How long will it be to tear down the wall? Many of you Pink Floyd fans out there would know exactly what I’m talking about. Being a Pink Floyd fan for years, I decided to check out another one of those Pink Floyd tribute acts called Echoes of Pompeii, a band from Indiana. Now if you’ve read my past reviews, you would notice I reviewed another Pink Floyd tribute act called The Pink Floyd Experience. I called them one of the best I’ve seen next to The Australian Pink Floyd Show. But to be honest with you, Echoes of Pompeii blew all these groups out of the water. Not just because they sounded just like the group, but they had a spectacular light show along with it. That’s what I think sets this group apart from the rest of them.
The show took place at the beautiful Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. The theatre, run by owner Ron Onesti, seemed like it used to be an old movie theatre, but when concerts are performed there, it looks totally different. EOP stated the set with a brooding cover of “Welcome to the Machine.” Led by lead singer Jason Andrews, with twin brother Jeremy Andrews on bass guitar and vocals, together they sounded great in harmony. Along with keyboardist/backup vocalist Rob Martinez and lead guitarist/vocalist Andy Hescher, these guys had it down pat. They next went into the whole “Dark side of the Moon”, but scattered the songs through the night. With the help of 3 nice female backup singers, Betsy, Melissa, and Nanette, the harmonies sounded a lot fuller. Especially, with Nanette, one of the backup singers, singing “Great Gig in the Sky,” she belted at the top of her lungs. The guys then played one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs, “Dogs” from the Animals album, then right into “Hey You.” All the chosen songs were played to perfection.
Along with the great songs, the guys put on an incredible light show complete with lasers. One thing that was a drawback, though, was that the guys stopped after each song, like they were a bar band just playing for fun. But that’s the thing I found out about these guys, is that they play for fun. They play as a Pink Floyd cover band on the side. Regularly, they play as a bar band. Now, I think that’s pretty cool, because it only makes you more versatile.
EOP were even playing some deep tracks by Floyd that many tribute bands choose not to do, including, “Vera,” “Bring the Boys Back Home,” and “One Slip.” The one player in the band who was the highlight of the night was Bob Frankich on saxophone. He played that saxophone like no one I've ever seen. Even adding sax into songs that didn't even have sax in it.
Mostly, it was a very enjoyable concert. Kudos to this group. Though, I have to leave one criticism, and that's to let the music flow into each other. Just an opinion. But overall, nice job guys!
