Just weeks after Pink Floyd celebrated 50 years of their seminal album The Dark Side Of Moon, the group’s iconic drummer Nick Mason has announced that he will be bringing his Saucerful Of Secrets project to Australian shores for the first time.
For fans of Pink Floyd – or music in general, for that matter – this is a major coup, and an event that should certainly not be missed. Having helped to co-found the English prog-rock outfit back in 1965, Mason has remained the only constant member of the group for their entire existence, and was the only member to appear on every one of their releases.
As such, he’s considered rock royalty, having been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and has been – alongside David Gilmour – the driving force behind Pink Floyd’s activities throughout the 21st century.
For all intents and purposes, Pink Floyd ceased to exist as a going concern almost 30 years ago, having called it quits following the completion of their tour in support of 1994’s The Division Bell. Despite this, the group would again reform for Live 8 in 2005, to release The Endless River in 2014, and to share the single “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!” last year.
However, it was in 2018 that Mason launched his latest project, Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets. Adopting their moniker from Pink Floyd’s 1968 album, A Saucerful Of Secrets, the new outfit was something of a supergroup, recruiting Pink Floyd’s touring bassist (and former Icehouse member) Guy Pratt, Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp on guitar alongside Lee Harris, and keyboardist Dom Beken.
The reason for Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets coming into the world was one of necessity. Aware of the legendary status that Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon had acquired over the decades, Mason had similarly become aware that legions of new fans had discovered the record, and with the prog-rock outfit no longer an active project, well, therein existed an opportunity.
The premise behind the band was simple: to resurrect the early, more psychedelic material of Pink Floyd, and to showcase the sort of early material that cemented the group’s legacy. Plus, with long-standing members Roger Waters and David Gilmour no longer performing these early cuts as part of their respective sets, it made sense for Mason to give music-lovers an experience they had been seeking for decades.
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Receiving the blessings of the perpetually-bickering Waters and Gilmour to launch the group, Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets made their debut into the world in May of 2018. The group’s first concert opened with a rendition of “Interstellar Overdrive”, taken from Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn – marking the first time any member of the band had performed the track since 1971.
Fan reaction to the new project was swift and positive, with many praising the opportunity to witness these songs (many of them long-forgotten Syd Barrett compositions) for the first time in decades, or in some cases – such as with “The Nile Song” – the first time ever.
The group embarked upon a European tour in 2018, before bringing the nascent musical experience to North American audiences the following year. Sadly, the pandemic saw further touring plans put on hold for a couple of years, with touring finally resuming in April 2022.
Now, after five years of waiting, Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets have finally announced their debut visit to Australia as part of the ongoing ‘Echoes Tour’, named for the final track on 1971’s Meddle.
Far from an exercise in nostalgia, the powerful supergroup will be visiting Australian shores in September, launching their tour with a performance at The Forum in Melbourne, visiting Brisbane’s Convention & Exhibition Centre and Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, before wrapping up at Perth’s PCEC Riverside Theatre.
While it’s easy for one to lament what could have been in regards to Pink Floyd, whether their legendary status would have continued had they not split 30 years ago, or what sort of music could have arisen in the time since, one thing that is abundantly clear is that by the time the group dissolved, they had long turned their back on much of their formative early material.
Praised by many as being some of the greatest psychedelic material ever committed to tape, diehard fans of Pink Floyd have undoubtedly thanked their lucky stars that Nick Mason called upon his musical contemporaries to launch his latest project, lest this material be lost to time.
Needless to say, with Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets making their first-ever trip to Australia this year, fans of Pink Floyd, psychedelic rock, or simply bearing witness to musical genius won’t want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Tickets to Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets’ Australian tour are on sale now.
Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets ‘The Echoes Tour’
Saturday, September 16th
The Forum, Melbourne, VIC
Tuesday, September 19th
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, QLD
Thursday, September 21st
Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Monday, September 25th
PCEC Riverside Theatre, Perth, WA
