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By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal, October 12th 2011, Club Nokia, Los Angeles CA: This was a gig I had been eagerly waiting for, because the show these guys put on at the adjacent Nokia Theatre two years back was quite unlike anything I'd ever seen, and I knew that only they themselves could top it. With their performance tonight, they sure did, and I was glad to be in attendance. I spoke to keyboard player and founding member Jason Sawford a few days back to talk about what they are doing differently on this particular tour as compared to the last time they were in town, and his answers made me imagine things about this show in my head. Aside from the music itself, I was looking forward to see whether my imaginations indeed would come true.

Let me focus on the first part of the headline, i.e. the "incredible performance" part. The show was divided in two sets, the first of them starting promptly at 8 'o clock and ending at 9.15, followed by a 15-minute intermission, and the second part from 9.30 to 11. The second set was the 3D part of the show, but more on that a little later. They started out with "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and everything from the music to the visuals was absolutely spot on right from the word go. I can only imagine the sheer level of effort that goes into making the songs sound exactly like Pink Floyd, not just hitting all the right notes but achieving the same sonic tone and texture, and these guys completely nail this aspect. They went on to play "Welcome To The Machine" next, but the remainder of the first set consisted of some of the deeper cuts from the Floyd catalogue, including the Syd Barrett era, which was great to see. This made it a complete Floyd experience in every regard, and ensured that it definitely wasn't the "casual" Floyd fan's cup of tea. In addition to the music and visuals, the use of lasers and strobe lights made for a truly psychedelic atmosphere.

After the brief intermission, the second set started off with an animated video clip of a kangaroo placing the Dark Side Of The Moon record on the turntable, following which the band reappeared with a wonderful rendition of the entire Side 1 of the album, much to everyone's delight. The 3D visuals added even more impetus to the already fantastic experience. This set got a better response from the casual fans in the crowd, as it had the more popular songs in it. Other than Dark Side Of The Moon, the set was decorated with a hefty selection of songs from The Wall. All members of the band performed their roles to perfection and combined to create the most authentic Floyd sound you will ever hear. As if this wasn't already enough, they even used giant inflated stage props, and the 3D visuals for "Another Brick In The Wall" took it to a whole new level, as compared to the music video of that song. It comes as no surprise to me that Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason once said that this band performs the songs even better than the real Pink Floyd. I never got to see the real Floyd, so I can't agree or disagree with that statement, but the truth to it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

The only blemish in the performance itself was the 3D aspect. I felt that the third dimension of the visual projection was just a tiny bit out of focus, and wasn't as sharp as it perhaps should have been. I'm not sure if this was because of the slight lack of accuracy of the projection itself, or the 3D glasses. May be it was just the glasses, and I guess they need to provide glasses of better quality. Nonetheless, it didn't take away much at all from the band's otherwise flawless show. What did take away from the show a lot though, was the second part of my headline, the "horrible crowd" part.

My concert experience was definitely ruined by the people around me constantly talking loudly to each other. This wasn't just me. My photographer/friend agreed with me and felt the same. I tried to avoid it by changing my position frequently, but that didn't help. The loudmouths were everywhere. The music of Floyd consists of relatively quieter parts for a good portion of it, and in order to fully understand and enjoy it, you wouldn't want to hear people talking their ears off while these parts are being performed. Sadly I was deprived of this enjoyment, and these people not only showed a complete lack of interest for the deeper sections of the music, but a total disregard for the artist on stage and fellow members of the audience. I have absolutely no idea why these people cannot just shut their mouths for a mere couple of hours and watch the damn show. At one point, I'm pretty sure even some of the musicians looked over to see why people were yelling so loudly. When a large section of the audience is so distracted, the band can definitely feel it, and I am a 100 per cent sure that these guys did too. Besides, some people were so clueless that they were wearing the 3D glasses during the non-3D part of the show, and didn't even realize that the show wasn't 3D during that whole time. If you ask them about this show even today, two days after it happened, I wouldn't be surprised if they forgot everything about it already, because they were either completely wasted or talking to their buddies the whole time. Usually I would say, "to each their own", but not when it affects my experience. The constant disturbance at shows in LA has come to such a point that the next time it happens, I will make sure to yell back at their face and tell them to quieten down.

Anyhow, this was obviously none of the band's or venue's fault, and it was a great show despite this unfortunate distraction. I liked this show more than the show I saw 2 years back, because this is a smaller venue, and everyone felt much closer to the stage. Honestly, I would rather see this than Roger Waters doing the Wall in its entirety, which is not only Pink Floyd's most overrated album, but one of the most overrated albums in the history of music. But again, that's just my opinion and I'm sure most of you disagree.

If you're a Pink Floyd fan and any of the remaining dates of this tour happen to run through your city, take my word and go to the show. Even if you're not a Pink Floyd fan, these guys will turn you into one. Watch the video we posted (link above) to get an idea of what I just talked about, and go check these guys out to treat yourself to the best Floydian experience you'll ever see.

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