Just witnessed your best live gig?..send us a review!

THE MADCAP'S LAST LAUGH
London Barbican 10 May 2007

Having been one of the lucky few to actually to get a ticket for this gig, I had been keeping a very close eye on the rumour mill for this one since it was announced.

Of course, I had been hoping that some sort of Floyd reunion would be on the cards, especially as I had missed out on the Live8 lottery for tickets. However, as the date got closer I heard from a very reliable source that David had been asked to attend and had politely declined - this didn't surprise me too much as David had already made his own very moving tribute to Syd with his solo version of Dark Globe.

I also knew that Roger Waters would be in town, but surely he was busy with his own gigs? Anyway, I tried to lower all expectations and started looking at the official line-up announcements and was pleased to see a pleasantly eccentric line-up forming.

The evening did not disappoint; we started with the Sense of Sound choir giving us their rendition of Bike, followed by a slightly nervous version of Flaming from Captain Sensible and Monty Oxymoron (they were also backed by the house band made up of Adam Peters, Simon Finley, Ted Barnes and Oasis's Andy Bell who were flawless throughout the evening).

Soft Machine's Kevin Ayers then launched into high energy versions of Here I Go and Oh, What a Dream.

Then Nick Laird-Clowes was joined by Damon Albarn - who all but hid behind the keyboards - for a hastily put together Baby Lemonade. But the highlights of the first half for me included The Bees' cracking version of Octopus and some beautiful harmonies from Martha Wainright, Kate McGarrigle and Lily Lanken as they performed Golden Hair and See Emily Play.

Then there was a buzz in the crowd as a lone figure stalked on to the stage carrying an acoustic guitar - the buzz turned into a roar as we all recognised Roger Waters! He told us how incredibly nervous he was at performing in front of a relatively small crowd and he was indeed shaking like a leaf as he performed a very moving version of his rarely-played Flickering Flame alongside Jon Carin on keyboards. And then he was gone to tumultuous applause and the first half finished. Just as well there was a break as I'd pity any performer who had to follow that.

However, the second half kicked off with a very trippy rendition of Chapter 24 led by Nick Laird-Clowes and the Sense of Sound choir. Then we were treated to Vashti Bunyan's sweet whisperings of Scarecrow and Love song (hardcore Floydies will remember her from Tonite Let's All Make Love in London).

Then Damon Albarn returned. He started by trying to bring a bit of politics to the evening by asking if we were going to miss Tony...there was a bit of a pause as many of us tried to figure out what he was going on about. Of course he meant Tony Blair who had announced that he was quitting that day, but we had far more important things on our mind...like what was he going to play!?

He then 'invited' a relative of Syd's on to the stage...although in truth it was less of an invite and more like the embarrassing badgering you get when someone is forced to do Karaoke at a wedding. A young man eventually stepped onto the stage with a bottle of beer in one hand (and the expression of a petrified hedgehog about to be hit by a car) and said a few words about 'Roger' (Syd's real name).

The poor guy was clearly uncomfortable on stage, but there was clearly plenty of love for Syd and it was only reading press reports afterwards that I discovered that this man was Ian Barrett; Syd's nephew.

Anyway, on with the show, and Albarn redeemed himself by providing a real highlight of the evening with The Word Song - one of the last things ever recorded by Syd; essentially of collection of non-sequitur words set to a Casio-keyboard beat. Albarn said he felt that this was one of the first rap songs and with the words projected behind him we all sang along.

Captain Sensible also returned with a cracking version of Astronomy Domine; he mused on the lyrics - apparently it's about nuclear war as seen by a fish underwater...and proudly told us that he'd named his son Syd - 'With the proper spelling!'

This was followed by Robyn Hitchcock performing a great solo version of Terrapin. He was soon joined by Ruby Wright on saw and bow (an instrument that cropped up throughout the evening) and John Paul Jones on mandolin for a very jolly Gigolo Aunt.

Then we had the pleasure of Chrissie Hynde performing Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe) and Late Night and that would have been a great end to the evening, but then...

Joe Boyd strode on to the stage. As co-founder of the UFO Club he was instrumental in making a name for The Pink Floyd in the London Psychedelic scene and in producing Arnold Layne he oversaw their introduction to the wider world. He thanked everyone involved in the putting the evening together including Nick Laird-Clowes, who had been particularly tenacious in getting the acts to show.

Joe then went on to say that he couldn't think of a better way to end the evening than to ask David, Nick and Rick onto the stage...the room erupted as they performed Arnold Layne with great aplomb (despite early problems with the level on Rick's vocals and keyboard). There were cries of 'Roger Waters!' to which David replied 'Yes, he was here too...and now the rest of us.'

Once done the crowd roared for more at which everyone (bar Roger) returned for a singalonga version of Bike.

So where was Roger? Rumours abound and I'll guess we'll never know, but you do wish that these four guys could put their differences aside for a few minutes to perform one song for their old mate Syd... but we Floyd fans are a fickle bunch and we're never bloody satisfied ('What do you want from me?' indeed...) and it would be churlish not to acknowledge that this was a great evening and a worthy tribute to Syd.

Yes, some of the performances were a little rough around the edges but there was something enchanting in seeing singers with lyrics scribbled on scrunched-up scraps of paper and roadies scrabbling around between set-ups and wrestling with unruly mic stands (those guys deserve a medal, by the way)... it was all very English - Chrissie Hynde even went so far as to apologise for singing in an American accent.

And I think Syd would have approved.

Review and photo by Mark Stay