Pink Floyd tribute band plays amphitheatre
By BILL RODGERS Tribune Chronicle
POSTED: June 12, 2008
If you bring this issue of The Ticket to the Warren City Amphitheatre this week and start reading Andy Gray’s column on the very first note of the ‘‘Wish You Were Here’’ set, you’ll notice that the two synch up perfectly.
Okay, maybe they won’t, but the 13-year-old Pink Floyd tribute band will try blowing your mind other ways on Saturday. Founding tribute band member Eroc Sosinski said the band is working on a light show and other Floyd-inspired state production elements, such as a large inflatable pig straight out of the ‘‘Animals’’ cover art.
‘‘For this we’re basically doing the classics that everyone knows and some obscure tunes for the real fanatics,’’ Sosinski, the bass player and vocalist of the group, said.
The tribute for the classic progressive rock act will highlight this week’s Summit Rock Showcase at the Amphitheatre. The opening act will be The Howlin’ Cats power trio.The show is free and begins at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Sosinski said the band evolved out of a Pink Floyd revue an older band of his started in the late 1980s.
Fans seemed to like it, so Sosinski ran with the idea. The eight-piece band now draws on backup singers, saxophonists, choirs and theatrics to sell its shows.
Today the band sells out shows and packs venues in Cleveland. The group has played concerts at Tower City and the Blossom Music Center. In fact, the band is planning a huge production of Floyd’s ‘‘The Wall’’ at the Tower City amphitheater on July 26.
“It’s going to be the biggest production of The Wall ever performed by a tribute band,” Sosinski said.
There will be a children’s choir, scenes from the movie and — of course — the wall itself.
‘‘It’s keeping me awake at night trying to figure it out. We’ve never done it at this scope,’’ he said.
When asked about the band’s success in the tribute circuit, Sosinski said there was something in Pink Floyd’s music that rang with every generation who hears it.
‘‘Pink Floyd music is very timeless, for instance every new generation discovers (the album) ’Dark Side of the Moon.’ It has birth, school, work and death. They’re the basic themes of life and the music is produced so well that it resonates,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve got a cross-generational appeal — ages 6 to 60 and beyond,’’ Sosinski said.
The tribute show is part of a free weekly series of cover bands hosted at the amphitheatre on Saturdays. Next week, the venue will host the Aerosmith tribute “Draw The Line” who will be backed by “The U2 Incident,” which is, of course, a U2 tribute.
brodgers@tribtoday.com
