Nick
Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets
by Pete Clemons
There wasn’t much chat from the stage. But
there was an awful lot of enjoyment and plenty of smiles. After around the
third song Nick Mason gave a brief introduction of the band and mentioned that
he was not going to keep getting up from his drum stool after every song to
explain things. If you had any questions, ask the person standing next to you. Although
I did hear him mention that, if it all goes wrong, you can blame the Australian
Roger Waters band.
This was a rare and unique opportunity to
experience Pink Floyds celebrated and significant early body of work played
live. It included songs from albums ‘The Piper At The Gates of Dawn’ and ‘A
Saucerful Of Secrets’.
In interviews leading up to this gig Nick Mason
had mentioned that ‘We’re not a tribute band’ and ‘It’s not important to play
the songs exactly as they were, but to capture the spirit’.
And it really was great fun indeed.
Particularly, from a personal point of view, a unique opportunity to hear songs
that I had never heard live before. I clearly remember from my youth, songs
like ‘See Emily Play’ and ‘The Scarecrow’. But my own live experiences of Pink
Floyd came a few years after the Syd Barrett era. Like many, Pink Floyd has
been with me for a great deal of my entire life and this was an unmissable
opportunity.
Syd Barrett was, once, very much the leader of
this group. His distinctive lead guitar gave Pink Floyd their early identity.
His song writing gave them success in the singles charts during the first half
of 1967 and ten of the eleven songs on the groups debut LP were his.
In addition to Nick Mason on drums the
five-piece, known as Saucerful of Secrets, also includes Gary Kemp of Spandau
Ballet, former Pink Floyd bassist Guy Pratt, The Blockheads guitarist
Lee Harris, and music producer and composer Dom Beken.
The set list, listed below, was from a time
well before ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. And there was a wonderful tip of the hat
towards Richard Wright who was remembered when the band played a version of ‘A
Saucerful of Secrets’ that concentrated on the ‘Celestial Voices’ section.
Interstellar
Overdrive
Astronomy
Domine
Lucifer
Sam
Fearless
Obscured
by Clouds
When
you’re in
Arnold
Layne
The
Nile Song
Green
is the Colour
Let
There be More Light
Set
the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (truncated version)
See
Emily Play
Bike
One
of These Days
Encores:
A
Saucerful of Secrets (truncated version)
Point
Me at the Sky
The
enthusiasm generated by the musicians on stage clearly filtered through to the
audience who loved every second of this concert. Nick Mason was right about not
playing the songs exactly as they were, because they were not. And I felt that
it made the gig all the more better for that. It wasn’t quite the same vibe you
got at happenings 50 years ago; those days are sadly long gone. Everybody was
stood up for starters and audiences are not quite as laid back nowadays as they
once were. But that didn’t detract, it was merely an observation. This was
indeed a wonderful celebration.
Nice review. Looking forward to the Glasgow show more than ever now.
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