Dark Side of the Moon 50th anniversary gig to return to Warwick church this June

By James Smith

3rd May 2023 | Local News

St Mary's Church will host the Dark Side of the Moon concert on June 1 (image supplied)
St Mary's Church will host the Dark Side of the Moon concert on June 1 (image supplied)

A live celebration of the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album will return to Warwick's St Mary's Church this June.

Some 200 people had to be turned away from the Old Square church - which was full to capacity - when it hosted the original gig on Thursday, March 23.

As a result a second event, run by St Mary's organ scholar Colin Millington, will be held on Thursday, June 1.

The evening will see a cast of local musicians perform the classic album in its entirety.

Colin, a former organ scholar at Corpus Christi, Cambridge, started listening to progressive rock a few years ago and loved the concept album.

With Dark Side of the Moon standing out to him as something that could be interpreted on the church organ, and with 2023 being the album's 50th anniversary, he said it was the perfect time to act on it.

Through discussion with a teaching colleague, Nick Jones (of Archways Drum School in Leamington), Colin changed his focus to presenting the album with a seven-piece band, but still featuring the church organ.

Nick recruited fellow members of local long-standing covers band KTO, Chris Johnson (lead guitar and vocals), Alex Davis (bass), Emma Doupe (vocals), Eleanor Sandbrook (saxophone) and Nick Johnson (keys and vocals) for the ambitious project.

The show will be accompanied by a laser light show provided by Bouncing Beamz, adding to the spectacle in the dramatic and historic venue.

During the March show the band performed an encore of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb to the delight of the audience and this plus some further surprises are in store for the audience on 1 June.

The band said it is looking forward to once again playing the whole of the album in the setting of St Mary's Church, featuring the church's two pipe organs.

Following the success of the original concert at St Mary's, the band was invited to perform the show in the intimate Leamington venue, Temperance, on 17 August – two more different venues would be hard to find!

This turned out to be Temperance's fastest selling show, selling out in under two hours.

Another show was quickly arranged for the following night and this has also sold out – beating its own record!

Other churches and venues have been reaching out to bring the show to their communities and the musicians involved are looking forward to continuing their celebration of one of rock's most enduring albums.

Anyone interested in booking the show for their venue or event can email [email protected] for further information.

Tickets for the St Mary's concert on Thursday 1 June are now available from Eventbrite here.

     

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