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Rock Concerts

Pink Floyd The Wall poster in #ILoveLive3 fundraiser

In its 25th year, Stagehand, the original live event production workers charity, is running the third of its Christmas fundraisers, #ILoveLive3. This year’s campaign recognises the immense challenges faced by the live event production industry and aims to provide crucial support to UK-based touring and festival crews dealing with serious physical or mental ill health. As ever, the fundraiser includes items from big names in music, from signed set lists to drum skins. Jonathan Higgs, frontman of art rock band Everything Everything, emphasised the crucial role crew members play in touring activities, stating, “Our crew are a vital part of our touring activities; we couldn’t do it without them. I’d encourage all live music fans to get involved and give back to the people behind the scenes.” Lighting Designer Tom Campbell of MIRRAD, who has worked with an array of high-profile bands, said that “research has found that touring professionals are 5-10 times more likely than the general population to experience mental health challenges, facing industry-specific challenges such as irregular sleep patterns, performance pressures, and demanding travel schedules: all of which contribute to the vulnerability of touring personnel to serious mental health issues.” #ILoveLive3 runs through Crowdfunder with tickets priced at £5 to remain accessible to all music fans. The prize draw is scheduled for Friday, January 5th 2024, when winners will be announced. Entries will close on Friday, December 22nd. The Pink Floyd poster in this prize draw is an original The Wall poster that was designed by cartoonist and illustrator Gerald Scarfe for the release of the band’s iconic 1979 album of the same name. Since 1979, the poster has been the personal property of the band’s one-time live sound engineer Bryan Grant, who has now kindly donated it to the Stagehand fundraiser. Bryan was the Managing Director of the legendary company, Britannia Row Productions, the live sound rental business which was founded by Pink Floyd. You can buy your entry tickets for the next three days, through this direct link at Crowdfunder.co.uk (https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/win-original-pink-floyd-the-wall-poster#start). Good luck!

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News wrap: Guy in Brighton, Pink Floyd in German magazine, Ron Geesin talks sound effects

This morning we’re bringing together a few small items of recent news that might be of interest, all with a Floyd connection! First, those in or near Brighton in the south of England, Guy Pratt is hosting a Q&A with Toby Amies about Amies’ new movie about King Crimson, In The Court Of The Crimson King. The Q&A follows a screening of the film at Brighton’s Duke Of York’s Picturehouse (which dates from 1910 and claims to be the oldest purpose-built cinema in the UK), on Saturday, April 8th at 8:30pm. Details and tickets here (https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/008/HO00012682/in-the-court-of-the-crimson-king-toby-amies-q-a). For those of you in Germany, the latest issue (cover date March 2023) of Eclipsed Magazine (https://www.eclipsed.de/en) has a large feature on The Dark Side Of The Moon – as hinted at with the very eye-catching cover. Their synopsis of the main feature is as follows: “50 years ago, in March 1973, the eighth album of Pink Floyd was released. At that time, no one could have guessed what traces “The Dark Side Of The Moon” would leave in the world of rock music. Today we know that it is one of the five best-selling albums of all time and crowned an entire genre. For art rock and for the band itself, a new era began with this work. Pink Floyd would become one of the most famous and influential groups ever. The album is a synthesis of music, lyrics, sound and artwork. To this day, it has lost none of its fascination. This fascination will also be kept alive by the new deluxe box of the album – including Dolby Atmos mix – which will be released on March 24.” From the cover it is clear that they also look at Alan Parsons’ work on the album, and include a classic interview with David Gilmour. Our thanks to Michael Nickel for the information on this one! Last month, the BBC’s Radio 4 broadcast a documentary about sound effects, and the incredible impact they have on story-telling and atmosphere within film, TV and radio. The hour-long programme, which is available to listen to online (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001hxs4) for the next 11 months, includes musicians and foley artists, alongside the likes of Ben Burtt who made iconic sounds for Star Wars. Ron Geesin, who worked with Pink Floyd on Atom Heart Mother, and chiefly with Roger Waters on Music From The Body (although the entire band appear uncredited on the final track of the album), also features from around the 17 minute mark. Ron explains how he got into creating his sound textures and techniques. Our thanks to Malcolm Walker for tipping us off about this fascinating radio show. Staying with the radio, last week, Paul Giblin, director of Phonic FM, an Exeter community station, dedicated his radio show to his personal celebration of 50 years of The Dark Side Of The Moon, reconstructing the album from many diverse sources in a live 2 hour mix. He started with the original Speak to Me, then explored classical, bluegrass, jazz, reggae, dub, ska, polka, dubstep, trance, soul, wild rock, country and other takes on it until concluding with the Floyd’s live Eclipse from 1974, complete with its tolling bell. Listen to the show in full here! (https://www.mixcloud.com/paulgiblin33/fsoe-show-dark-side-50-year-diversity-mix/). Finally, details of some shows covering Pink Floyd’s music. First, Primus leader Les Claypool and his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade (which includes Sean Lennon on guitar) will be touring the US this summer performing Animals in full (with co-headliners Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and Adrian Belew on 11 dates performing Remain In Light). Dates, venues and ticket info at Ticketmaster.com (https://www.ticketmaster.com/search?q=Les+Claypool%27s+Fearless+Flying+Frog+Brigade&lang=en-us). Second, for those in Sicily, Pink’s One, the Italian Pink Floyd tribute show, are bringing back Floyd backing singer Machan Taylor, saxophonist Scott Page and percussionist Gary Wallis, for three live concerts, respectively at the Mandanici Theater in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto on April 21st and at the Vittorio Emanuele Theater in Messina on April 22nd and 23rd 2023. Tickets and more details are available from Tickettando (https://www.tickettando.it).

