I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 23, 2022] Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets [rescheduled from January 25, 2021]

Back in 2019 I saw Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets play old, obscure and unpopular Pink Floyd songs.  And it was awesome.

When he first came up with the idea:

Mason says he wished to revisit songs that were staples of early Pink Floyd shows from 1969–1972, as well as other songs that were never performed live by Pink Floyd during this era. Mason said the group was not a tribute band, but that they wanted to “capture the spirit” of the era.  And they were going to play some of “Atom Heart Mother,” my personal favorite.

The band would consist of (and still does) Dom Beken on keys, Lee Harris and Gary Kemp on guitars and vocals, and long time Pink Floyd collaborator Guy Pratt (man, he has played with EVERYBODY) on bass and vocals.

I enjoyed the Met Philly’s experience.  But this time the show was going to be at the Miller Theater, part of the Kimmel Music Center complex.  Although I was quite far back and I said

I didn’t get a close seat because I didn’t really think it would be worthwhile.  But if he tours this show again (maybe with one or two different songs?) I would see them again, but I’d be much closer.

But this time, I decided to get even further away (sort of).  I grabbed a seat in the top tier (4th balcony), but in the front row.  I had a GREAT view!  Until I realized that the metal safety bar was EXACTLY at my eye line when I sat back.  So I had to lean up or down to see the whole stage.

This show was not very different from the previous one.  With one major exception.  This tour was dubbed The Echoes tour, because the band was going  to play the amazing song “Echoes” from Meddle.  That was worth seeing.  They also did away with the opening act and decided to play two full sets instead (excellent).

My write up is very similar to the last one:

I loved the retro look.  Psychedelia is a great era and the images are wonderful.  I loved the font he chose and the spiralling lights.  I also loved that some of the songs had backdrops of those weird visuals of what I imagine are drops of colored liquid pressed between slides.

The band came out–huge applause for Mason–and got right to it with the rumbling bass of “One of These Days” (which was much later in the set last time).   Indeed, the setlist was mixed up quite a bit from last time, which kept things fresh.

Like last time

In fact, everything about this show was tremendous.  The musicians were on top of their game.  The effects were simple but really effective and the sound was spot on.

I haven’t listened to much of this music in quite some time, so I wasn’t looking for fidelity to the original.  Like Mason said, this captured the spirit of the era.  It does make me wonder if any old band doing this would be fine, and I suppose it would, but having Mason there adds a stamp of legitimacy to the whole proceedings.  Mason (good lord, he is 78) sounded amazing on the drums–fast and powerful.

After Arnold Layne, they played a trio of songs that was in the same order as last time.

Then they played a new (to me) song: “Candy and a Currant Bun” which was the B-side to Arnold Layne.  Mason explained that when they wrote it in 1967, it was called “Let’s Roll Another One” and contained the line “I’m high – Don’t try to spoil my fun”, but the record company forced Syd Barrett to rewrite it.  It has, apparently never been properly released (except for maybe one of those fancy compilations).

Then there was another obscure one: “Vegetable Man” followed by a similar run to last time: If, with a middle section of “Atom Heart Mother.”  As I said last time:

Gary Kemp stepped up to an acoustic guitar (on a stand) and played “If.”  After a verse or two, they paused and started the main theme from “Atom Heart Mother” and I nearly lost it.  Obviously they weren’t going to play the whole thing, but they played a lot more than I thought they would (about 7 or 8 minutes).  After a suitable jam, they concluded the delightful If–as if it were all a dream.

Two songs from Saucerful of Secrets, including the Set Ending “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (complete with gong introduction and usage) led to the break.

I decided to move further back–to the last row, because there were fewer people there and that stupid bar wasnt in the way.  It was a much better view for the second set (even if the drunken fools next to me were shouting “Several Species of Small Furry Animals…” a song I would have been tickled to hear, but which they clearly weren’t going to play as it was Roger’s anyhow).

