Syd Barrett: The Summer of Love
A symphony of psychedelia, narrated by playwright and Syd Barrett’s friend, David Gale. The story touches on Barrett’s love, life, music and art, but also the dark side, with music from his two solo albums interpreted by Men On The Border and arranged for the Sandviken Symphony Orchestra. Musical guests include Janne Schaffer, Jan Stumsner and Peter Holmstedt (P-Floyd). The original Pink Floyd lighting designer Peter Wynne Willson will illuminate Berwaldhallen like never before with a liquid light show that once earned him the title as the fifth member of the band.
Syd Barrett: The Summer of Love is based on Syd Barrett’s life before, during and after his time in one of the world’s biggest rock bands, Pink Floyd. The story is narrated by playwright David Gale, a childhood friend of Syd’s and flat-mate when they both moved from Cambridge to London in the mid-1960s. Music includes interpretations from Barrett’s solo career and selected early Pink Floyd songs. 2020 is also a jubilee year as it is now 50 years since both of Barrett’s solo albums were released (1970).
The show has been performed twice previously, both times in 2016. First in Sandviken, then in Barrett’s hometown of Cambridge in the UK – at the 1200-seater Corn Exchange, the scene of Barrett’s last concert appearance ever, in 1972. Barrett was honoured in 2016 by the town of Cambridge, ten years after his death in 2006.
Men On The Border debuted in 2012 with an entire album of Barrett songs (Shine!) which garnered attention outside Sweden, particularly in the UK, Italy and the USA, but even as far away as New Zealand. Many of the songs on “Shine!” were originally simple Barrett sketches which had never been fully realized until “Shine!” was made. There they were expanded, completed and brought up to date. At the end of 2015, a project was proposed to and accepted by Sandviken’s Symphony Orchestra, and symphonic arrangements of the Men On The Border interpretations were made by professional arrangers Tomas Agnas and Bertil Fält.
Peter Wynne Willson is an internationally renowned lighting designer and inventor. He worked with Pink Floyd between 1966 and 1968 when he created light shows for their performances at UFO and the Roundhouse in London. In the intervening years he again toured with Pink Floyd for “The Division Bell” tour and has also worked with U2, Roger Waters and many others.
Participants
Men On The Border started in 2011 and the first album “Shine!” was released in 2012, entirely composed of interpretations of Syd Barrett’s solo songs. This has been followed by many more recordings and the album Blackbird is planned for release in June this year. Current members: Göran Nyström, Phil Etheridge, Odd Westby and Michael Wahlin. At Berwaldhallen Amanda Örtenhag will also join the band.
David Gale narrated “The Summer of Love” for concerts with MOTB and the Sandviken Symphony Orchestra in 2016. David is both a theatrical director and playwright and toured with his own company, Lumiere & Son for more than 20 years.
Janne Schaffer is a Swedish songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his work as a session guitarist for ABBA but he has also recorded with artists such as Bob Marley, Johnny Nash, Art Farmer and Tony Williams. He also played at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival.
Peter Wynne Willson is an internationally renowned lighting designer and inventor. He worked with Pink Floyd between 1966 and 1968 when he created light shows for their performances at UFO and the Roundhouse.
Sandviken Symphony Orchestra, with more than 50 members, has played since 1934 with artists such as Lill Lindfors, Tommy Körberg and Tomas Ledin. Among the directors is Anders Berglund. The core values for the orchestra are joy, quality and goal orientation.
P-Floyd luminaries Jan Stumsner and Peter Holmstedt have guested previous concerts and MOTB have supported P-Floyd in concert on several occasions. One of the reasons for their great success is that P-Floyd dare to break the pattern and not be a carbon copy of the original.
P-Floyd luminaries Jan Stumsner and Peter Holmstedt have guested previous concerts and MOTB have supported P-Floyd in concert on several occasions. One of the reasons for their great success is that P-Floyd dare to break the pattern and not be a carbon copy of the original.
Concert length: 2 h 20 min including intermission
External organiser: Men On the Border
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