Popular Pink Floyd tribute band excited for first show back

Popular Pink Floyd tribute act Wish You Were Here excited for first live show since before pandemic

Wish You Were Here bassist-singer Eric “Eroc” Sosinski prides himself on being an expert in all things Pink Floyd. So when it comes to bootlegs of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame act, he may be an ideal person to provide perspective on the recently remastered 1975 Los Angeles concert captured by legendary bootlegger Mike Millard.

“While they have a new version of it, there are other iconic (bootlegs) that have meant more to me and I’m more familiar with,” Sosinski said. “There’s the 1977 Cleveland Stadium and Oakland Stadium shows.

“Interest in these bootlegs is great because it shows how timeless the music is — that people are exploring audience recordings or soundboard recordings 40 or 50 years down the line. They love the material so much, and they want to hear more of it. They want to hear different versions of it because they already listened to the original album so many times.”

That’s exactly what the Millard show offers even casual fans of the classicrock act, which at that time still featured David Gilmour and Roger Waters. The latter would leave the group less than a decade later.

Mind you, the Los Angeles concert includes popular tracks “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” and “Have a Cigar” from the then-unreleased album “Wish You Were Here,” which would come out less than a year later, as well as songs from 1977 effort “Animals.” The band does play “The Dark Side of the Moon” in its entirety.

Performing in a Pink Floyd cover band for more than 30 years, Sosinski also uses bootlegs as a fruitful resource — a paint-by-numbers guide, if you will — on how to recreate the group’s legendary concerts, which included a stellar light show and often a floating pig.

What fans can hear from the Los Angeles show (bit. ly/pf-la-75) is a crunchier, looser and hungrier Pink Floyd coming into its own.

“Later versions of Pink Floyd, at least with David’s guitar, have more polish to them, less aggression,” said Sosinski, who saw the band live in concerts a handful of times in the ‘80s and ‘90s. “But as you get older, that’s how you tend to play and interpret the material, too. In WYWH, we still try to keep some of that aggression and the power.

“The whole appeal of Pink Floyd is both the aggressively heavy moments, as well as the very quiet, contemplative and psychedelic moments. The juxtaposition of both of those (is what makes) Pink Floyd timeless, as well.”

Fans of Wish You Were Here are going to get to see the act’s first live performance since February 2020 when it headlines a Rockin’ on the River concert July 17 at Lorain Port Authority Black River Landing.

“We’re calling this the aptly named ‘Coming Back to Life’ tour” said Sosinski, the group borrowing the name from a late-Floyd-era

tune. “There are so many people who haven’t seen us in almost a year and a half, so we’re going more hits than classics with still a few obscurities.

“It’s what a lot of people have missed. It should be one of our biggest crowds of the year. We’re very excited and a little nervous — there’s definitely some anticipation.”

JOE KLEON Wish You Were Here strives to bring the sound — and all the visual bells and whistles — to their Pink Floyd tribute shows.

Can you have a Pink Floyd tribute show without an inflatable pig? It’s possible Ohio’s Wish You Were Here doesn’t intend to find out.