Offering a true-blue version of Pink Floyd

The tribute band looked and sounded like the British supergroup.
By GUY D'ASTOLFO
VINDICATOR ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- I never saw Pink Floyd in concert, but hey, if they were just half as good as their No. 1 tribute band...
Just kidding.
But seriously, Australian Pink Floyd's show Wednesday at the Youngstown Convocation Center was an amazing facsimile of the real thing.
The Aussies recaptured the music -- and the magical atmosphere -- of the brilliant British rock band, whose heyday was in the '70s.
It was definitely a throwback. Many of the roughly 3,000 fans held up flames from lighters to lure the band back for an encore. That's how they used to do it before cell phones, with their glowing LED screens, were invented.
For a band whose performance is essentially an act of imitation, the applause was real. Sure, the brooding-but-explosive music of Pink Floyd was the real star. But there was genuine appreciation for the Aussies' verisimilitude to the real Pink, right down to their stage presence and musical virtuosity.
The Wednesday show in Youngstown was the first in APF's 2005-06 world tour, but you'd never know it. The group was in mid-tour form. And how many tribute bands actually go on world tours, anyway?
The set
The first half of the concert was a note-for-note replaying of the landmark album, "Dark Side of the Moon." A giant circular video screen backdrop flashed endlessly mesmerizing psychedelia that was in sync to the music, with occasional film snippets that seemed to be making some kind of social commentary, but I couldn't tell for sure.
APF wasn't stuck entirely in the past. During "Brain Damage" (known to many as "The Lunatic Is on the Grass") footage of world leaders such as President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Saddam Hussein were shown on the backdrop.
After an intermission, the Aussies came back and played assorted Floyd hits, such as "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," "Tongue-Tied and Twisted," "The Wall," "Wish You Were Here," "Have A Cigar" and "Comfortably Numb."
While the band wasn't the real thing, some of the stage props were. Choreographed laser lights danced over the crowd and at one point, a giant -- about 30-foot -- smirking kangaroo was inflated behind the band and "danced" to the music. It was the same one used in Floyd shows.
Another Floyd trademark that made an appearance was the giant mirrored globe, which descended to throw shards of light across the hall toward the end of the show.