Brit Floyd at Stage AE
All photos ©2015 Steve Kalinsky
An Evening with Brit Floyd
by
Frank Harrington III
On August 28, 2015, I had the tremendous honor and privilege of attending the outdoor, debut, Brit Floyd concert at Stage AE on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Brit Floyd is the ultimate global tribute band who replicates Pink Floyd’s music and presentation with impeccable authenticity. The entire experience they put forth was majestic, amazing, and dignified. Their fist-pumping magic came in waves of thunderous sound like a jukebox from Heaven.
The evening was entertainment excellence at its finest except for one mistake – I took my grandfather, Frank Harrington Sr., to the show with me.
For openers, grandpa, sweating profusely in a powder-blue leisure suit with corduroy elbow patches, did not like his seat because there were no arm rests. To make matters worse, he was highly offended by the price of a beer. He said, loud enough to be heard over the band, “For that amount of money, I could’ve taken my whole family to see Milton Berle at the Holiday House with dinner to boot.”
When Brit Floyd opened with Shine on You Crazy Diamond, moved forward with See Emily Play, and then dove headlong into the classic Another Brick in the Wall, grandpa said, “These guys sound a lot like Pink Floyd.”
I replied, “Grandpa, I explained in the car that we’ve come to see Brit Floyd, a Pink Floyd tribute band.”
A young woman in her fifties, sitting in front of us, wearing a Steelers Blast Furnace tee-shirt, turned around and asked, “Isn’t Damian Darlington awesome? He moves just like Gilmore.”
I replied, “Rob Stringer, Ian Cattell, Edo Scordo, Arran Ahmun, Thomas Ashbrook, they’re all brilliant. I’m looking forward to Ola Bienkowska’s vocals on The Great Gig in the Sky. They are mesmerizing.”
Grandpa yelled back, “I’ll tell you who was awesome. Wayne Newton before he sold his soul to the Devil with that Danke Schoen crap!”
Suddenly, Brit Floyd broke into a stirring and spot-on rendition of Time. As bells and clock noises reverberated throughout the starry night, grandpa kept trying to answer his giant cell phone.
Intermission soon came and to my great surprise, grandpa pulled out a funny-looking cigarette, showed it to me, and then whispered, “This will keep us comfortably numb.”
I said, “Grandpa, you cannot do that here.”
Grandpa ignored me and flamed on with the young woman sitting in front of us, much to the consternation of her male companion.
Three minutes later, Brit Floyd returned to the stage and broke into the hypnotic, bass-driven, One of These Days. As with their entire performance, the music was masterful, the musicianship was magnificent, and my overall opinion of Brit Floyd could not be more positive and enthusiastic.
On the car ride home, grandpa turned to me with a coy smile and said, “These cats were better than Blink 182. When’s our next show?”
Set List:
Shine on you crazy diamond parts 1-5
See Emily play
Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall Part 2
Keep Talking
On the turning away
Time
Great Gig in the Sky
Sheep
Intermission
One of these days
Louder than words
Money
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Have a cigar
Wish you were here
The Final Cut
Comfortably Numb
Show must go on
In the flesh
Run like hell
Waiting for the worms
Stop
The trial
Outside the wall