The sense and nonsense of tribute bands has already been discussed several times in this magazine. And then Echoes released "Barefoot To The Moon" with acoustic versions of Pink Floyd classics that took any discussion to absurdity. His originality and joy of playing, his charm and wit make this live recording a masterpiece. Now the most successful German Floyd tribute presents its second DVD/Blu-ray/2CD: "Live From The Dark Side", recorded last year at the "Rock Of Ages" festival.
Compared to the acoustic freestyle of "Barefoot To The Moon", the electrically amplified "Live From The Dark Side" seems like a must, presenting a Floyd best-of that plays it safe with its track selection. "It was important for us to take songs that most people know and that suit us," explains singer/guitarist Oliver Hartmann. "It's a cross-section of what we've been playing for several years." And drummer Steffen Maier adds: "If we wanted to do justice to everyone, we could play for four or five hours. We already had one or the other exotic in the setlist. But at a festival time is limited and you don't only have Floyd hardcore fans in your audience. I'm the only one of us who likes the early stages. I've been arguing for Set The Controls to be recorded for years. But I bite on granite."
In fact, "Live From The Dark Side" is much more than a must-have. The performance at "Rock Of Ages" offered an illustrious crowd of surprise guests: Geoff Tate (Operation: Mindcrime) and Michael Sadler (Saga) singing, Midge Ure (Ultravox) playing guitar, Claude Leonetti (Lazuli) contributing a solo on the Léode. Hartmann: "We had the idea to bring other musicians, who also play at the festival, to our stage. I knew Geoff from my work with Avantasia. Steffen has already done the booking for Lazuli. The band had arrived a day earlier so Claude could be there."
