Pink Floyd Niagara back from the dark side
Pink Floyd Niagara fans, the wait is over — welcome to the machine. Again.
More than five years after its last appearance at the Seneca Queen Theatre in Niagara Falls, the local Floyd tribute band known for its authentic sound returns this month.
Led by co-founder Larry Swiercz, the group will play The Sanctuary Centre for the Arts in Ridgeway June 22 and 23, followed by a shorter, free show
July 1 at Concerts on the Canal in Welland.
“We’ve always had people that had gone to see the show (saying), ‘Hey, what’s going on?’” says Swiercz, the band’s keyboardist. “We had a couple of opportunities present themselves to us, so I decided to take a little different approach this time.
“We’ll call it … less grandiose. A little leaner version.”
Trimming the lineup from 11 to eight members and scaling back on the theatrics will open more options for the band, allowing it to play in smaller, more affordable venues. But the music is the one area off limits, says Swiercz: It’s still faithful to Floyd.
“If the music’s there and people close their eyes, I think they’re transported.”
The band first made its mark in 2007 and 2008, playing back-toback summers at Niagara Centre for the Arts. But after winning a Niagara Music Award for entertainer of the year, it’s like the band went to the great gig in the sky.
Five years later, they reemerged with a four-night stint at the Seneca Queen Theatre in downtown Niagara Falls, bringing
devoted fans out “in the dead of winter,” recalls Swiercz.
The costly show replicated Floyd’s 1994 Division Bell tour,
with the bonus of “Dark Side of the Moon” performed in its entirety after intermission.
After another five years,
Swiercz says it hasn’t been a problem getting back into the Floyd flow.
“It never goes away,” he says. “‘Dark Side of the Moon’ is just unbelievable … there are different versions you can get where you can actually hear the tracks separated, and you’ll hear stuff in there where you go ‘Oh my God, I never heard that, but that’s why it sounds that way.’”