Earlier this week, I received an email from reader Bill Harris in Goochland who suggested I check out The Machine, the Pink Floyd tribute band playing The National.

I’ve been hearing about these guys from a lot of my Floydian friends, so I took everyone’s advice and popped by The Nat Saturday after enduring the ho-hum second period of the Richmond Renegades/Fayetteville FireAntz game at the Richmond Coliseum.

(Side note: what an unusual – yet enjoyable – experience to have two events taking place within blocks of each other in downtown Richmond on a Saturday night.)

Anyway, I got to the venue in time to hear The Machine rolling through “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” before they broke for a well-deserved intermission. Disappointingly, no inflated pig drifted through the venue, but that’s about all that was missing from the band’s perfectly textured reads of the songs.

The New York-based Machine has existed for about two decades, and even though they mix up the set list every night, they always include David Gilmour and Roger Waters songs and often Floyd’s post-Waters “Learning to Fly” (which they also played in Richmond).

In some venues, the light show rivals the musicianship, but at The National, it was a tasteful combination of moody coloring (mostly green) and a circular video screen that projected film images (the massive “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” offered smiley people turning cartwheels).

This is a tribute band—Ryan Ball (bass), Scott Chasolen (keyboards), Todd Cohen (drums) and Joe Pascarell (guitar, vocals) – that does everything right.

Pascarell expertly imitated Gilmour’s clean, fluid guitar lines, vocals were spot-on without ever seeming overly cover band-ish and the general vibe these guys project immediately transports a listener back to the ‘70s – and gives the younger ones an inkling of what they missed.

Naturally, the majority of the crowd of about 800 was filled with middle-aged men getting as much of a Floyd fix as they’ll see anytime soon – unless they want to road trip to New York or Atlanta for this summer’s Roger Waters encore “Dark Side of the Moon” tour. But there was also a surprising number of older teens singing along with every word. Good to see they’ve already got their musical heads on straight.

As for The Machine, if you missed them, check out YouTube or http://www.themachinelive.com for clips. Also floating around is a concert DVD from a two-night 2005 stand at The Keswick Theatre in suburban Philly.

Thanks to those who prodded me to hear the band – definitely time well spent.

Posted by Melissa Ruggieri in • Entertainment • Music
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