If you go
The Pink Floyd Experience
Where: The Music Center at Strathmore
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Info: $48; 301-581-5100; strathmore.org
Six brilliant musicians, a 21st century light show and full quadraphonic sound shake up the Music Center at Strathmore Thursday night. Sounds like it could be the iconic English progressive rock band of the 1960s through the 1990s, Pink Floyd, prepared to dazzle their fans with sonic experimentation and psychedelic light. It is not, and can never be.
Still, The Pink Floyd Experience (PFX) happens to be the next best thing — recreating a place in time, in that far off stadium seat way back when.
“We are going to give audiences as close of a feel and experience to Pink Floyd as ever [they] are going to get,” Tom Quinn, lead guitar with PFX, said.
He has been touring with Pink Floyd Experience since 2003, along with band members Gus Beaudoin on bass guitar, Graham Heath, lead vocalist, Jesse Mollow on saxophone, John Cox on keyboards and drummer, John Staten.
Today’s performances cleverly combine the intimacy of Pink Floyd’s early concerts with the spectacle of the later ones.
“We’re coming into nice arenas and performing art centers creating the visual and audio impact of those great stadium shows of the 70s and 80s in the 21st century, [only] in smaller venues,” Quinn continued. “So far, so good. The audiences grow, the reviews are great and everyone is happy.”
The music, which includes hits from Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon”, “Wish You Were Here” and “The Wall”, is presented alongside a light show coordinated in tandem with the songs. This lighting, together with the quadraphonic sounds serves to create a true rock music event.
“The light show was put together to connect the music of Pink Floyd from the 60s with today’s lighting technology,” said Scott Christensen, a technician with Annerin Productions, in charge of the show’s special effects. “The audience should sit back and let the lights and video accentuate the music.”
Tom Quinn has noted that fans of Pink Floyd from 30 to 40 years ago are now bringing their children to the concerts.
“It really shows the staying power of the music,” he said.
