Wife walks into kitchen this morning while I'm making coffee...

"Guess what?"
"Eh, what?"
"Brit Floyd is coming!"

(she saw it on her Facebook "Wall" this morning, whatever that is)...

http://www.britfloyd.com/tour-dates/198-north-america-2016

Oh boy!
Oh boy!
Oh boy!
Oh boy!
Oh boy!

Little Rock (Jun 12th), Atlanta (Jun 18th) and Houston (Jun 27th) are the closest to me, or maybe visit Jax (Jun 20th).

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn...DAMN!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVWHItGgrdE



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYySRcY9JDQ



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L01ObzqgOqo

Woooooot!

Checked for scheduling conflicts, researched traveling distances, prices and especially acoustics...

Decided on Houston, the Revention Music Center. Our seats are 3rd row balcony, center stage! Place is small, judging by the virtual tour our seats should be great...

https://tour.lcp360.com/nocache/bayou/

Little Rock would have been twice as expensive ($77.00 vs. $35.75) and in a much larger arena (Verizon Arena), although the distance would have been about the same ~270 miles. Birmingham, AL was also in the running, but at that distance I'd probably just continue to Atlanta.

Check it out, Side 1 for this tour is "Meddle", plus they're still playing "Echoes", a band/crowd favorite. "Fearless" is an old favorite of mine, looking forward to it.

I assume this one will start the show...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ-izqXP5PA

But I also expect to hear plenty post-Waters stuff as well...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU5Wme_Y3DA

Also added to this tour by popular demand, the title track to "The Final Cut". Oh hell yeah! I kinda wish this would be the Side 1 this time, maybe next tour.

These guys have no opening act and play a really long show so the popular hits are covered as well.

I am so impressed by this band! They really do it right! I hope you enjoy the show!

Thanks, letterboy1. Our Shuffles are now full of Floyd, lots of anticipation for this show. We saw the real thing in '94, but without Roger and with several additional musicians on stage, even the real PF seemed like half a tribute band to me. It's all good though, at least this time we won't be on the opposite end of a football stadium.

Wife and I haven't had a weekend away just the two of us since seeing Rush in Orlando, so we're really looking forward to it. Also keeping watch for our next ballet, not much happening in town right now, same with the symphony.

I like the post-Waters Floyd just as much as the Waters-era Floyd. Of course it's not quite the same but to say that it seemed like a half tribute band is a bit harsh IMHO.

I think PF managed much better after losing a critical member of the band compared to most other bands like Queen or Toto.

Yeah, I have to agree with you PM, I honestly feel like I saw PF in '94 vs. half a tribute band. I think it helped that I was so far back that I couldn't really see who was on stage, it wasn't until I watched the DVD that I realized how many extras were up there. But still, 3 out of 4 [members] ain't bad.

I also can't complain about the '94 setlist (all of Dark Side of the Moon, most of The Division Bell and all the other hits) and I revisit it on occasion (see pic below).

...but with Brit Floyd, I'll get to hear songs the real PF would have never played in '94 or beyond, like this one (another one from Animals)...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2RALs-uTI0


Man, I hope I get a nostalgic whiff of the good stuff when this starts...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skN_Uo4fki0

Here's a cool promo video...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlIVRqU_T3I

I'll also like to add that I'm not a fan of the Syd Barrett era of Pink Floyd. I listened to their first 2 albums a couple of times but I just couldn't get into them. I just found the songs to be too psychedelic and odd.

MarkG, I hope that Brit Floyd is a sign of things to come. There are lots of tribute bands out there, but none (that I know of) who commit to this level of quality in terms of musicianship and visuals - in other words, fidelity to the Pink Floyd shows that they are honoring.

I hope it begins to catch on eventually with other musical treasures which, although we still consider them contemporary, will all too soon become history. A hundred years from now I hope there are still bands who faithfully recreate the concert/album experiences of Led Zeppelin, Genesis, or The Beatles, etc . . . very much the same way we can still enjoy high quality professional performances of Mozart, Beethoven, or Wagner compositions.

Less than one week away (next Monday evening). I'm anticipating this concert as much as a Rush concert (except maybe Time Machine 2010 - their absolute best, IMO).

I'm still having serious Rush withdrawal, but there's new Molly Ringwalds dates coming up and a friend pointed me to other local 80's bands (e.g. The Chee-Weez). Some play more rock/power ballads (that Styx/REO/Journey/Foreigner sappy #%&*$# Linebacker hates! ).

