Nick Mason Saucerful of Secrets coming to North America in 2019

[GuitarGeek]

A fun watch. 'Set The Controls...' was one of their greatest ever live numbers- always spectacular live based on various 60s/70s recordings.

Absolutely. I was glad Nick slipped that, Interstellar Overdrive and A Saucerful Of Secrets into the setlist for this tour. I guess the latter was a given, considering the name of the band, but apart from those three numbers, they kinda went a bit heavy on the "songs" versus the "improv vehicles" into the setlist. I would have liked to have heard things like Careful With That Axe, Eugene, The Embryo, Cymbaline, etc, but I'm sure Nick and the lads all had their share of songs each of them wanted to play, and I think it made sense to cut down on the improv so they could get as many songs in as possible.

[NogbadTheBad]

Here's my review of their 4/20 performance in Philadelphia.
Trip out to this review of Nick Mason (Official)'s Saucerful Of Secrets performance at The Met Philly flashing back to pre-DSOTM Pink Floyd. https://wp.me/p4ZE0X-fM0

Nice review of a great show.

[battema]

Few thoughts following the DAR Constitution Hall show last night:

- WOW, what a fun, great show.
- Having not really seen a setlist beforehand, even knowing the whole point of the evening there were still a few surprises for me, especially Fearless and AHM.
- The keyboardist has some ties back to the Orb, which really came through with some of his analog texture work and worked fantastically well.

I don't/won't do many of these kinds of classic rock shows anymore, but this was a fun one and I was very glad to have been there (and with great friends to boot).

[Steve F.]

How was the light show and projections? Did you feel transported back to the late 60s?

Not in the least, but it was a very fun show.

[Steve F.]

- Having not really seen a setlist beforehand, even knowing the whole point of the evening there were still a few surprises for me, especially Fearless and AHM.

Point Me At The Sky! Yowie!

and I certainly was NOT expecting Vegetable Man!

[Rick L.]

Yeah, lots of cool stuff in the set list. The If/AHM medley jam was quite cool. And they got pretty far out with Set the Controls at the Boston show. I really enjoyed it. The opening of Interstellar Overdrive, Astonomy Domine and Lucifer Sam right in a row was killer. They brought that shit.

[GuitarGeek]

- WOW, what a fun, great show.
- Having not really seen a setlist beforehand, even knowing the whole point of the evening there were still a few surprises for me, especially Fearless and AHM.

Yeah, I avoided setlists beforehand too, though I did get the drop that they were doing Point Me At The Sky (because someone posted it in the "Last thing you listened to" thread, apparently unaware that might constitute a spoiler for some). They did quite a few songs that Pink Floyd themselves never did in concert, I thikn I counted about five or six. And as Nick mentioned after playing it, they never even released Vegetable Man. So there were a lot of surprises in store.

As for the light show, I thought it was awesome, I even thanked the lighting guys, as well as the soundman, because my seat was right near the soundboard. Maybe it didn't "transport me back in time", but I still it looked awesome.

[beano]

RW appeared with them for STCFTHOTS.....clips on YT if you care to look.

Was in NY on a short vacation of sorts..bought a last minute ticket to this show at The Beacon Theater..Was definitely a treat..I wish he would have stayed a bit and did more then one song..But hey, I can now say I have seen 50 % of Pink Floyd !!!

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Do I lose any Prog cred if I saw Tootsie The Musical ? LOL Actually saw 5 plays..Tootsie, Beetlejuice, Be More Chill, The Ferryman, and Hilary & Clinton*(disclaimer..Was in a "Wicked" In person Lottery and lost..I only see shows on Rush or some other discount ..This was the only show available..Big plus was seeing John Lithgow live..But was the weakest of all plays I saw..)

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PS: Did this in 5 days..

[gryphs also]

I was at the Toronto show...highly recommended. As mentioned earlier, Set Controls was life changing, but If/Atom Heart Mother was gorgeous.

[Paulrus]

...but If/Atom Heart Mother was gorgeous.

In SF the "If/Atom Heart Mother" sequence made people's butts squirm a bit. I'm glad they went down that proggy rabbit hole, but it was probably the most tedious part of the set for many.

[GuitarGeek]

In SF the "If/Atom Heart Mother" sequence made people's butts squirm a bit. I'm glad they went down that proggy rabbit hole, but it was probably the most tedious part of the set for many.

