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Capacity: 1,700

Concert starts: 8pm TBC

Address of venue: Chalk Farm Rd, Camden Town, London NW1 8EH. MAP

Website: www.roundhouse.org.uk

COMMENTS

When Nick Mason (during the press launch of the Rome staging of The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains) made comments in Italy about heading out to small venues, to play early Pink Floyd songs, few took the remarks seriously. As unlikely as it seemed, Nick was entirely truthful and in the initial announcement a set of four shows in London were announced for his new band. Due to the critical success of those shows in May 2018, held in small venues in Camden and Putney, a full European tour was announced for September. The expanded shows for the full tour were even more highly acclaimed, and it came as no surprise when further dates for 2019 were announced!

Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets brings together some familiar names, all great musicians: joining Nick are Gary Kemp and Lee Harris on guitars, Guy Pratt on bass, and Dom Beken on keyboards. Kemp is best known for his work with Spandau Ballet, Harris as having played guitar with The Blockheads (Ian Dury's band), Pratt needs no introduction, and Beken is principally known for his work with The Orb, and Transit Kings (with Pratt). The band will be playing early Pink Floyd songs.

This is a unique opportunity to experience Pink Floyd's celebrated and significant early body of work played live including songs from albums 'The Piper At The Gates of Dawn' and 'A Saucerful Of Secrets'.

The regular sale of tickets started on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th at 10am (UK time), via Ticketmaster, Seetickets, TheSaucerfulOfSecrets.com and the venues themselves.

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Do not read on if you don't want surprises to be spoilt, regarding what the band played!

Well, this pair of shows (Friday and Saturday night) bring things nicely full circle. It was May last year - just under twelve months ago - that the first public performance of Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets took place in Camden, North London. For that performance, it was in front of just 500 friends, family and fans, at Dingwall's. One year later, on the back of three more London pub gigs (those at the Half Moon in Putney, to just 250 a night), a European tour last September, and a packed March/April going around the United States and Canada, the band were back in the UK for five shows in six nights, playing larger venues.

More than that, the success of the venture thus far meant that a handful of cameras filmed the Aylesbury show, and the first of these Roundhouse gigs, and a grand total of 18(!) were pressed into action for the second night at the Roundhouse. These included remotely operated cameras, and one suspended on wires which flew back and forth above the audience.

The inference of this expensive and challenging exercise (cameras were positioned to minimise any impact on the audience) is that the shows have been filmed with the plan to release something in future. More details on all that, of course, once we have them.

Whereas David Gilmour seems to gravitate toward the Royal Albert Hall for his London performances in recent times, the Roundhouse is fast becoming the "home venue" for Nick and his Saucers, or the Secrets in his Saucer, "or whatever" (as he sometimes refers to them). And this is no bad thing. The Roundhouse is a great venue and has much Pink Floyd history. The band played there in October 1966, a number of months before turning professional, and whilst in the earlier days the Roundhouse as a venue left something to be desired, not least in creature comforts, the recent refurb has resulted in a smart, comfortable and professional venue, with helpful staff throughout.

The band have been getting better and better as time goes on, seemingly with each and every show, and they are definitely "in tune" with each other - with more shows, comes more awareness of how to perform (for example) improvised sections with greater confidence and understanding. It is such a joy to watch the band in action, sparking off each other, and making each show a unique experience. Having been fortunate enough to attend the two previous shows (Aylesbury on Tuesday, and Cambridge on Wednesday) I knew the band were really in the groove, performance-wise, so there was no need to try and "step things up" for filming.

Happily, the Friday and Saturday performances at the Roundhouse did feel stepped up from previous, with every member putting in another exemplary performance. It's hard to quantify, but for me, and others I spoke to, Saturday had the edge. Fortunately, of course, it was the night that had the major camera focus, but the discrete nature of the filming gave me the impression that the band didn't really notice, so weren't putting in extra purely for this reason. Speaking generally, the Saucers have organically grown as a band, very quickly blowing away any thoughts anyone might have had of them being a tribute band. Some of the biggest sceptics I know ate their words upon hearing the band, within the first song or two of their first live experience. Of all the Floyd-related gigs, from my personal recollection this is by far the one where pretty much everyone clamours to have the chance to see them again.

Everything just seemed to "click" for the pair of Roundhouse shows. The sound - in a place that must give unique challenges to the crew with its layout - was superb. As implied by the name, it is a circular building, with a high vaulted roof, and iron pillars surrounding the main audience space. It started life as a train turning building, with a large turntable in the centre. Despite all the renovations, one can still easily imagine a locomotive coming in, revolving, and leaving on another track. The detail and fullness of the sound was a joy, with perfect clarity at all times. As for the lighting, it was upgraded from previous shows, with a circular lighting rig above the audience, and general adjustments had been made to luminosity specifically for the cameras, so they could pick up every detail, nice and clearly. A great job done by all!

Sadly for us fans, that's it for now - the band head home for a very well-earned rest before it all resumes in July, in Europe. We can't wait; hope to see some of you at one of these upcoming shows!

