In The Flesh – New Theatre, Oxford

Reviewer: David Aldridge

The Public Reviews Rating:

I don’t like tribute acts as a rule, but Roger Waters famously claimed that the nature of the Floyd’s show was such that the band could in fact be replaced by surrogate players and no-one would notice. Rather than address this indictment on his and his band mates’ charisma as performers, they made this a feature of their live shows, which were in later years characterised by four tiny human silhouettes hunched intensely over their instruments, dwarfed by massive props and famously outrageous light shows. So I am tempted to imagine with a Pink Floyd show that if the music is note perfect and the visuals are up to scratch, you may as well be seeing the Floyd.

So firstly, the music. Instrumentally, it’s not note perfect, but Chris Thomas, covering vocally for both Waters and Gilmour, does pretty much the best impersonation of either that I’ve heard in any tribute. If anything, he sings a little too well. I’m always nervous listening to Waters live, as he sings at the absolute edge of his ability, and you’re never sure when he’s going to lose it. But Thomas does manage to capture much of his broken charm. There’s also a bit of Barrett in there: Arnold Layne is thrown into the mix as a special treat, an early track you’d not normally expect to hear live.

As for the visuals: In the Flesh should be commended for the choice of images that are projected to accompany the music. Although they sometimes interpreted the lyrics a little too literally for my liking, they added an often humorous and occasionally poignant contemporary touch to the performance. The light show is authentic, although nowhere near as big as the real thing, but this act are not playing to packed houses. I would say that on the strength of their performance at New Theatre, Oxford, they deserve to be.

I’ve always been somewhat embarrassed listening to Dark Side of the Moon’s Great Gig in the Sky (the one with the shouty woman) because it sounds a little too much like, well, a woman shouting. However, I have to admit to considering this song in a new light after hearing it performed by In the Flesh’s mellifluous Fredi Wright, who managed all of the same vocal athletics as Clare Torry’s original, without what I hear as the rough edges. Fans will not all agree with me, I am sure, but I took an unprecedented level of pleasure in this song which was worth the price of admission on its own.

Some guitar tuning issues on the opening of Shine On You Crazy Diamond let down the overall rating here. They were resolved fairly quickly, but – sigh – it would never have happened to Gilmour. That said, listening to the soaring guitar solo of Comfortably Numb in the encore I was thoroughly convinced of the total impoverishment of my tiny, finite human soul. Job done.