A night of Pink Floyd oldies from 1971 and before? Count us in!

Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets was brought to life back in 2018 when former Blockheads guitarist and long-time Pink Floyd live bass-player decided to form a band together with Mason so they could bring the old psychedelic early Floyd stuff to the stage. Bring in Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp and keyboard player Dom Beken and a band was born. Tonight they play Utrecht’s TivoliVredenburg.

Ronda, with its capacity of two thousand Floyd fans, is absolutely packed tonight and it is a Herculean task to get anywhere near the centre of the hall, so yours truly decides to stick at the sides for the first half, just about able to drink his beer and clap a bit without hitting other people in the sides. It’s that crowded. The countdown towards the start is in absolute top style, with a NASA mission control type countdown. T-minus so many minutes with ambient sounds and many Floyd-related soundbites running alongside (“I’m not afraid of death”). It’s glorious and what else can you kick the show off after that than with Astronomy Domine? The sound is wonderfully balanced and crystal clear and the band is clearly on fire and having heaps of fun amongst each other.

The set, as listed below, is brilliant, catering to both the lovers of the really psychedelic Syd Barrett stuff as well as some of the older stuff, without venturing any further than the musical boundary that is Meddle. That means no Comfortably Numb or High Hopes tonight but if you were informed beforehand you’d have known that anyway. So instead we’re treated to hardly played deep cuts or, in the case of The Nile Song, a track Floyd has never performed live ever. It’s a fantastic musical roller coaster with highlight after highlight being fired at the audience. Atom Heart Mother? Yes please. Lucifer Sam? Please do. Arnold Layne and See Emily Play back to back? Oh my yes and thank you very much.

In between songs Mason himself takes a few moments to tell some anecdotes and you can’t help but laugh at the dry wit he exudes. Just before diving into Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun he tells how much he loves to play the large gong to his drum kit’s side during that track but was never allowed to whilst in Floyd by one member. Then his phone rings. “Oh yes, hi Roger,” he quips. “No, I haven’t seen your gong but I’ll keep on looking for it. Talk to you tomorrow evening probably.” It has the crowd in stitches and really sets the mood for a fun, intimate evening in a venue that is admittedly way too small to hold a band of this calibre. It makes for a special atmosphere however and that’s worth something as well.

Other absolute highlights are the formidable Echoes, a furious version of One of These Days and Remember Me, an old Floyd demo that was dissected by Beken to extract Barrett’s vocal parts from the original recordings so the band can play live to them. It’s fantastically captivating stuff. The lightshow is never spectacular but does its job to set the mood at the proper moments and the big screen at the back of the stage does wonders to convey the feeling of being in a psychedelic sixties club. Bottom line: if you ever have the chance to experience this saucerful of psychedelic classic Floyd, please don’t hesitate to do so. You won’t be disappointed.

Setlist:

1. Astronomy Domine
2. Arnold Layne
3. See Emily Play
4. Remember Me
5. Obscured by Clouds
6. When You’re In
7. Remember a Day
8. If (Opening section)
9. Atom Heart Mother
10. If (Reprise)
11. The Nile Song
12. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
13. The Scarecrow
14. Fearless
15. Childhood’s End
16. Lucifer Sam
17. Echoes
18. One of These Days
19. A Saucerful of Secrets

Line-up:

• Gary Kemp – vocals, guitars
• Lee Harris – guitars, occasional percussion, backing vocals
• Guy Pratt – vocals, bass, guitars, occasional percussion
• Dom Beken – keyboards, synthesisers, organ, piano, programming, harmonica, backing vocals
• Nick Mason – drums, gong, bell, percussion

Review by RP