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Rock Concerts

Brainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky featuring the music of Pink Floyd

Just announced: June 7th sees the launch of Brainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky, presented by the UK’s largest immersive art experience Frameless. A complete takeover of the iconic, 30,000 square-feet venue in the heart of Marble Arch, London, this new show blends music and art with the latest neuroscience and technology, in an exploration of how our minds respond to music. The fascinating sounding immersive experience, running on Friday and Saturday evenings in June 2024 for over 18s only, comes from Brainstorms, a joint venture between San Francisco-based creative studio Pollen Music Group and Richard Wright Music Limited. It brings to life the results of the Brainstorms research project that took place last autumn. Driven by a mutual admiration for the beautiful and haunting simplicity of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright’s songwriting, the Brainstorms team has themed the experience around the concept behind the iconic Pink Floyd track The Great Gig in the Sky. Visitors will travel through the four main Frameless galleries which each feature stunning sky-themed creative visualisations of the human brain’s response to music, from mesmerising cloud formations and mystical auroras to starling murmurations and an eclipse. The whole experience has been designed to communicate how people respond to music, while enhancing the listening experience by enveloping individuals inside the songs like never before. Gala Wright, curator and Artistic director at Brainstorms and daughter of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright, says, “The visual representation of brain data provides an accessible and intuitive way to see how a piece of music can be a deeply personal yet also powerfully shared experience. Questioning how this is true for my father’s compositions is a key motivation for me bringing this concept to life with Pollen. The added benefit of bringing awareness to his musicality through the Brainstorms project serves to augment his legacy.” To create the visuals for the centrepiece experience, 125 individuals had their brain activity recorded while listening in unparalleled clarity and depth through immersive sound Dolby Atmos to 1973 Pink Floyd classic, ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ from the highly celebrated album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’. The instrumental track, which was the creation of Richard Wright, features Clare Torry’s voice as an instrument in place of lyrics so was deemed a perfect piece for the largest data collection of its kind. The EEG readings of brain activity, which will be showcased within the experience, were captured at Dolby by the neuroscience experts within the Pollen Music Group team and reflect the participant’s excitement, interest, relaxation and stress felt whilst listening to the track. A strictly limited number of VIP places will be available to book a unique 15-minute EEG brain capture experience, powered by technology provided by AMD and Emotiv, where they will feel more from the music than ever before as they go on an intense and emotional journey as they listen to five minutes of The Dark Side of the Moon in immersive sound Dolby Atmos via headphones. Participants will then be able to see their brain activity visualised into stunning large-scale cloud formations, projected into Frameless’ re-imagined ‘Cloud’ Gallery. Each participant will also receive a personalised memento based on their individual brain’s reaction to the piece. Tickets to Brainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky are priced from £30 and have gone on sale this morning. To buy tickets or to find out more visit frameless.com/brainstorms (https://frameless.com/brainstorms/).

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Rock Concerts

David Gilmour: Luck and Strange – new album announced!

This afternoon, the months of speculation and rumour come to a close, with the announcement of David Gilmour’s new album, Luck and Strange. It is his first new album in nine years, and those who have been on social media over the last couple of days will have seen movement on his official channels, changing the profile pictures and headers to subtle, rather mysterious images of a figure with their arms out, and rushing water. His official website, too, had undergone a similar change with the same imagery and a sign-up button. The album will be released on September 6th, on Sony Music, on LP, CD, Blu-ray and digital. Deluxe LP and CD boxsets will be announced in the coming weeks. The first track from the album – The Piper’s Call – will be released tomorrow (Thursday, April 25th), following a world exclusive first play on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show. A video for the song will be available to watch from Friday. Full track listings are shown below. Luck and Strange was recorded over five months in Brighton and London and is Gilmour’s first album of new material in nine years. The record was produced by David and Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with ALT-J and Marika Hackman. Of this new working relationship, David says, “We invited Charlie to the house, so he came and listened to some demos, and said things like, “Well, why does there have to be a guitar solo there?” and “Do they all fade out? Can’t some of them just end?”. He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine. He’s very direct and not in any way overawed, and I love that. That is just so good for me because the last thing you want is people just deferring to you.” The majority of the album’s lyrics have been composed by Polly Samson, Gilmour’s co-writer and collaborator for the past thirty years. Samson says of the lyrical themes covered on Luck and Strange, “It’s written from the point of view of being older; mortality is the constant.” Gilmour elaborates, “We spent a load of time during and after lockdown talking about and thinking about those kind of things.” Polly has also found the experience of working with Charlie Andrew liberating. “He wants to know what the songs are about, he wants everyone who’s playing on them to have the ideas that are in the lyric informing their playing. I have particularly loved it for that reason.” The album features eight new tracks along with a reworking of The Montgolfier Brothers’ Between Two Points and has artwork and photography by the renowned artist Anton Corbijn. Musicians contributing to the record include Guy Pratt and Tom Herbert on bass, Adam Betts, Steve Gadd and Steve DiStanislao on drums, Rob Gentry and Roger Eno on keyboards with string and choral arrangements by Will Gardner. The title track also features the late Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright, recorded in 2007 at a jam in a barn at David’s house.

