As the Saucerful of Secrets approach the end of their North American tour, the band plays a more relaxed yet tighter sounding set… and host a special guest. Saucerful of Secrets has finally arrived in New York City and, as guitarist Lee Harris reminds us, it has been 13 years since Nicholas Berkeley Mason has pounded the skins in Gotham. As far as when he played here with Pink Floyd the first time, even Harris and Mason debate this on stage. All that matters to the crowd though, is that an actual member of Pink Floyd is here to play classic Pink Floyd, digging deep into the Syd Barrett era, and with a cast of musicians supporting Mason that even a former member of Pink Floyd swears sounds better than the original – but more on that later. As Mason says: this is not a tribute band but the real thing: Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets. Although the set list for the Saucerful of Secrets shows hasn’t really changed much since the first handful of pub shows in London last May, each venue and each audience impart a unique vibe. The band feeds off of that. This evening, the set kicks off as usual: with Interstellar Overdrive and Astronomy Domine. The two songs drench the audience in a sonic atmosphere The Beacon Theatre has served well over many years. The audience responds in kind: clapping, singing, and swaying to every note blissfully. But by the time the band starts playing Lucifer Sam, something takes over (considering the title, that might spook you out… but it’s a totally benign possession): they sound simultaneously relaxed and tight, their performance flowing through an undercurrent of muscle memory and collegial comfort while the smallest ad libs and accents on specific parts of the song begin to shape the performance into its uniqueness. Venues serve as different vessels for sound in such diverse ways too… during Lucifer Sam it’s hard to ignore Dom Beken’s keyboards: they really fill this theatre and weave the rest of the show together in a magical way that only the Beacon can afford to.
