{"id":1132,"date":"2026-06-03T21:10:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2026-06-03T21:10:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:10:32","slug":"pink-floyd-fans-should-definitely-circle-these-dates-on-their-calendars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1132","title":{"rendered":"Pink Floyd fans should definitely circle these dates on their calendars"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Brit Floyd has something special in store for Bay Area Floyd fans this time through town.<\/p>\n

Read more Mike Grier faces big decisions in month ahead. Here are 5 items on Sharks\u2019 agenda<\/a><\/p>\n

The acclaimed Pink Floyd tribute act \u2014 which guitarist-vocalist Damian Darlington formed in Liverpool in 2011 after breaking off from The Australian Pink Floyd Show \u2013 is playing a two-night stand at the lovely Mountain Winery in Saratoga and plans to spotlight a different classic platter on each evening.<\/p>\n

Brit Floyd will celebrate the 1979 blockbuster album \u201cThe Wall\u201d on June 12 and then return the very next night to take on the 1973 first-tier musical masterpiece \u201cThe Dark Side of the Moon\u201d on June 13. They\u2019ll also be performing Pink Floyd\u2019s \u201cgreatest hits\u201d during each show, so expect to hear all the biggest numbers \u2014 be them off \u201cThe Wall,\u201d \u201cDark Side\u201d or another album \u2014 during each gig.<\/p>\n

Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and ticket start at $54, mountainwinery.com. (Also of note, Mountain Winery has a new restaurant \u2014 La Cucina Italiana \u2014 so consider making reservations to check that out before one of the shows.)<\/p>\n

I recently had the chance to chat with Darlington about Brit Floyd\u2019s upcoming The Moon, The Wall and Beyond tour, which also includes a stop on June 14 for a Blue Note Napa Summer Sessions concert at The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa (bluenotejazz.com).<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> When did you first fall under the spell of Pink Floyd?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> My first awareness of Pink Floyd was when \u201cAnother Brick in the Wall (Part 2)\u201d was a single. In the U.K., it was an unlikely Christmas No. 1 at the end of 1979. But I was only 10 years old then, so it was just a cool song with like kids singing on it about not needing education. That\u2019s as far as it went at that age.<\/p>\n

Roll on a few more years, when I\u2019d already started playing guitar and sort of searching for music out there, a friend of mine brought out \u201cThe Wall\u201d album and put that on. And that was the moment that I was captivated by Pink Floyd and became a fan.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Q:<\/strong> Sounds like we\u2019re about the same age and discovered Pink Floyd at right around the same time \u2013 \u201cThe Wall\u201d era. I was coming from a listening background of like AC\/DC, KISS and Cheap Trick and then first hearing Pink Floyd was like, \u201cWhoa, this is something entirely different!\u201d<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> I mean, it was a great time. I was discovering Pink Floyd. I was discovering Rush. I was discovering Yes. All those kinds of bands \u2013 so, yeah, it was amazing.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What was it about Floyd in particular that grabbed you?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> With \u201cThe Wall,\u201d it was the fact that there was a narrative, there were all these cool sound effects, the way the tracks all segued into each other. I was really open to the whole concept album thing at that point. And, of course, hearing David Gilmour\u2019s guitar work on \u201cComfortably Numb\u201d and \u201cAnother Brick in the Wall\u201d \u2014 things like that on the album \u2014 was very influential at that time.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Q:<\/strong> And you just went on to explore the rest of the catalog from there?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Yeah, once I discovered \u201cThe Wall\u201d then I was very keen to find out more about Pink Floyd, listen to whatever other albums they had. And not long afterwards, \u201cThe Final Cut\u201d (1983) came out as a brand new album so that was quite exciting at the time.<\/p>\n