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Rock Concerts

Nick Mason appears on new episode of motoring podcast

With Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets getting ready to entertain again in the UK and Europe this summer, starting on June 11th in Stoke, England, Nick has taken time out of early preparations to appear on the Fuelling Around podcast. The 45-minute episode of the automotive show where he talked about music, motors and his epic car collection, is typically entertaining. “I thought I’d retired about 20 years ago. I think my doctor said: ‘If you haven’t grown out of showing off by the time you’re 70, you’re probably incurable’. It’s really terrific when you do get a younger fanbase. Sometimes they bring their old granny along – the clatter of zimmer-frames in the mosh pit is something to
watch out for.” In the podcast, he noted that “we play Floyd songs because first of all it was a repertoire which I could just about remember, which helped. The other thing was that feeling that we wanted to capture the atmosphere of the early music. That meant it actually freed us up a bit because we didn’t have to play Comfortably Numb exactly as it was played on the record. We were playing the earlier songs where it was much more about the atmosphere that went with it rather than the accuracy. “It wasn’t me who formed the band. It was initially Lee’s suggestion and the rest of the band sort of formed itself around us. We certainly didn’t do anything as crude as hold any sort of tests or auditions. It was actually, in a way, exactly how bands always used to be put together, which was a few like-minded people getting together and saying ‘well let’s give it a go’. And that’s exactly what we did.” You can enjoy the entire episode here:

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Football

Bayer Leverkusen enjoy tremendous support from BayArena stands as they beat West Ham (Video)

Bayer Leverkusen have come within touching distance from the Europa League semifinals by beating West Ham in the first leg of their quarterfinal clash by 2-0. They’re also on the verge of being crowned the new Bundesliga champions. Die Werkself are having some season under Xabi Alonso, and their supporters obviously know how to show […]

The post Bayer Leverkusen enjoy tremendous support from BayArena stands as they beat West Ham (Video) appeared first on Soccer News.

Rugby

‘Georgia & Portugal Included’ – 2024 U18 Six Nations: England Captain Treacey and Coach Pendlebury Preview Tournament

Looking to add to the Six Nations success of the England U20s, Jonathan Pendlebury’s England U18s are gearing up for their upcoming U18 Six Nations Festival. Kicking off this weekend…

The post ‘Georgia & Portugal Included’ – 2024 U18 Six Nations: England Captain Treacey and Coach Pendlebury Preview Tournament appeared first on Ruck.

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Rock Concerts

Nick Mason/Saucerful Of Secrets auction today for Roundhouse fundraiser

With apologies for the short notice, the legendary Roundhouse are running an auction which concludes TODAY, and which includes two incredible Nick Mason auction items. Firstly, a pair of limited-edition, hand finished Pharaoh Drum Head prints, donated by Nick himself (https://riseupfortheroundhouse.com/lite-ui/?controller=lots&action=showLot&id=6). These drum heads prints are direct copies of the famous painted drum heads used during Pink Floyd’s early tours. The original ‘Pharaoh’ pair were used during the Floyd’s concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1969. Only 10 copies were ever made – by winning this lot you’ll own a piece of music history. Nick: “A couple of years ago we were moving all the drum kits and accessories to a new storage facility. Amongst the cymbal cases we found one that contained all the custom painted drum fronts that were painted for me by an artist, or artists, in the early seventies – usually to coincide with American tours. I have pictures of these in place at a number of shows…” Secondly, there’s a meet & greet with Nick’s Saucerful Of Secrets and double pass to their show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on June 29th. (https://riseupfortheroundhouse.com/lite-ui/?controller=lots&action=showLot&id=27) The show will be the band’s final UK concert of their upcoming Set The Controls 2024 tour. Both lots are available for bidding until the end of today, Wednesday March 20th. These are part of a larger silent auction full of top prizes from the music world, for their biannual Gala. They are fundraising for their work with young people aged 11-30, through which they provide life-changing experiences through the expressive arts.