When Chris Barnes, lead singer of The Australian Pink Floyd Show, first listened to Pink Floyd’s 1971 compilation record, “Relics,” he wasn’t immediately mesmerized by the psychedelic and progressive music of the iconic English band.
“It was absolutely terrifying, actually,” Barnes said during a recent phone interview. “The second track was ‘Interstellar Overdrive,’ which is like this nine-minute space rock instrumental from the first album, and my brother turned the light off. Then all these beeps, squeaks, whistles, strange drums and weird noises were happening. I was about five or six years-old when this was happening, and it scared the hell out of me.”
While Barnes recalls the terror at his introduction to Pink Floyd, he also remembers being fascinated by them. Decades later, that interest would blossom into an opportunity for him to front The Australian Pink Floyd Show, a tribute band formed in 1988 in Adelaide, South Australia, that has gone on to perform the music of Pink Floyd for audiences all over the world. For this outing, the band is playing Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” in full since the album celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
The show has several Southern California stops including Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday, Aug. 12, Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula on Sunday, Aug. 13, two shows at Humphreys Concerts By The Bay in San Diego on Wednesday, Aug. 16 and Thursday, Aug. 17 and Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio on Saturday, Aug. 19.
“When you say the words ‘tribute band,’ you think of blokes wearing wigs in the corner of a bar somewhere, running through some Led Zeppelin or whatever the band might be that night, but this is a full-on show,” Barnes assured. “Even if you don’t like Pink Floyd, I think we’re going to entertain you because there’s so much happening on stage, with our big lavish production (which includes) a video screen, a big light show, inflatables,…
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