Photos and review by Optifanatics
This incredible event was a tribute to the late Syd Barrett, a founder member of Pink Floyd, produced by Nick Laird-Clowes (of Dream Acadamy and Trashmonk fame) with associate producer Joe Boyd (early Pink Floyd's producer and founder of legendary UFO club in London). Surprise performances from Roger Waters himself with Jon Carin then the entire current Pink Floyd line-up (David Gilmour, Richard Wright, Nick Mason) were absolutely unbelievable!

The numerous other artists performing Syd Barrett's music included Damon Albarn (Blur/Gorillaz), Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), The Bees, Vashti Bunyan, Captain Sensible, Robyn Hitchcock. The house band included Andy Bell (bass, Oasis), Simon Finley (drums, Echo & The Bunnymen) and Ted Barnes (guitar, Beth Orton).

Lighting legend and Pink Floyd's original lighting designer, Peter Wynne-Willson, provided a stunning giant-scale psychedelic light-show across the large venue, aided by Neil from Optikinetics, Geoff, Sid, Lightning Rod and co - this really was a lighting dream team! The effects were amazing, including numerous liquid/oil based effects, cassettes, the giant Sploda, polarised crystal wheels and Total Eclipse. We were on hand to photograph the event from both in front and behind the projectors! These included numerous Solar 575 projectors, K4, modified OHPs, 2 massive ETC 6kW xenon projectors with external ducted cooling and Peter's range of amazing large scale attachments including his giant Spoldascope!
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The Barbican is a funny venue; it's a concert hall but it always feels more like somewhere students should graduate rather than a place for a rock'n'roll event. However, the acoustics are fine there, and for the show Peter Wynne Wilson had put together the kind of light show that the Floyd would have used in the 60s, with droplets of coloured liquid moving across the stage and its surroundings, along with a video screen backdrop that showed film of Syd and early Floyd now and then. There was a big laugh when the classic b&w interview "But why does it all have to be so terribly LOUD?" was shown.

I didn't write down a set list; in fact it would have been difficult to keep up with it, as it was very much a 'play your song then let the next act on' situation - but that didn't detract from the mood of the evening in any way. It made it more interesting, wondering who the next bunch of musicians lurking in the shadows to the left of the stage might be (Robyn being one of the few who were instantly recognisable).

The thing that struck me most was how many different kinds of artists could find something so personal in Syd's songs, and produce their own very different interpretations, whilst all at once remaining true to the essence of the song. Everyone who played tonight seemed to have a genuine and deep fondness for Syd's songs, and even though so many songs were played, there never seemed to be a shortage of great songs. I guess when you think of how short a time it was from the beginning to the end of Syd's recording career, that's quite something.

Joe Boyd spoke a little about Syd and his memories of him, and Syd's nephew was invited up onto the stage by Damon Albarn, although I think the size of the audience might have been a bit intimidating and he didn't say a lot, except to thank people for being there celebrating Syd ("Rog")'s songs.

Captain Sensible did an excellent Astronomy Domine with the house band, who were excellent. There was also a large choir that came on for a couple of numbers, notably for Nick Laird-Clowes' Chapter 24, which worked marvellously with the light show, the choir building up an amazing crescendo towards the end.

Robyn looked like he was enjoying himself, and his rendition of Terrapin really was beautiful. I always like the acoustic Robyn/JPJ on mando combination, so it was a treat for Gigolo Aunt, and Ruby wasn't the only saw player there tonight - David Coulter also played saw in some of the other numbers. I'd never picked up on the fact that that particular sound was made by a saw! Goodness knows what I thought it was. That's the thing about early Floyd, you're never quite sure how they got some of those sounds, which makes it all the more magical, for me anyway.

Roger Waters admitted to being nervous to begin with, but seemed to relax as he played, and he was warmly received. Later, when the other Floyds came on, there was the inevitable cry of "Where's Roger?" from one or two in the audience, but David just said "Yes, he was here too!" Interestingly (I was close to the musician's entrance to the auditorium so tended to see who was watching whom) David did come in to see Roger play his set. Of course it would have been wonderful if the four had played together, but I came away from tonight's show just feeling incredibly lucky to have been there, and having enjoyed it very much indeed. Long live Syd's songs.

Charlotte
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The highlights for me were Kate Mcgarrigle (Piano And Vocals), her daughter Martha Wainwright and Martha's cousin (vocals) Singing 'Golden Hair' And 'See Emily Play', But otherwise it was a wonderful evening of musical saws and songs. The show opened with a recording of Blind Boy Fuller and a cutting mentioning Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. The a massed choir trooped on stage unannounced, sang 'Bike' and trooped off again.

Kevin Ayers sang 'Here I Go' apologising for singing it an octave too low, and one of his own songs - O Wot A Dream -dedicated to Syd, which I last saw him perform at the QEH on the Whatevershebringswesing tour, I think.. or was it 'Bananamour'?

Captain Sensible performed an excellent 'Flaming' during the first half and a sturdy 'Astronomy Domine' during the second, complete with smoke effects; apparently he named his son Syd after Syd.

