“If you didn’t care what happened to me,
And I didn’t care for you,
We would zigzag our way through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain
Wondering which of the buggars to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing.”
Pink Floyd fans will recognize these words from the song “Pigs on the Wing,” originally written by Roger Waters in 1977 off of the album “Animals.” It’s one of a handful of songs redone by the cover band Pigs on the Wing. The group remade many of Pink Floyd’s classic songs at the Fox Thursday night. Covering a band as famous as Pink Floyd is quite a task; there are many fans who are very skeptical of cover bands, but Pigs on the Wing nailed it.
Lead guitarist Matt Weiss from Collective Efforts and Bassist David Murphy from STS9 have been working on this project for a while and were finally able to put together an eight-piece band that would bring back the 70s with one of its most influential rock bands.
Although many in the audience said they enjoyed the show, some people had a hard time loving it knowing it was not the original artists.
Emily Kessler, a 21-year-old international affairs senior, said she thought the show was good but said she had somewhat of a biased opinion.
“I thought it was good,” Kessler said. “I have a biased opinion. I just got back from the Phish festival, Phish was raging so it’s hard to compare.”
Kessler said they did well for a cover band.
“I think the lead singer really had the voice nailed,” Kessler said.
David Murphy, more commonly known as Murph to his STS9 fans, brought in quite a large crowd. As they began their set with the entire “Animals” album, there was a lot of cheering and screaming for “Sound Tribe!” even though this was a show dedicated to Pink Floyd.
Kessler said a lot of the crowd wasn’t there for the psychedelic rock but more so because they knew Murphy would be performing.
“I think this place would have had 10 people if Murph wasn’t here,” Kessler said. “People flock to him, like birds to a feather.”
Jan Mc Sparin, a 19-year-old sophomore chemical engineering major, said he attended the show Thursday night because of Pink Floyd, but said he thought Murphy’s skill on the bass definitely added to the show.
“I was pretty excited about Pink Floyd but hearing that Murph was going to be here was definitely a big part of it,” Mc Sparin said.
Mc Sparin said he was happy to see real instruments being used on stage once again instead of the DJs and electronic mash-ups that have been predominant in the Boulder music scene lately.
“It was nice to see some instruments on the stage at The Fox for a change,” Mc Sparin said. “I was pretty refreshed by it all.”
Being one of the first bands to emerge in London’s psychedelic underground, Pink Floyd used a combination of techniques that made it easy to really get lost in the music. Mixing different sounds and noises with incredibly strong and often dark lyrics, Pink Floyd continues to influence the modern-music scene. Pigs on the Wing faithfully recreated all of the Pink Floyd material they covered, showing a lot of attention to detail in their productions of songs like “Shine on you Crazy Diamond” and “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.”
The show ended with one of Pink Floyds deepest and most popular songs, “Comfortably Numb.” This song was beautifully redone, the instrumentals were right on point and the crowd was in a trance as the song echoed throughout The Fox.
Lindsey Bailey, a 21-year-old senior double majoring in MCD biology and finance, said she didn’t expect them to end with “Comfortably Numb,” one of her favorite songs.
“I’m surprised they ended with ‘Comfortably Numb,’” Bailey said. “It’s one of my favorites and I thought it was a good ending song. I thought they covered it really well.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Amanda Dovel at Amanda.dovel@colorado.edu.