(Bela Lugosi mode) Proggy? Perhaps. Tedious? Perhaps not. (Lugosi mode off)

I can't imagine anyone finding If and a truncated Atom Heart Mother to be tedious. For me, it was one of the highpoints of the Akron show.

If there was anything thought might have been perceived as "tedious", it would be A Saucerful Of Secrets itself. Not by me, I thought it was amazing (if a bit on the "short" side), but I can see how some might find the first 2/3's of the piece difficult to sit through, just as I saw people someone squirming around in his seat during a Cleveland Orchestra performance of Ligeti's piano concerto. It's "challenging" music to be sure, but again it was one of the highlights for me (especially when Gary Kemp launched into that very Gilmour-ish solo during Celestial Voices...I always thought that chord sequence deserved a full fledged guitar solo, and Gary delivered).

(I still can't get over the fact that the guy who wrote True is that conversant on early Pink Floyd)

[helix]

I attended the New York and Philadelphia shows and they were most impressive and for me, totally engaging. what a setlist. just perfect

especially glad to see Nick Mason play ALONE by himself. certainly a treat to see him play some of these iconic fills etc. simple but perfect. he's got a swing that is easier to see/hear without some session dude playing mini-cymbals and crotales over lol. several years ago I finally got to see Bill Kreutzman play Dead material (in The Dead) with out Mickey on some tunes and this was similar


I also thought about the airing of tracks like Careful, but can see why they weren't played. Nick has said that certain songs are too Floyd specific or "Rick Wroght" specific ('Echoes'.) hey, if that means we got Vegetable Man instead . . . I'm OK with that!



anyone catch the 'Holiday in the Sun' bit that Guy does in 'Nile' ? pretty cool. delivered with a rotten-esque bite



the Waters appearance was great in a number of ways obviously. totally loved the Pompeii visage of him banging the shit out of the gong. also funny to contrast that with Nick's bit that he says before said song. they seemed to have great affection at the evening's bow as well. I can only hope that Roger sees value in doing some smaller shows with regards to maybe more obscure presentations like a Final Cut stage show or a Pros and Cons. that's just the fanboy in me hoping . . . .




and yes, I saw more than a few Pink Floyd punter types who had zero idea of 70% of this material . fuck 'em

[Bartellb]

^^ I saw several people leaving about a third of the way through. Maybe they were expecting the popular 70s songs. It was a strange crowd. Middle aged people passing out drunk or drugged up, throwing up, fighting with the venue employees.

I was at the Philadelphia show and talked to several people while I was out front trying to sell an extra ticket who said they also attended one of the NYC shows.

[Sean]

If anyone went this show expecting Dark Side and later tunes they were idiots and got what they deserved.

[helix]

If anyone went this show expecting Dark Side and later tunes they were idiots and got what they deserved.

I never fail to be pissed/amused at these bros. at the Met show 4 Wharton types (yeah, I'll judge them) stroll up 4 songs in, drinks in hand, and talked the whole fucking time. I had to go over and ask them to shut up. later they took selfies with the performers performing as their 'live' backup, throwing gang signs that they also have no clue of



Make Prog Great Again!

[Steve F.]

It was a strange crowd. Middle aged people passing out drunk or drugged up, throwing up, fighting with the venue employees.

Very, very drunk and belligerent (and loud) people behind us.

[Mister Triscuits]

Very, very drunk and belligerent (and loud) people behind us.

My enduring memory of the one time I saw Floyd live--in 1975, on the tour when they premiered the Wish You Were Here/proto-Animals songs--was the very stoned guy behind me who responded to the screen projections during DSOTM by shrieking "WE'RE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL! IT'S AN AIRPLANE!" etc.

[Steve F.]

My enduring memory of the one time I saw Floyd live--in 1975, on the tour when they premiered the Wish You Were Here/proto-Animals songs--was the very stoned guy behind me who responded to the screen projections during DSOTM by shrieking "WE'RE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL! IT'S AN AIRPLANE!" etc.

Mr Triscuits for the WIN!

[Paulrus]

If there was anything thought might have been perceived as "tedious", it would be A Saucerful Of Secrets itself.

Oddly enough, in SF the more overt psych episodes in stuff like "A Saucerful of Secrets" or "Obscured by Clouds" went over great. I think the problem with the "If"/"Atom Heart Mother" sequence was a) relative obscurity, b) a sense that the songwriting wasn't of the same caliber as most of the rest of the set, and c) sheer length. People seemed to really like getting more shorter songs since each was a mini-epic unto itself (even "Vegetable Man", where one guy was popping up and waving his arms with each chorus .)