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Animals Reimagined – A Tribute To Pink Floyd out next month

Following on from the successful June release of Still Wish You Were Here, a project that gathered various classic, prog and art rock musicians together to cover that album, the people behind it have brought together a similar mix of musicians to cover Pink Floyd’s 1977 album, Animals. Animals Reimagined – A Tribute To Pink Floyd is set for release on November 19th, 2021, on both CD and digital with a vinyl version coming in 2022. The previous album, Still Wish You Were Here – whilst dividing the Floyd fanbase – got a number of plaudits for its approach to the music, and with its success it is no surprise that another of the Floyd’s albums would undergo the same treatment. As before, a fairly diverse line-up can be heard on the album, with the likes of jazz-rock guitarist Al Di Meola, psych-rock godfather Arthur Brown, world renowned drummer and percussionist Carmine Appice, UFO’s Vinnie Moore, Bauhaus’s David J, Dream Theater’s James LaBrie, the legend that is Rick Wakeman, and Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnet all coming together to give their unique flavour to this magnum opus. For a taster, you can hear their version of Dogs, a 17-minute version sung by Rainbow’s Graham Bonnet with Vinnie Moore on guitar, Utopia’s Kasim Sulton on bass, Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess on keyboards, and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto. Click here for your choice of streaming service to hear Dogs (https://orcd.co/graham_bonnet_vinnie_moore_dogs). Arthur Brown (best known for his band The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, and their UK and US hit single Fire) gives a particularly spirited performance on Sheep, which if you know Arthur, won’t come as much of a surprise! Here’s the track list, with the names of the musicians playing on each of them: Pigs On A Wing 1 – Nick van Eede (Cutting Crew) & Martin Barre (Jethro Tull)
Dogs – Graham Bonnet (Rainbow), Vinnie Moore (UFO), Kasim Sulton (Utopia), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) & Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson)
Pigs (Three Different Ones) – James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Al Di Meola, Joe Bouchard (Blue Öyster Cult), Patrick Moraz (The Moody Blues) & Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
Sheep – Arthur Brown, Rick Wakeman (Yes), Jan Akkerman (Focus), David J. (Bauhaus) & Carmine Appice (Cactus/Vanilla Fudge)
Pigs On A Wing 2 – Jon Davison (lead vocalist for Yes), Albert Lee & Billy Sherwood (Yes) If this has intrigued you, orders are now being taken through the following links, which help us out with the ongoing running costs of Brain Damage without costing you a thing – and we really appreciate the help! The album will be available on CD in a 6-panel deluxe digipak, digitally as MP3 files, and a vinyl LP is coming next year (but not yet available to order). STILL WISH YOU WERE HERE – digipak CD: Amazon UK (https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B09GG6WJGQ/braindamage-21)
Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B09GG6WJGQ/braindamage-20)
Amazon Canada (https://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B09GG6WJGQ/braindamageon-20)
Germany (https://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B09GG6WJGQ/braindamage0f-21) France (https://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B09GG6WJGQ/braindamageon-21) Italy (https://www.amazon.it/exec/obidos/ASIN/B09GG6WJGQ/bradamonl-21) Spain (https://www.amazon.es/exec/obidos/ASIN/B09GG6WJGQ/braidama01-21)