But for now it's all Pink Brit Floyd, baby!

Unfortunately the woman in the first video retired from Brit Floyd in April to have a baby.

One of her replacements (two women alternate, I've read the other is just as good if not better)...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3xc5H_N8ds


IMO, simply outstanding performances by these women, I find the above hard to differentiate from the original.

++++++++++

Going to spend Saturday walking the French Quarter listening to Jazz, then off to Houston. The Molly Ringwalds will be playing at the House of Blues in Houston right next to the Revention Music Center where Brit Floyd is playing, but not on the same weekend (two weeks later). That would have been the ultimate concert weekend!

I'm still high from last night's show, and not just from the second-hand pot we smelled during "Echoes"!

Lots of details coming tomorrow, with a few pics.

I'm going to break this up into three parts:

+ Pre-concert
+ Concert
+ Post-concert

I still have concert notes to go through so I'll write about it later this evening. I'm going to try to keep non-related (concert and music) stuff to a minimum, but I am going to have a little bit of this as well (from a Lamborghini to Cajun culture).

++++++++++

So here we go with pre-concert...

Leaving home and heading for Houston, my parents left our home at the same time we did so they saw us off. (1st pic)

Nice first dinner, we took out our niece (lives in Katy - west of Houston) and her best friend. We lodged and stayed in the CityCentre area for the first couple of days. We were going to New Orleans before heading for Houston but changed our minds, we're going to make a full concert weekend of N.O. at a later time.

We had dinner at Ruggles Green and enjoyed some interesting dinner conversation. I told our niece and her friend (both in their mid-20's) how we've been seeing this 80's cover band called The Molly Ringwalds. They look at each other, she pulls out her phone and shows me a pic of �Pee-wee Herman� (considered their lead singer, I believe) with his wife and newborn. She's Facebook friends with his wife or something. I was just impressed that 20-somethings even knew who the Ringwalds were and go to their shows (80's music rules!). Her friend ask me if I'd heard of The Chee-Weez (another 80's band, I mentioned them here recently). She was trying to date their sound guy.

We finished dinner and headed for the hotel, taking her recommendation where to stay (Candlewood Suites at CityCentre).

At the Borders Bookstore in CityCentre, vinyl and bookstores are rare these days. (2nd pic)

Moving right along to Monday evening, about to leave the hotel for the Revention Music Center, about a 20 min. drive to downtown. (3rd pic)

Connected to the Revention Music Center is a Hard Rock Cafe (I thought it was House of Blues, but that's a few blocks away) where we were going to eat a light second dinner before the concert. Instead we ate at seafood/sushi restaurant on the other side of the arena (all under one roof).

It was GOOD (a soda is a rare splurge for me these days)! (4th and 5th pics)

<I haven't weighed myself since getting home and I'm not going to for awhile. I'll be posting a little about that tomorrow on the Diet and Fitness thread.>

The doors to the arena were just a few steps away from our table and it was getting close to showtime! Next I'll post a concert review with pics.

Looking forward to it!

SHOWTIME!

Let's start with the set-list (the order we remember is in bold, concert lasted about three hours with a 20 min.
intermission)...

==========
House lights fade and stage video starts with an empty rowboat on water...

Signs of Life (MLoR)
Learning to Fly (MLoR)
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (WYWH)

Money (DSotM)
High Hopes (TDB)
Terminal Frost (MLoR)
Us and Them (DSotM)
Poles Apart (TDB)
Another Brick In The Wall (TW)

<Intermission>

Echoes (M)

Pigs (Three Different Ones) (A)
Empty Spaces/Dirty Woman (TW)
One of These Days (M)
Yet Another Movie/Round and Around (MLoR)

Time (DSotM)
The Great Gig in the Sky (DSotM)
Comfortably Numb (TW)
Wish You Were Here (WYWH)
Run Like Hell (TW)
==========

Not *exactly* what I was expecting with the set-list (I was mistaken, no full A-Side this time) but no complaints. By far one of the best concerts I've (we've) ever seen, sound was great, band was great, stage show was spectacular! For $35.00 (X2), the best value ever for a live performance. We'd do again in a heartbeat, in fact we plan to!



See more crappy iPhone 4S pics below...

+ Comfortably Numb (5th pic) had the disco ball ascending like at the real PF concert (cool)!