And this is all relative. I'd bet money that almost everyone (save perhaps the lady next to me) walked out thinking they were fortunate to have seen that show.

[GuitarGeek]

Oddly enough, in SF the more overt psych episodes in stuff like "A Saucerful of Secrets" or "Obscured by Clouds" went over great.

Well, that's good to hear, given San Francisco's status as one of the epicenters of the original psychedelic explosion. It would be really sad to find out that in the land of Dark Star, After Bathing At Baxter's, etc, the audience was turned off by the more overtly psych stuff.

I think the problem with the "If"/"Atom Heart Mother" sequence was a) relative obscurity, b) a sense that the songwriting wasn't of the same caliber as most of the rest of the set, and c) sheer length.

Interesting points, but I think all of that applies to just about everything they played. In comparison to Dark Side Of The Moon and everything that came after, pretty much the entire setlist was obscure. It's not like classic rock radio are beating Arnold Layne, The Nile Song, Astronomy Domine into the ground the way they did with Money, Wish You Were Here itself, or Comfortably Numb.

I'm not sure the songwriting on If or Atom Heart Mother is any worse than anything else they played. I know for a long time, the band members have taken a dim view the early stuff, saying that they felt the songwriting wasn't very good. Even when they were still playing a lot of that stuff in the early 70's, there were doing interviews where they made it sound like they were bored and maybe even a bit embarrassed to still be playing stuff like Astronomy Domine, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun and A Saucerful Of Secrets itself. Interviews during the A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and The Division Bell eras make it seem like it's specifically the lyrics that David Gilmour had issues with. There's a comment from Nick Mason in the Nicholas Schaffner book where he says that he loved playing those songs, but Dave didn't like singing the lyrics. And Gilmour said he liked playing Astronomy Domine, but the lyrics were "difficult to sing with a straight face".

Reputedly, that was why they dropped Echoes from the A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour setlist after the first few shows, because Gilmour got sick of "singing about albatrosses". Yes, I know he played Echoes on his last couple solo tours (his "old man's tours", as he called them), so maybe he got over his reservations about the lyrics, and decided it was still enjoyable to play. And he probably knew there was a sector of the audience that would lose their minds just hearing that first ping, never mind the rest of the piece.


As for length, the entire If/Atom Heart Mother suite was probably around 10-12 minutes, with Atom Heart Mother being about 7 and a half minutes of that length. That's maybe a little longer than most of the other things they did. I don't remember how long Set The Controls... or A Saucerful Of Secrets were at my show, but I'm sure they both exceeded "standard pop song" length by a few minutes each.

I think if there's anything If had going against it, it's the fact that it's basically an acoustic folk ballad type thing, which isn't going to go over well for a "rock" audience. I've seen a lot of shows where bands break out the acoustic guitars, for instance when I saw Yes do Turn Of The Century, where it seemed like there was a dip in the audience energy coinciding with that.

People seemed to really like getting more shorter songs since each was a mini-epic unto itself

Yeah, well, that's another thing. I think in general, "most people" seem to relate to short "pop songs" better than they do to extended pieces with long instrumental sections and such. Seems like whenever I tell someone I'm into the early Pink Floyd stuff, they seem to think I'm talking about things the actual "songs", which I do like, yes, but I'm more into the weirder, extended instrumental things. I dunno, I guess my brain is just wired up backwards. I remember being told by a record store employee that I was the only person who knew who was into "that weird shit" (meaning psych music, free jazz, etc) who didn't at least smoke pot.

And this is all relative. I'd bet money that almost everyone (save perhaps the lady next to me) walked out thinking they were fortunate to have seen that show.

Very true.

especially glad to see Nick Mason play ALONE by himself. certainly a treat to see him play some of these iconic fills etc. simple but perfect. he's got a swing that is easier to see/hear without some session dude playing mini-cymbals and crotales over lol. several years ago I finally got to see Bill Kreutzman play Dead material (in The Dead) with out Mickey on some tunes and this was similar

Interesting points. I've always said the best Grateful Dead stuff was when Bill Kreutzman was the only drummer. I don't know if it's necessarily Mickey's "fault" as such, but there was a point after he came back where the music got a lot less exploratory, and then the shows became much more formatted, with songs being relegated to either first set or second status, and the improvisations being largely limited to just the Rhythm Devils and Space segments of the second set. Sometimes they played stuff that worked, but there's a lot of stuff in those late 70's-90's era shows where it sounds like six people all talking at the same time, with each one only just barely listening to the other five.

