Tribute bands, even according to those who are in them, are easy targets to write off as musical schlock. But for Atlanta audiences who may have missed an essential live-music experience of seeing Pink Floyd playing “Dark Side of the Moon,” The Machine is offering a formidable substitute.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will join the Pink Floyd tribute band to perform all 10 songs from the beloved, best-selling 1973 album, plus other selections from the Floyd catalog.
ASO’s Jere Flint, who’s conducting the show, said the orchestral calibration of the music adds more color and texture but the performance is still a direct transcription of the songs.
For the audience, it will be a rare opportunity to hear the likes of “Money” and “Us and Them” synchronized to a sophisticated computerized light show that includes animation and special effects.
But the symphonic setting presents a challenge for the members of The Machine and the ASO.
“Doing this live is very risky for them and for us,” Flint said. “Pink Floyd was really out there. What they put together in the recording studio was so unique at the time. It really set the tone for future bands. For The Machine to go back and recreate all the synthetic sounds is really quite difficult. To add an orchestra to that is another challenge. I think it’s a really interesting experiment.”
Leading The Machine on guitar and vocal, Joe Pascarell has played a series of concerts with symphony orchestras over the past two years, including shows in Detroit, San Diego and Pittsburgh. This will be his first time with the ASO.
“The Machine has been together for 21 years,” Pascarell said. “When we play this music, it just comes naturally between the members of the band. But when you’re playing with 90 other musicians, everyone has to pay attention and watch the conductor.”
Rock bands playing with symphony orchestras is nothing new, of course. What’s different is that The Machine claims to be the first tribute band to do it. Depending on your point of view, that’s either quite a feat or a dubious distinction.
The Machine’s manager, Barney Kilpatrick, lives in Atlanta and represents several other acts that regularly work with symphonies, ranging from the Von Trapp Children to pianist Peter Nero and singer/songwriter Paula Cole.
“I always thought the concept of tribute bands was really cheesy until I saw The Machine perform live,” Kilpatrick said. “The level of musicianship was far superior to anything I’d seen in a tribute band.”
Kilpatrick brought in Maxim Moston, who has worked with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Antony and the Johnsons and Rufus Wainwright, to create all the arrangements for The Machine’s presentation of “Dark Side of the Moon.”
“He went to great pains to fully include the orchestra,” Kilpatrick said. “Often in symphony pops programs, the arrangements just have the orchestra holding whole notes as a background of sound behind the guest artist. With The Machine and ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ the orchestra is more fully integrated into the arrangements than I’ve ever seen.”
For his part, Pascarell sees the Machine’s current symphony tour as a kind of vindication for years of enduring the slings and arrows of being in a tribute band.
“I’m not stupid,” Pascarell says. “I’ve heard it all in 21 years. I’m well aware of the stigma of being in a tribute band. And honestly, most tribute bands I’ve seen aren’t that good.
“The music we’re performing is really good music. Surely, 20 years from now, and maybe 50 or 100 years from now, people are still going to be listening to ‘Dark Side of the Moon.’ I know that from my vantage point of playing it. I never get tired of playing it.”
The Machine with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 8 p.m. April 2. Tickets $21.60 -- $59.40. The Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, 404-733-411, www.woodruffcenter.org
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
