed with overdriven sonic force and a giant inflatable kangaroo (an Australian take on the famous flying pig), and led into Comfortably Numb, arguably the finest moment of any Pink Floyd concert. The magical song, and especially its iconic, face-melting guitar solo, brought every last fan to their feet where they would remain for the night’s final song, the anthemic, fist-pumping Run Like Hell.

If there’s one complaint to be made about Sunday night’s show, it’s that the 12 song setlist was far too short for a band of this talent and magnitude. Most previous Aussie Floyd tours offered two full sets on the night, but this run featured fellow tribute act Led Zeppelin 2 as an opening act, reducing the headlining set to only 90 minutes.

Otherwise, it was yet another perfect night of Pink Floyd music with APFS. With the cool night air in Irvine’s beautifully-built amphitheater, the music of David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright has never sounded better. Older fans relived their memories of the band while younger fans perhaps experienced the majesty of live Floyd for the first time, and all in attendance walked out with smiles on their face and a bounce in their step. humming their favorite chorus or melody.

There are several other notable Pink Floyd tribute acts that tour nationwide, including New York City’s The Machine and Brit Floyd, a group which splintered off from the Aussies a few years back. But none even come close to offering the over-the-top production, visuals, song depth and massive sonic tapestry painted every night by the Australian Pink Floyd Show. The group has established themselves as simply the best in the business, and exist on a higher tier that’s second only to the original Pink Floyd themselves. Next time AFPS comes to town, you better run to see them.