As for Nick, with those last couple Pink Floyd tours, I sometimes wasn't sure when I was listening to Nick and when I was listening to Gary Wallis. When you're playing in a football stadium, and with all the fog and lighting tricks tehy had their disposal, it would have been conceivably be very easy for Gary to do most of the "heavy lifting", with Nick only occasionally playing, and those of us out of past the 50 yard line would be so distracted by the lasers, film, droids and the pig that we don't notice "the wrong guy" is drumming. Truthfully, the only person who really had to do "his job" on that stage would have been Gilmour, and even then, he only had to sing, he could have gotten someone else to play the guitar solos!

(for the record, I remember talking to Pink Floyd aficianados back in the Prodigy/AOL days, and none of them realized that there were places on both Delicate Sound Of Thunder and Pulse where Tim Renwick was playing "lead", even though there was an obvious difference in tone and playing style, so it probably wouldn't have been that hard to fool a crowd of 80,000 or whatever by having someone else play guitar).

So with this show, it was nice to have Nick, by himself, and in top form.

If anyone went this show expecting Dark Side and later tunes they were idiots and got what they deserved.

Well, people don't do research about this stuff. I believe we were talking about this in one of the Musical Box threads, where someone commented about people who expected to hear them do trio era Genesis material. I think a lot of people see a band name like "Pink Floyd" or "Genesis" and that puts certain expectations in their mind.

And whether we not admit or not, most people don't know Genesis made two albums before Phil Collins joined, or that Peter Gabriel had been the band's singer, and they've never heard of Syd Barrett either. I remember a Rolling Stone article on Pink Floyd back in 87 or 88, mainly it was about Roger's whining and crying about who did and didn't have the right to use the Pink Floyd name. I forget which band member it was, but of them talked of doing an interview, where at the very end, he happened to mention Syd's name, and the interviewer had absolutely no idea who he was talking to! Let me rephrase that: a journalist, tasked with interviewing a member of Pink Floyd, went into said interview without knowing who Syd Barret is!

Like it or not, you can pick any "classic", and most people, even the ones who go to concerts, only know the hits, that's all that want to know, they know who the individual band members are/were, and they don't care who the original lead singer/songwriter is/was, and whether or not the guys up on the stage "have the right" to using the band name. For those people, "Pink Floyd", "Genesis", etc mean something very specific, and it's not the same things those names mean to "us".

[GuitarGeek]

Very, very drunk and belligerent (and loud) people behind us.

OH geez, I don't get me started. I ranted about this in another thread, about how I got a visit from venue security at the King Crimson show a couple years ago because I got slightly belligerent with a couple assholes who were running their mouths during the first half of the show, despite being asked by multiple people to STFU. And I remember the security guy's attitude was "Doesn't he have a right to talk?". Don't I have a right to listen to the music that I paid SEVENTY BUCKS to hear without have stupid shithead talking over it?!

Fortunately, that wasn't much of a problem at the Nick Mason show.

[NogbadTheBad]

Plenty of loud drunks and stoners at the Boston gig.

[ronmac]

^^ Seems to me that it's usually the drunks who are the loud ones and the stoners are, well, stoned.

[battema]

The very drunk lady behind Steve F and I took great exception to the fact that both of us turned at different points and asked her to keep it down. And an usher asked her to keep it down.

She spent a fair bit of time getting revenge on me by kicking the holy hell out of "my" seat, but was apparently too drunk to realize she was kicking the empty seat next to me (every now and then I noticed her motion behind me and saw the seat back flapping hard back and forth. Poor seat). And during the encores she started shouting loudly to her bf that "that motherfucker started it but I'm gonna fucking finish it" and other angry drunk stuff. Truth: if we'd stayed and she'd started something, it would have likely ended with her getting arrested. But it was a great night and a work night to boot, so I let her have that one, tapped Steve and we left a few minutes before the end of the last tune (actually we just listened from a spot further back).

It was a wonderful show, I had a fantastic time (as I believe Steve and my other friend Chris did) and I'm certainly sorry her experience was ruined by HER behavior.

[Shadow]

The very drunk lady behind Steve F and I took great exception to the fact that both of us turned at different points and asked her to keep it down. And an usher asked her to keep it down.

That's what you get when you let Steve take you to a Taylor Swift concert.