24/08/2025

Come Together: Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon: Civic Theatre- August 23, 2025

The Come Together band reconvenes and regroups to present us with Dark Side Of The Moon and other Pink Floydian delights.

Personally, I’m still buzzing from the last Come Together show…the one that recreated Neil Young’s Live Rust album. I have a feeling its going to end up in my top 10…or even top 5 shows of the year.

But it’s a long way from Sugar Mountain to The Dark Side Of The Moon, so I was curious to see how bandleader Jol Mulholland and his crew managed the more ethereal sounds of Pink Floyd’s most commercially popular album.

To prepare myself, I cracked up a surround-sound version of the original album earlier in the day and was pleased to find that, after some 50+ years, the record holds up very well….it’s classic status remains deserved.

But Pink Floyd was a very different band than Crazy Horse, or even Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones, contemporaries that the Come Together band has tackled and emerged victorious.

By 1973, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason had jettisoned the quirky psych-pop of Syd Barrett tunes like See Emily Play and Arnold Layne for something much more “serious”.

Musically, they were using emerging tech such as VCS3 synths to make sounds no one had heard before…at least not on a “pop” record.

Which is what makes Dark Side Of The Moon the classic it is…the mix of adventurous sounds and themes along with timeless melodies and great playing.

So when the lights dimmed and the familiar sound of a heartbeat was heard coming from the iconic Civic Theatre stage, we all know what was coming, it was just a matter of how good it would sound.

Thankfully, it sounded very good.

To be fair, much of the first half of Dark Side Of The Moon is layers a synths and keys…not much for bandmembers like guitarist Brett Adams and bassist Mike Hall to do.

Luke Buda (Phoenix Foundation) sang Breath (In The Air) and I was transported back to the first time I heard the song…one brand new headphones, bought for the occasion…back in 1973.

That’s the thing…listening to Pink Floyd is a much more immersive, inward, solitary experience than the more communal vibe of The Stones, Neil Young or Zeppelin. I’m sure I had my eyes closed a good part of this first set.

Of course the highlight was going to be Jenny Skulander’s (Devilskin) take of the vocal histrionics found in The Great Gig In The Sky and originally performed by Clare Torry.

Jenny nailed it, and then some…three minutes of unhinged, over-the-top, yet still musical wailing.

At this point I should note that other vocalists included Samuel Flynn Scott (also from Phoenix Foundation), Milan Borich (Pluto) and Dianne Swann on backing vocals along with Jenny.

And the band was filled out by Finn Scholes (keys and trumpet), Nick Atkinson (sax), Matthias Jordan (keys) and Alistair Deverick on drums.

Milan sang a sinister Money and everyone joined forces on Us & Them and Brain Damage…with Nick’s sax a standout.

But the real fun was yet to come.

The second set was a Floyd fan’s dream…tracks from Wish You Were Here, The Wall, Meddle, The Final Cut…even A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, brought to life and played and sung with the passion and power they deserve.

While the band seemed a bit restrained during the Dark Side songs…due to the material, not the musicians…they really took their opportunities to play like a band on songs like Have A Cigar, Echoes and Young Lust.

Highlights…and there were many…included Brett Adams singing Learning To Fly followed by Luke’s very impressive vocal on Hey You.

The guitars got a workout on One Of These Days (how cool!), The Final Cut and, of course, Comfortably Numb.

And there was Sam Scott’s power drill.