If you’ve caught a show by Roger Waters or David Gilmour in recent years, you know the format comprised music from a new solo release paired with songs from Pink Floyd’s “classic” era, i.e. The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Gilmour has a slight advantage of drawing material from Floyd’s post-Waters period, i.e., A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and The Division Bell. While both have covered earlier Pink Floyd songs, they know very few in the audience are all that familiar with the band’s body of work before 1973. Or maybe they just wanted to leave it to Nick Mason. In 2018, the band’s drummer and only member to appear on all of Pink Floyd’s albums formed Saucerful Of Secrets, and together they delved deeply into the group’s early years. Live At The Roundhouse reveals the startling results.
Taken from two May 2019 sold-out shows performed at the London venue (where Pink Floyd played on October 15, 1966, at the International Times launch party), Live At The Roundhouse encapsulates Pink Floyd’s formative period with precision and minute attention to detail. In terms of visual and aural playback, anything less than a totally immersive Pink Floyd experience wouldn’t work. Director James Tonkin had to be mindful of that when he brought in the crew to film the Roundhouse shows because the sound and video, facilitated by a flow of bubbling psychedelic lights on the backdrop, are absolutely breathtaking. It was left to Mason, guitarist Gary Kemp, bassist Guy Pratt, guitarist Lee Harris and keyboardist Dom Beken to live up to the music and deliver. On that note, they scored a touchdown.
They hit the ground running with three songs from the Syd Barrett era — “Interstellar Overdrive,” “Astronomy Domine,” and “Lucifer Sam” — and the response is immediate. Mason’s Cheshire grin beams as they fall into “Fearless,” a David Gilmour gem from 1971’s Meddle album. An array of colorful lights wash over the audience — mostly weathered blokes who likely saw their fair share of Pink Floyd shows — as the transformation takes hold. Kemp, a founding member of new wave band Spandau Ballet, and Pratt, Pink Floyd’s bassist in the late 80s and 90s, trade off on the lead vocals. Beken does his best to enhance Rick Wright’s keyboard work, while Harris and Kemp balance the intricate guitar parts like trapeze artists.
In between songs, there’s historical Floyd footage for context and commentary from Saucerful of Secrets members. In one sequence, we learn that Lee Harris ran the idea of a Pink Floyd band by Pratt, who took it to Mason. Once Kemp and Beken joined in, a chemistry developed and there was no turning back. With each subsequent number on Live At The Roundhouse, the collective ups its stride and your senses begin to tingle. More Syd Barrett songs — “Arnold Layne,” “Vegetable Man,” “See Emily Play,” and “Bike” — pop in and out as prime nuggets like “Obscure By Clouds,” “If,” “Atom Heart Mother” and “Childhood’s End” are unearthed to bake minds and mystify the assembled. As the angelic chorus of “Saucerful Of Secrets” gives way to “Point Me To The Sky,” one must simply submit to the fact that it’s over.
Originally scheduled for release in April but pushed to September due to the coronavirus pandemic, Live At The Roundhouse can be had digitally, as a double CD/DVD package, a double- vinyl set, and on Blu-ray Disc. To appreciate its full assault, you’ll likely want the DVD or Blu-ray for your home theater. Sonically, all formats provide the adequate ear candy that’ll make you miss concerts more than ever. Once things get back to normal, we can only hope Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets will feel the motivation to regroup and play more shows.
~ Shawn Perry