But I certainly got hold of copies of \u201cDark Side of the Moon,\u201d \u201cWish You Were Here\u201d (1975) and \u201cAnimals\u201d (1977) fairly soon after that. And I clearly remember listening to \u201cAtom Heart Mother\u201d (1970) pretty early on and \u201cUmmagumma\u201d (1969).<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t really go all the way back to (1967\u2019s) \u201cThe Piper at the Gates of Dawn\u201d until a bit later. The Syd Barrett era was a thing that I would later explore.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> It seems like a lot of people are very hesitant to go back beyond \u201cDark Side\u201d in the catalog \u2013 which is a shame because those first seven albums have so much to offer. When you listen to those early records, do you feel like you\u2019re hearing a completely different band than the one that would show up later on the \u201870s classics?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> I do sort of feel it\u2019s almost like it\u2019s a completely different band if you go right back to the very beginning \u2014 the first album (\u201cThe Piper at the Gates of Dawn\u201d) or even the second album (1968\u2019s \u201cA Saucerful of Secrets\u201d). Obviously, there are more glimpses of what was to come on something like the second album. But, yeah, if what subsequently happened to Syd Barrett hadn\u2019t happened, Pink Floyd would have been a very different group ultimately \u2014 and maybe wouldn\u2019t have even survived to do what they ultimately did.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Is the transition album \u201cMeddle\u201d in 1971? Do you feel like that is where the old band transforms into the new Pink Floyd?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> It\u2019s what a lot of people certainly see is the moment \u2014 particularly with the track \u201cEchoes\u201d \u2013 of them sort of finally finding their sound. But you can obviously see it earlier than that in \u201cAtom Heart Mother\u201d \u2014 glimpses of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> You also brought up \u201cThe Final Cut\u201d and, obviously, that\u2019s one of the more controversial ones in the catalog \u2013 with people often calling it out as a de facto Roger Waters solo album rather than being a true Pink Floyd record. What are your feelings on it?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> I really connect with that album, as I say, because it was the first brand new Pink Floyd album that came out after I\u2019d become a fan. Also, I grew up in the \u201880s, so all the political references about Margaret Thatcher, about the Falklands War, etc. \u2014 you know, I was living through all of that at the time. So it was relevant because I\u2019ve always been somebody who, even from that age, was well aware of what was going on in the world and current affairs. So, it certainly resonated with me in that sense.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What are the challenges that come with trying to add your own voice and style to these signature Gilmour guitar parts while still trying to keep them appropriately familiar for listeners? Or is that even a concern?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Even after all these years of playing Pink Floyd music \u2013 and I\u2019ve been doing this professionally for 32 years now \u2014 I still know I\u2019m me as a guitar player. I\u2019m not a clone of David Gilmour. I can and do make the effort to get it to sound as closely as I can when it comes to recreating the guitar sounds and playing the correct solos and what have you. But it\u2019s still me playing it and there are my guitar mannerisms that come through.<\/p>\n

Read more Bay Area offers cheapest World Cup costs among US locales, report shows<\/a><\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> I have definitely felt that each time I\u2019ve seen Brit Floyd in concert. Your playing style comes through while still doing justice to the Gilmour originals.<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> I think there\u2019s a balance to be struck between the two things. I\u2019m firmly of the opinion that there is room to put a bit of your own musical personality into your performance when working in a tribute band like this. I think it\u2019s necessary and it makes it more of a band, in a sense, if the musicians up there are able to express themselves just a little bit \u2014 just enough, not too much. You don\u2019t want to go off script too much. You don\u2019t want to do something that\u2019s completely inappropriate \u2014 like suddenly do something that\u2019s a bit more like Yngwie Malmsteen than David Gilmour.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Go it. So, I shouldn\u2019t expect to hear any 2-tone-style ska versions of \u201cHey You\u201d and \u201cHave a Cigar\u201d at your concerts.<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> No, not really. I like to think I know what\u2019s the right thing to do, what\u2019s the tasteful thing to do, what\u2019s the appropriate thing to do when it comes to playing this music \u2013 on those moments when you do sort of go off script a little bit.<\/p>\n