+ Echoes was the highlight of the show IMO, the weird middle part (shortened only slightly) had a creepy blue fogged stage similar to the Giselle ballet - second act (pics didn't come out). The fast guitar playing towards the end of the song was synched perfectly with the lasers, spreading out over the floor audience (right under the balcony seating), really cool! The lighting/lasers were timed perfectly to the music for the entire show, of course.

+ Only time I got a whiff of pot was during Echoes.

+ I can't really complain about our seats (third row balcony and centered) but I guess I wouldn't have minded being a *little* closer to the stage. The floor is flat however and with temporary chairs, the balcony is comfortable with larger chairs and cup holder armrests, so I dunno.

+ These guys are a class act, signing autographs after the show for whoever wanted to stand in line. Meh, I thought about it but I was ready to get back to the hotel.

+ Holy crap this was a freggin' awesome concert!


If I think of anything else about the concert, I'll edit this post. Next post will be post-concert Houston and my drive home.

Leaving Houston and coming home, my third and final pics post...

Yesterday (Tuesday) we checked out of the hotel at ~9AM and headed for The Galleria Mall, famous many years ago for being one of the first mega-malls, I believe. Lots of renovations, still filled with high-end retailers (Rolex, Prada, Gucci, Armani, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, etc.) Unfortunately, these kinda malls usually don't have a Spencer Gifts (now called Spencer's) nor did I see any music stores (rare, but some still exist).

They did have a *huge* Victoria's Secret and it's very different than what it use to be in the late 80's/early 90's. All sizes and ages welcomed (reflected by other customers and *especially* by the employees). Cool.

Anyway, no surprise to see one of these parked outside. (1st and 2nd pics)

When my wife was around 10 or so, her family (siblings and cousins) would pile in her uncle's school bus, make a trip to Houston and spend the day at The Galleria ice skating. (3rd pic)

We had breakfast at a French caf� called "La Madeleine" overlooking the ice rink. I had Eggs Benedict, wife had a Quiche. Wait, aren't these English dishes?

Posting this pic to show that I don't *always* dress in a concert t-shirt! (4th pic)

Saying farewell to Houston. (5th pic)

...and a few hours later, hello to the bayou (Lafayette, Louisiana - the heart of Acadiana). (pics 6 - 9)

You *know* you're in the bayou when even the rain can't keep a nun from getting a big fried seafood poboy! (10th pic)

Gotta love the Cajun charm. (11th pic)

...as well as the food (my poboy is fried shrimp, wife's is roast beef [we split for variety], I passed on the oyster since we're not in a month with an "r" in it). (12th pic)

These kinda places are everywhere (town where my wife's father was born, she's a *real* Coonass, even the accent)! (13th pic)

Crossing the Mississippi River and only ~45 min. from home! That's the "Old Bridge", if you've ever seen Richard Pryor's "The Toy" (also Jackie Gleason, Ned Beatty) you've seen it, usually orange but it's being painted. (14th pic)

We have GOT to do this again one day, maybe see Brit Floyd in a city we've never been to! I am glad to be back home though, as long as I stay away from the fried seafood.

thanks for the report and glad you guys had a great time

edit: Holy S!, just looked at the tour schedules (below), wow, is there just the one band or are there multiple groups?
Just looking at that tour schedule makes me feel for the roadies (and the band members) they are touring their ass off



USA 2016 - http://www.britfloyd.com/tour-dates/198-north-america-2016
Europe 2016 - http://www.britfloyd.com/tour-dates/201-europe-2016

I believe there's two major Pink Floyd tribute bands, the first one was Australian Pink Floyd. A few years back a couple of the Aussies (arguably the best talent) wanted to tour North America while the others did not. So they broke away from Australian Pink Floyd and formed Brit Floyd.

EDIT: Brit Floyd is best known for their musicianship, Australian Pink Floyd for their stage/light show. Brit invested over a million dollars on their new stage show, some of it reflected in my pics vs. the older videos.

About the members...
http://www.britfloyd.com/the-band

Damian Darlington (Gilmour) is head honcho and Ian Cattell (Waters) is right behind him. Edo Scordo recently replaced Bobby Harrison (the left-handed guitarist you see in the Red Rocks videos) who moved on to another gig (I read for a big name, not yet announced). I noticed the drummer was different looking than the videos, although I believe they alternate some musicians.

I was concerned about Bobby Harrison not being in the band any longer but read that Damian Darlington and co. is only going to put the best musicians on stage and I believe it.

Being a tribute band it didn't matter so much to me that some of the people were different, as long as they sound like the real thing. They do, but mainly because of the voices of Damian and Ian, I believe.