If you like Pink Floyd, you'll love Crazy Diamond, I genuinely cannot praise this show highly enough

Crazy Diamond Pink Floyd tribute
at Arlington Arts, Snelsmore
on Saturday, May 25

Review by BRIAN HARRINGTON

Pink Floyd are widely seen as one of the most innovative and important bands to emerge in the 1960s and their music is considered to be some of the most complex and progressive in rock. The concept behind Crazy Diamond is relatively straightforward - base each tour on a Pink Floyd album, played in full and a selection of other Floyd tracks to give audiences a two-and-a-half hour show that reflects the essence of Pink Floyd.

Crazy Diamond is, of course, both a reference to the late Syd Barrett and a track on the 1975 album Wish You Were Here. Tonight’s show featured that album in full and was augmented throughout by an excellent light show and a large video screen behind the band displaying moving images and messages.

The big question is whether the band has the musical ‘chops’ to carry off such iconic and complicated music live. The answer is an emphatic "yes". I'm not sure I have enough plaudits and hyperbole to adequately convey just how good they were.

Eight-piece Crazy Diamond include two classically trained female vocalists and have been touring internationally since 2015. Floyd's musical legacy is in safe hands.

Following Wish You Were Here with a phenomenal version of Deja Vu, a 2017 Roger Waters track, accompanied with video footage and messages of world equality and unity.

The second set included Echoes from the 1971 album Meddle plus selections from Atom Heart Mother (1970) and an incredible version of The Great Gig In The Sky, beautifully handled by the band's two female vocalists.

There were two tracks from the Division Bell album (1994) before an epic rendition of Comfortably Numb and finally, as an encore, Sheep.

If you like Pink Floyd, you'll love Crazy Diamond.

I genuinely cannot praise this show highly enough.

If you couldn't make it, I'm sure you now wish you were here - if you did make it I'm sure you are glad you were here.