The Bees played a memorable version of 'Octopus' with spot on vocals and the only guitar playing all evening that came anywhere near Syd's angular style (Robyn Chose To Play Acoustic Accompaniments When He Came On Later)..

Mike Heron From The String Band Sang 'Matilda Mother' very cheerfully. I was expecting him to sing one more song but that was it.

Was I surprised that Roger Waters ended the first half? Many people in the audience certainly were. He performed a song of his own which to me sounded like a cross between 'Ebony Eyes' and 'Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues' with mentions of Arapaho Indians etc. Anyone recognise this from my inadequate description?

Nick Clowes (?) a singularly unpersonable guitarist and vocalist, performed 'Baby Lemonade' (with Damon Albarn on piano and backup vocals) in the first half and opened the second half with 'Chapter 24' (complete with massed choir and freaky cello solo), after the notorious 'und they are much too loud und boring' Hans Keller BBC clip (wrongly attributed to ITV in the handout).

Vashti Bunyan attempted 'Scarecrow' in a key that was too high for her and then sang 'Love Song'; some other woman did a totally humourless 'The Gnome'; Damon Albarn with
another musical saw player (or was it the same one?) and a clarinettist performed a silly singalong version of 'Word Song' and brought Syd's nephew on stage to say something:
"Listen to the words, they are really important, Uncle Roger's words and songs".

Robyn Hitchcock performed a fine version of 'Terrapin' solo, wearing his trademark polka dot shirt, and 'Gigolo Aunt' with John Paul Jones on mandolin and Ruby Wright on
(you've guessed it) musical saw. Barring the Canadians, who sing as a family, his vocals were noticeably the most consistent all evening. Chrissie Hynde apologised for singing in an American accent and had a valiant stab at 'Won't You Miss Me?' then performed a sensational 'Late Night' - or do I mean 'Dark Globe' (When I Woke Up Today And You Weren't Here To Play Then I Wanted To Stay With You, that one)."This song is a corker" she said; I thought it was terrific - she should put it out as a single, if there are such things nowadays.

Joe Boyd came on towards the end and thanked Nick Clowes for energy and organisation, The Boyle Family for their unmistakeable light show, the Floyd's original sound man who was doing the sound, and so forth. Very interesting reminiscence on how in late 66 Syd played him about half a dozen songs and said I don't think these are right for the band - do you know any singers who would like them?. Joe was obviously so disaffected with Syd after his last poor show at The UFO Club in July 67 that he didn't really care for the 2 solo slbums at the time but he did notice that several of the songs were the same ones Syd had played him. Syd always brought a kind of bounce to everything - people walk a bit differently after hearing his songs - I hope you will walk a bit differently on the way home tonight. And how do we end a show like this? Let's bring on the Pink Floyd to play 'Arnold Layne'!

No, Roger didn't play with them, but there were Rick, Nick And Dave Gilmour on stage, looking a little older than the last time I saw them at The Crystal Palace Bowl (15th May, 1971, just looked it up). Perhaps predictably, the sound engineer missed the first line sung by Rick, but the rest of the song was all fine. The crowd went politely wild and they brought on the entire cast and the entire choir to watch 'Jug Band Blues' accompanying Syd on vid, and to sing 'Bike' again and then it was over. Right at the
end there was a video of Syd walking away from the camera with that characteristic bounce, accompanied by the final Seconds Of 'Piper' - Uh Uh Uh Uh Aah Uh-Uh, Uh Uh Uh Uh Aah Uh-Uh.

- Mike G.

PS Definitely an evening worth catching, where were you all? I only spoke to one bloke in a Soft Boys T-shirt and he hadn't heard about the 'Games For May' show. Nobody Performed 'Lucifer Sam' Or 'Rats' Or 'Puddletown Tom Was The Underground' Or 'Opel' Or 'Silas Lang' or 'Vegetable Man' or 'Scream thy last scream' come to think of it - but
who's counting?
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What a wonderful celebration it was the other day at the Barbican of the music and genius of Syd Barrett, who's sadly not with us any more.

Being well known Syd aficionados Monty Oxymoron and myself were invited along to perform a couple of the great mans classics and we were lucky enough to snap up 'Flaming' and 'Astronomy Domine' seeing as they both have improv opportunities in-between the vocal sections. And what with that and watching the other performers do their
renditions of Syd's weird and wonderful material we had a pretty spectacular evening.

But the occasion also reacquainted me with some chums and colleagues from right across my jolly old life in the business that they call 'show'.

There was the ever psychedelic Robyn Hitchcock, with whom I used to write songs while recording my A+M albums.... Chrissy Hynde, former member of the Johnny Moped band who was very excited to hear that her former band mate might be tempted back onto a stage sometime soon.

Then there was Adam Peters who produced my tracks 'The Toys Take Over' and 'Revolution Now'. He was playing in the excellent house band and was using the self same electric cello that he used to such great effect on those songs of mine. I said to him... I wish he'd done the whole album. Oh well...

