The Australian Pink Floyd at Sheffield City Hall Review
The Australian Pink Floyd
City Hall, Sheffield
12 March 2015
Reviewed by Becky Linsell
Sadly the original Pink Floyd, formed in 1965, ceased functioning as a band in 1994, amid some acrimony, although briefly reforming for a one-off performance in 2005. By 2013 they had sold over 250 million “records” and then a final album in their name, based on material from 1993 and 94 was released last year.
With a rather larger line-up The Australian Pink Floyd (Aussie Floyd) are a tribute group originally formed in 1988 with a reputation of faithfully producing the Pink Floyd sound in the context of a well-engineered, up-to-date, sound and light show. To date they have sold over three million tickets for concerts in 35 countries.
Playing to a full hall in Sheffield they did not disappoint. They combined skilled musicianship with a hi-tec synchronized light show adding in a slightly incongruous but amusing, giant dancing kangaroo. In a slick programme with scarcely a pause between each number, the band worked through a selection of the well-known tracks across the Floyd career including faithful’s such as “Money”, “Shine on you crazy diamond”, “Have a cigar”, “Time” and of course, “Another brick in the wall”. One song newly introduced into their repertoire from Floyd’s most recent album “The Endless River” was “Louder than Words”.
We had value for money with a performance that started promptly and finished late. I’m not qualified to say if they sounded very like the live Pink Floyd, I’m not old enough to have seen those originals, although many of the audience looked as if they could have done and judging by the enthusiastic, stand up applause at the end, even if they were a little different, they were very, very good.
Watching an entertaining stage show, listening to expert musicians playing classic numbers with which they were deeply familiar, all within a comfortable, efficiently run arena. It’s hard to ask for more from an evening out!
For the Thursday 12th March performance, reviewed here, at Sheffield City Hall, tickets were £43.45 in the stalls and £31.35 in the balcony and circle. The band have six further performances in the UK this month at Leeds on the 13th, Liverpool 14th, Stoke 16th, Preston 17th, Leicester 19th and Birmingham on Friday 20th March.
A 5* performance.
Rating: 5/5 
For more information, tour dates and to buy tickets visit www.aussiefloyd.com.
Sheffield City Hall, Barkers Pool, Sheffield, S1 2JA | 0114 2 789 789