We'd love to know from those attending how they felt the concert went. How was the show for you, if you were one of the fortunate ones to attend? Let us know what YOU thought!

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Vincent van Jens

I was a long weekend in London to go to Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets concert on Saturday 4th May.

On Friday I went to the Roundhouse to make some pictures and maybe see some people I know. At the Roundhouse box office I asked if there was maybe any returned tickets, but they hadn't had any tickets back.

In front of the Roundhouse I got an unplanned ticket for the Friday evening, standing at the top of the Roundhouse behind the seated area, but in the middle, so I had a good sight of the stage. It was my third Saucerful Of Secrets concert after Amsterdam and Dusseldorf in 2018. The band was becoming more solid and it was a great evening in the Roundhouse. At my position I found the drums were too quiet, sometimes I saw Nick playing but it was difficult to hear it. On Saturday I was in front of the stage and the sound of the drums was very good in relation with the rest of the band.

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Ray Morrissey

Nick Mason plays the first of two sold out shows at this venue where Pink Floyd played 50 years ago. The Pink Floyd drummer formed the band to play Pink Floyd's early material. Pretty amazing how Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp has done a great job on guitar duties for the band.

"A Saucerful of Secrets" is the second studio album by Pink Floyd, released on 29 June 1968. The album was recorded before and after Syd Barrett's departure from the group. With Barrett's behaviour becoming increasingly unpredictable, he was forced to leave the band and David Gilmour was recruited in January 1968. Nick Mason has stated that it is his favourite Pink Floyd album.

The day before this show Nick Mason was awarded a CBE for Services to Music by The Duke of Cambridge.

I didn't see Nick Mason's show at this venue last year or at Dingwalls so I was looking forward to this gig. MCNALLY WATERS arrived on stage at 8pm and played for 30 minutes. The surname is a bit of a giveaway but the band include Harry Waters on keyboards. He is Roger Waters son. The band played a decent set of New Orleans influenced tunes.

NICK MASON & HIS BAND arrived on stage at 9pm and play for 1 hour 50 mins. There is a film projector showing psychedelic images onto their band logo at the back. The 75-year-old Mason introduced proceedings from behind his drum kit, emphasising the oddity of effectively playing in your own tribute band by jokingly referring to them as The Roger Waters Experience or The Danish David Gilmour. Alongside two accomplished session players (guitarist Lee Harris and keyboard player Dom Beken), the frontline was bassist Guy Pratt (regular session man for later Floyd shows and solo David Gilmour projects) and, somewhat incongruously, guitarist Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet.

Kemp, in particular, was a revelation in the role of lead guitarist. There is nothing in the New Romantic back catalogue to suggest he has such a wild mastery of his instrument. He may have access to more effects units on his pedal board than early Floyd could count on, and he doesn’t have the sensitive touch of Gilmour (well, who does?), but he played with swagger and panache, really dragging every possible nuance of tone and distortion from his instrument.

Nick would also joke about "having to buy a new pair of ballet shows after 20 years of tip-toeing between Roger Waters and David Gilmour".

Pretty amazing how Nick as a 75 year old can so superbly drum for nearly two hours. The sound quality was perfect and their psychedelic space rock re-created nicely what it would have been like to see Pink Floyd in their early days. Mentions of Syd Barrett and Rick Wright got huge cheers and applause from the hardcore crowd. The setlist covered the Pink Floyd period from 1967 to 1972. Some songs were more familiar than others to me but they vividly brought back to life early Floyd's remarkable range with an immense sound.

A great show.

Peter Gabriel
John Giddings (legendary live music agent whose roster includes Nick Mason)
Tony Smith (manager for Genesis since 1973, and for the solo careers of Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks. He is also, as of 2007, co-manager of Pink Floyd along with Paul Loasby. He is Nick Mason's manager
Norman Watt-Roy (Wilko Johnson Band /The Blockheads)
Rick Fenn (10cc) who worked with Nick on the Profiles album
Probably a couple more as Brian Johnson went to see the show here last year

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Gary Ashton

Having seen The Saucers live in Manchester last September, I decided to make the journey down to London to see them again at the Iconic Roundhouse.

In short, the band did not disappoint. Six weeks of touring the US prior to this short run of UK gigs has ensured that the band has hit peak form and if anything they were even more loud and rocking than when I saw them last year.

The venue was hot, packed to the rafters but everybody appeared to enjoy the show.

The lighting, backdrop/projections appear to be very minimalist but they work so well when put together and if anything add to the atmosphere of the show.

It is hard to pick out a highlight of the brilliant set but I really enjoyed Fearless, OBC, Set the Controls, One Of these Days and a really brilliant Atom Heart Mother.

I am really pleased I made the decision to travel and see this brilliant band of musicians once again....an amazing evening!

YOUR HELP NEEDED! We want to cover Nick's concerts the best we can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. We'd love to see ANY pictures, tickets scans, reviews, newspaper reports, and anything else you come across for this show - we look forward to hearing from you!