And talking about producers - seeing as it was a tribute night for his former colleague the Pink Floyd drummer and the Damned's 'Music For Pleasure' album producer Nick Mason was there and we had a nice chat about the weirdness surrounding that particular recording session for all concerned. In fact, one of the more NORMAL things about it was when Lol Coxhill the avant garde sax player turned up to jam on a track... walking through the door with two life size dummies of a pair of snotty brats on roller skates.

All the other remaining Floydsters were there, including guitarist Dave Gilmour who was nice enough to complement our rendition of 'Astronomy'. In fact, everyone involved had left their egos at home in the circumstances (including me, lol) and the whole evening had a sense of joy and happiness to it that I don't think anyone who was there will ever forget. And I'll tell you what... I've not been able to shift the extremely melodic and immensly catchy songs of Mr Barrett from my brain since the night.

Other funny moments were having a laugh with Damon Albarn comparing notes on daft hyped up band rivalries (his with Oasis, ours with the Pistols)... oh, and the ever charming Kevin Ayers dishing out potions and remedies for any artists with ailments - however trivial. It was.... "take a couple of these, they'll sort you out". What a nice bloke - I told him his song 'We Did It Again' contained the first riff I ever learned. And it WAS perfect for a beginner being made up of only two notes! The funny thing was though, that even though we didn't know one end of a guitar from the other - having learned a SOFT MACHINE tune Genetic Breakdown (my band of the time, which became the aforementioned Moped group) thought we were impressive jazz rockers of some sort... no wonder the other bands in Croydon hated us!

Blimey, I'm rambling - but meeting these luminaries from the past has jogged the old memory somewhat, and brought back some of those fun times. At one point Chrissy said something strange - "but whatever made us do 'Me And Mrs Jones'". Whatever she was alluding to I had no idea... maybe it should be kept that way!?!

Anyway, here's the setlist.... unfortunately the gig wasn't filmed OR recorded as far as I know which is a shame.... but knowing Floyd fans there's probably a bootleg out there somewhere. It really was a very special night... for a very special bloke.

SETLIST:
- Sense of Sound Choir: Bike
- Captain Sensible and Monty Oxymoron: Flaming
- Kevin Ayers: Here I Go
- Kevin Ayers: Oh, What A Dream
- Nick Laird-Clowes and Damon Albarn: Baby Lemonade
- The Bees: Octopus
- Nick Laird-Clowes and Neulander: The Gnome
- Mike Heron: Matilda Mother
- Martha Wainright, Kate McGarrigle and Lily Lanken: Golden Hair
- Martha Wainright, Kate McGarrigle and Lily Lanken: See Emily Play
- Roger Waters and Jon Carin: Flickering Flame

Intermission
- Sense of Sound Choir and Nick Laird-Clowes: Chapter 24
- Vashti Bunyan, Gareth Dickson and Nick Laird-Clowes: Scarecrow
- Vashti Bunyan, Gareth Dickson and Nick Laird-Clowes: Love Song
- Ian Barrett, talking about his uncle Rog
- Damon Albarn, Kate St John and David Coulter: The Word Song
- Captain Sensible, Monty Oxymoron and Jon Carin: Astronomy Domine
- Robyn Hitchcock: Terrapin
- Robyn Hitchcock, John Paul Jones and Ruby Wright: Gigolo Aunt
- Chrissie Hynde and Adam Seymour: Dark Globe (Wouldn't You Miss Me)
- Chrissie Hynde and Adam Seymour: Late Night
- Joe Boyd, talking about Syd and organising the show
- David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason: Arnold Layne
- All performers (except Roger Waters): Bike

House band: Ted Barnes, Andy Bell, Simon Finley and Adam Peters

--from Captain Sensible's blog
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Online review by The Guardian
orty years after Syd Barrett wrote most of Pink Floyd's colossal debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, this stellar evening is a fitting tribute. Barrett's iconic status is unparalleled, despite recording just two sketchy solo albums after quitting Floyd and then becoming a total recluse until his death last year, aged 60.

Captain Sensible knows a little about eccentricity and provides a fine reading of the whimsical Flaming and trippy Astronomy Domine before 60s survivor Kevin Ayers, who often backed Barrett with Soft Machine, neatly morphs the plaintive whine of Here I Go into a beguiling prog-jazz croon. Nick Laird-Clowes and Damon Albarn turn the muted psychedelia of Baby Lemonade into a celebration and the Bees brilliantly channel the stoned, Lennon-like groove of Octopus. Former Floyd bassist Roger Waters then provides the night's one bum note, bizarrely opting to play one of his own songs, Flickering Flame.

Robyn Hitchcock strums through a loving take on Gigolo Aunt, abetted by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Chrissie Hynde superbly relays the alien paranoia of Dark Globe, Barrett's wired shrug at his own drug-induced schizophrenic meltdown.

To close, David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason - but, tellingly, not Waters - reunite as Pink Floyd to reprise their 1967 debut single Arnold Layne, an astral ramble that still seems to pulse directly from Barrett's LSD-suff used cortex. It is a moving climax to a tribute evening that is near to perfection.