There was no April fooling around on April 1, when acclaimed British Pink Floyd tribute group Brit Floyd paid their latest visit to the stage of 1st Summit Arena at Johnstown’s Cambria County War Memorial. This was my first time seeing the group.
I was hooked right away when the group opened the night with “Astronomy Domine.” Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd’s 1994 album “The Division Bell,” Brit Floyd did several songs from that album such as “High Hopes,” “Coming Back to Life” and “Take It Back.” They then ended their first set with two songs from the 1977 “Animals” album, “Pigs on the Wing” and the expansive classic “Dogs” to end the first set. The group’s performances were spot on, and the backdrops, lighting, lasers and animations all contributed to bring the look, energy and spectacle of the “Pulse” tour.
The group reconvened out of the intermission with “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” and mixed up various canons from the Pink Floyd catalog such as “Time” into “Great Gig in the Sky” (with Eva Avila providing the stunning vocalizations), “Wish You Were Here,” “One Of These Days,” “Another Brick in the Wall,” “Us and Them,” “Money” and “Comfortably Numb.” When the audience called for more, Brit Floyd returned to close out the night with “Run Like Hell.”
Brit Floyd provided it all, including musical precision that convincingly captured the mood and feel of the original songs; including singer, guitarist and musical director Damian Darlington’s ability to sing both the Roger Waters and David Gilmour vocal roles. Like many others this night, I left the arena mesmerized by Brit Floyd’s performance, and I plan to catch this group again on their future visits to this venue.
