See You on the Dark Side of the Moon!

So tonight, me and some buds are going to see Roger Waters perform Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety and then some. As I understand it, the first set is a mix of Pink Floyd classics and Roger's solo stuff. Then a break before launching into a straight run-through of Dark Side of the Moon. Should be brilliant. At least I hope so since this is the single most expensive concert ticket I've ever been crazy enough to buy.

I've been a casual Pink Floyd listener since high school when I used to listen to classic rock a lot. But it wasn't until last summer when I was visiting Bath Spa, UK with a couple friends that I had sort of a Pink Floyd epiphany of sorts. My friend's aunt who lived there was driving us to through the English countryside to visit Cheddar Gorge (the nearby village of Cheddar is the source of REAL cheddar cheese) and the Wookey Hole caves (tourist trap). Of course, we needed get some tunes going so his aunt pops in the Pink Floyd album Wish You Were Here. So four us us were in a wee little car zooming down narrow roads with Shine On You Crazy Diamond just cranked. Up until this point, I liked several Pink Floyd songs but generally I found them a little cold and a bit self-indulgent. But somehow that experience changed my opinion. Every time the chorus shouted out SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND, I was just swept up in a wave of joy. I don't know why, but from that point on I've just enjoyed listening to Pink Floyd that much more.

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Wish You Were Here (live at Glastonbury 2007)
What a coincidence! Rodrigo y Gabriela, who I'm a huge fan of, played this Pink Floyd cover just last night. After the guitar intro, Rodrigo motioned to the crowd who sang the lyrics en masse (quite stunning really).

Lulu Hughes - Time
I posted this before and I'll post it again. From a tribute album called Pink Floyd Redux featuring female Canadian singers, Lulu Hughes takes Time and just wails (in a good way) to some electro beats.

Bim Skala Bim - Brain Damage
Up until last year I'm embarrassed to say I thought this song was called Dark Side of the Moon, which is really sad seeing how it's one of my favourite Pink Floyd songs. Then I looked at the back of the CD and realized there was no such song. Thinking it was similar to Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy (title song on a different album)Remnants of Napster's ill effect on music lives on...

Pascale Picard - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Also from that Pink Floyd Redux album, which is a lot better than one might think.

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Jack Irons version)
Former Primus singer/bassist has a couple live albums with his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade called Live Frogs Set 1 and Set 2, both are from the same show (I think). This epic 12-minute cover is from the first set. The 2nd set is a cover of the entire Pink Floyd album Animals.

Dean Wareham - Hey You
This is from the soundtrack to the Noah Baumbach film The Squid and the Whale. An amusing part of the film has a character sing Hey You at his school's talent show claiming it as his own. When disqualified for plagiarism and later questioned by a school counselour (or psychiatrist?) he says, "I felt I could have written it so the fact that it was already written was kind of a technicality."


Forgive any typos or broken links... I'm literally running out the door RIGHT NOW to grab some eats and go to the show. Then I'm out of town for the next few days.