A SAUCERFUL OF UNVEILED SECRETS
A few years ago, after seeing both David Gilmour and Roger Waters in concert, I wrote a post commenting about how seeing both shows would give Pink Floyd fans the best of both worlds, as a reunion seems very unlikely. Since then, a new picture entered this frame and turned out to be quite a surprise. I’m talking about Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets, the band put together by Pink Floyd’s drummer Nick Mason to bring out his take on that legendary songbook.
I recently saw them live and I was literally blown away. While Gilmour and Waters put up big shows that can generally draw a lot of casual fans, Mason’s act is more of a hardcore thing, as it celebrates a part of Pink Floyd’s history, namely the earliest, that rarely finds much space in his old mates’ setlists. All the songs performed are from the 1966-72 era: no ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, no later hits, but many deep cuts, including plenty from the Syd Barrett days. To put it in perspective, many of these tunes hadn’t been performed live by any Pink Floyd members for 50+ years before these guys revisited them.
Mason’s cohorts include two very familiar faces, like Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp on guitar and vocals and Guy Pratt on bass and vocals. Pratt has a long history with Pink Floyd, having been their bass player since the late 80’s and then he’s also been part of Gilmour’s solo band. Furthermore, he played on the first and only album by one-off band Toy Matinee, to this day one of the records I’ve listened to the most in my life. The line-up is then rounded by two musicians I wasn’t familiar with, guitarist Lee Harris and keyboardist Dom Beken, both definitely solid.
The songs come out reinvigorated and quite hard rocking, with loud guitars, and Mason himself never misses a beat, also delivering some nice stage banter between the songs. Some called these guys a deluxe cover band and, while technically not far from the truth, it’s also unfair. Their show is a lesson in history and the final missing piece to get as close as possible to a full Pink Floyd live experience today; the perfect complement to what Waters and Gilmour have been doing for years. And it’s delivered in such a tasteful and respectful way that you can’t help but root for them.
