Pink Floyd drummer Mason returns to Montreux festival

Pink Floyd drummer Mason breathes new life into the legend Keystone-SDA

Drummer and co-founder of legendary English rock band Pink Floyd, Nick Mason, is back at the Montreux Jazz Festival for the first time in more than half a century. Mason, 80, will perform interpretations of Floyd classics with his band Saucerful of Secrets.

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Pink Floyd gave two concerts in Montreux in September 1970 and November 1971. This was in the early days of the legendary London band with its psychedelic and experimental music. The original band leader Syd Barrett had been forced out of the band two years earlier due to problems caused by his LSD use.

After the albums “Atom Heart Mother” (1970) and “Meddle” (1971) were released, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright performed at Lake Geneva. At the first appearance at the Casino, Claude Nobs, the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, organized a double concert in 1970: on Saturday evening, 21 November, and on Sunday afternoon, 22 November. The event attracted fans from all over Europe.

54 years later, Nick Mason’s return to the Montreux Jazz Festival is an echo of that first performance. His concert planned for Saturday evening with the band “Saucerful of Secrets” (named after Pink Floyd’s second album, released in 1968) practically revives the founding repertoire.

Classic repertoire reinterpreted

Mason’s project, founded in 2018 with four other musicians, focuses on the seven albums from 1967 to 1972: from “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” (1967) to “Meddle” (1971) – which includes the mythical and atmospheric 23-minute piece “Echoes” – to the record with the iconic cow “Atom Heart Mother”. Members of the band include Gary Kemp, guitarist and co-founder of Spandau Ballet, and Guy Pratt, a Pink Floyd collaborator since 1987.

On Saturday, Nick Mason’s “Saucerful of Secrets” will revive the original and lesser-known spirit of Pink Floyd on the Casino stage as the formation explores its own freedom of interpretation.

“Everything is rearranged (…) with the aim of rediscovering the essence, the spirit of these pieces. Our pleasure is to relive the music, the music of the beginnings, just as Pink Floyd always did,” said Nick Mason during a workshop in Montreux.

Love of music

The Pink Floyd drummer, who is the only member to have played on all 15 of the band’s albums, took part in a workshop on Thursday as part of the three-part “Montreux Ville Créative” conference cycle.

He was invited in connection with the “Septembre musical de Montreux-Vevey” classical music festival, where Pink Floyd gave two concerts on September 18 and 19, 1971. The band performed with a chamber orchestra and a contemporary choir.

Nick Mason answered a few questions in front of a packed Memphis Hall at the Lake House. He, who is considered the real memory of the band, qualified: “I recently took an online test about Pink Floyd’s career and only 56 percent of the answers were correct.”

+ Nobs obituary: creator of the Montreux Jazz Festival

When asked why he was still putting a band together and touring at over 75, he replied: “Because I longed so much to make and play music. I missed it too much. It’s all that matters, the music, the bold arrangements. I’m very happy to have my own band now.”

He admits that he “misses Pink Floyd sometimes”. “I still love the music we played. The other members are still alive. They are my friends.” Pink Floyd sold over 360 million albums worldwide.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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