Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

At the glorious Manchester Apollo tonight to see “Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets” the band formed by the ex Pink Floyd drummer to play (mainly) the Syd Barrett era Floyd songs that have been overlooked by the likes of Gilmour and Waters in their solo projects.
This is the third time they’ve played here and it’s the third time I’ve seen them here! Compared to that first gig in 2018, the band are so much tighter and the playing is superb. Not really that surprising when you’ve got long term Floyd/Gilmour sideman Guy Pratt on bass and no less a luminary than Gary Kemp (who describes himself as an uber Pink Floyd fanboy) on lead guitar.
An excellent gig, with “Echoes” being a particular standout. And kudos to Mr Mason - he might have turned 80 this year, but still thumped those drums with great aplomb for over two hours.
We even got into Manchester without delays and found a parking space really close to the Apollo. So when the show finished at just after 10, we thought we might actually be home well before midnight. Sadly this was not to be the case as a succession of closed roads, badly signed diversions and drivers who hadn’t got a clue where they were going meant that we didn’t get home until after 12.
Which is a roundabout way of saying sorry for the late posting!