The Australian Pink Floyd - Royal Albert Hall

I was impressed by the Australian Pink Floyd Show when I saw the band in Croydon when they toured the UK in 2009 but I still find it difficult to comprehend just how much effort has gone into the production of this current show. The fact that it was staged at a sold-out Royal Albert Hall tells you something about the professionalism of the ensemble, most visible in the details of their back screen projections where they grasped every possible opportunity to illustrate their origins by subverting Pink Floyd's original films and graphic ideas.
There was no overriding theme to the performance so this was a trip through the Floyd back-catalogue, from the beginnings of the group with Arnold Layne which was followed on the set list by Shine On You Crazy Diamond parts I-V, then Wish You Were Here, then Marooned, creating a short theme which provided the audience with time to think about former Floyd members Syd Barrett and Richard Wright.
I was a little surprised by some of the choice of tunes, opening with two instrumentals from the largely forgettable Obscured By Clouds and including two more of the less obvious choices from The Division Bell, Coming Back To Life and Take It Back. My previously expressed disinterest in The Wall shouldn't detract from the Aussie Floyd version, where the first five songs were played as a suite and Run Like Hell was played just before the encore, Comfortably Numb. To enhance the show they had added a puppet 'Teacher' for Another Brick In The Wall, part 2 so even without any wall-building it had the feel of a total rock show - a giant pink kangaroo appeared during a strobe-enhanced freak out in One Of These Days.
A Roger Waters-like acidic wit was displayed on an excellent version of Pigs (Three Different Ones) which, along with the Dark Side Of The Moon excerpts and Shine On, was one of my personal highlights.
The musicianship was faultless, the light show was stunning and it was all held together with subtle humour. It was also impressive that they got a clear, balanced sound from the sometimes unforgiving auditorium. A very enjoyable evening.