Review: BRIT FLOYD'S THE MOON, THE WALL, AND BEYOND TOUR at Palace Theater

Brit Floyd’s opening number of its THE MOON, THE WALL AND BEYOND tour stop in Columbus’ Palace Theatre, a snippet of Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh?” couldn’t have been more off the mark: “I got some bad news for you, sunshine/Pink isn't well, he stayed back at the hotel…”

For the past 32 years, well over 3,000 performances, the Pink Floyd tribute band founder Damian Darlington has never called in sick for work. Chances are pretty good, the guitarist will keep that streak as long as he can. Darlington and bandmates Ian Cattell (bassist), Randy Cooke (drums), Rob Stringer (keyboards), and Rhiannon Dewey (everything else) provided the closest experience to a true Pink Floyd concert as most fans 40 years old and under can get.

“It’s great to be back in Columbus,” Darlington told the nearly sold-out crowd at the Palace Theatre on Feb. 21. “We are celebrating two of Pink Floyd’s most iconic and best-selling albums, which is, of course, the DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and THE WALL albums. But we’re going to go beyond that and dip into Pink Floyd’s incredible catalog of music.”

Across 29 songs, Brit Floyd played THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON in its entirety and pulled roughly half the material from the 26-track double album THE WALL.

Among the tracks that hit the audience the hardest was WISH YOU WERE HERE with a montage of images of the band and “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” from WISH YOU WERE HERE.

However, the band explored some lesser-known tracks like “Sorrow,” “Round And Around,” and “Yet Another Movie” from A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON and “One of These Days” from MEDDLE.

The band offered note for note facsimiles of the music. Close your eyes and you think you were listening to CDs with 2,695 of your closest friends who were charging you for $10 a beer. Not only did the band sound like Pink Floyd, Cattrell (who handled Roger Waters’ vocals) and Darlington (who performed David Gilmour’s vocals) were spot on in their vocals. Even Jessie Lee Houllier, Shannon Fayth, and Liza Melfi recaptured the backup vocalists.

What elevated the concert experience was a dynamic light show and videos of images from THE WALL movie and footage of the band (especially on “Wish You Were Here”), and even icon television moments reflected in Pink Floyd’s music. Brit Floyd even worked in an inflatable pig (which Pink Floyd started incorporating into their live shows in 1977). However, with its glaring red eyes, this one looked more like Piglet from WINNIE THE POOH trapped in a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in hell than it did Algie from the ANIMALS album tour.

The only difference between Brit Floyd and a Pink Floyd/Roger Waters’ tour was a 20-minute rant about the use of drones and/or a tirade against Donald Trump/anyone who has been in power for the last 20 years.

When Waters performed at the Nationwide Arena during the THIS IS NOT A DRILL tour in 2022, a video projection screen warned audiences, "If you're here because you like Pink Floyd but you can't stand Roger Waters' politics, f*ck off to the bar.”

During its 170-plus minute performance, Brit Floyd only spoke to the audience three times – to say hello, to announce it was taking a break at intermission, and to introduce the band. They simply let the music speak for itself. Usually that’s a detriment to a performance; however, this time it was an improvement for Waters’ last stop here.

At the Palace show, the lines that drew the biggest reaction were Jim Nabors’ delivery of “Surprise, Surprise” in a GOMER PYLE video clip and the person who moaned, “This was better when I was on acid.”

Three hours after warning the crowd that “Pink isn’t well,” Brit Floyd proved the opposite. The music remains massive, meticulous, and moving — even without the men who made it famous. For fans who came to hear the heartbeat of THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and feel the ache of THE WALL without a lecture in between, Brit Floyd delivered exactly what they promised: the sound, the spectacle, and the songs.

Brit Floyd reminded Columbus that sometimes the message isn’t the manifesto — it’s the music. No speeches. No scolding. Just towering guitars, aching harmonies, and a pig floating somewhere between nostalgia and absurdity. And for most of the nearly sold-out Palace Theatre, that was more than enough.

Photo: https://www.torenka.com/