Set two opened with “Astronomy Domine” and a rocking “The Nile Song.”

Then they jumped to Obscured by Clouds, an album I never really got into.  They played “Burning Bridges and “Childhood’s End.”  And then after a quirky “Lucifer Sam.”  The opening echoing notes of “Echoes” began.

I thought that hearing “Atom Heart Mother” was pretty magical a few years ago, but it was nothing compared to the magic of hearing “Echoes” live.  This is a song I have listened to hundreds of times and I love every second of it.  And it sounded amazing.  The composed parts were spot on and the middle jamming part was just “live” enough to not be an exact copy.  It was just fantastic.

What do you do for an encore?

If I’d been paying attention, I would have known, but I was still absorbed in the glow of “Echoes.”  So when they came back out and played “See Emily Play,” it was just the smack back into (some kind of) reality.

They played one more from Piper at the Gates of Dawn, “Lucifer Sam,” which was wonderful.  I don’t dislike the Syd Barrett songs at all, but I like some a lot more than others.  “Sam,” “Bike” and “Arnold Layne” are my three favorites, so I was really glad they were all included.

Then they really surprised me by playing “Fearless” from Meddle.  I’d assumed that this album was not going to be included (if they had played “Echoes” I would have freaked out from excitement, but hat would have been the whole show).  I was happy to hear “Fearless” and even happier to hear that they included the original (I believe) recording of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” for the beginning and end.

Although I love this era of Floyd I never really got into the soundtracks.  More and Obscured By Clouds were records I’d listen to once in a while, but not really.  So I didn’t recognize “Obscured By Clouds” and “When You’re In” and thought it was just a jam (which it totally was).

The show wasn’t done exactly in chronological order, but parts were grouped somewhat by album. The middle section was a bunch of one-offs though.  There was “Remember a Day” from Saucerful of Secrets which Guy Pratt told us was written by “my son’s grandfather.”  Which at first I thought was a funny way of saying Pratt’s dad, but when I looked it up, it turns out that Pratt married Richard Wright’s daughter.  Neat.  Lee Harris did some amazing recreations of that guitar sound that Floyd got in these early songs.

As with last time I didn’t realize that “A Saucerful of Secrets” was the song they played next.  On record it’s just an elaborate noisy jam.  As I said last time

Well, they went really weird with “A Saucerful of Secrets.”  I wished that I had realized what this was right away..  I thought it was just an introductory freakout jam, because I had totally forgotten what a bizarre song “Saucerful” is.  It wasn’t until after the drum solo of Part 2 “syncopated pandemonium” that I recognized what was going on and how cool it was to hear the final two parts live.

It seemed like the kind of crazy thing to end on, but they had one more crazy thing up their sleeve.  Yes, “Bike”!  The fun sing along that is bonkers.  Last time they played it near the end, but I think it works best as a show ender.  Because it sure got everyone to their feet.

I said last time:

I also don’t really care for nostalgia acts.  But old doesn’t mean nostalgia.  Most of these songs were never heard live–certainly not by most of the people in the audience.  And it wasn’t like he was trotting out a setlist of greatest hits (as interesting as Brit Floyd sounds, I don’t know if I want to see that).  This was a modern reinvention of old songs–many songs that sound fresh and groundbreaking some 50 years later.

I would absolutely see them again.  They played a few new songs this time (including the 20 minute “Echoes”) and there were five songs that they didn’t play which they did the previous tour (including “Interstellar Overdrive”.  There’s clearly a bunch of other songs for them to trot out.  Is there any way Nick Mason is going to be doing this into his 80s?

Markit Aneight has videos of two songs If/Atom Heart Mother

And Echoes

¶ Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
§ A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
ϖ More soundtrack (1969)
♥ Atom Heart Mother (1970)
® Relics (1971)
≅ Meddle (1971)
© Obscured By Clouds (1972)
⊄ unreleased until Early Years collections in 2016.