Pink Floyd’s catalog has always been a problem for tribute acts — not because the songs are hard to play, though they are, but because the original band was selling an experience as much as music: lasers, quadraphonic sound, staging that turned arenas into theaters. Heroes for Ghosts, a seven-piece New Jersey ensemble, has spent the past two years making the case that what’s actually essential in “Comfortably Numb” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” can survive in a room with a bar. The audiences seem to agree: every show since the group’s debut has sold to capacity.
About the Show
Heroes for Ghosts brings a full lineup to Rochester: Greg Mattison (keyboards, vocals), George Orlando (guitar, vocals), Matt Mongelli (bass, vocals), Miguel Rodriguez (drums, vocals), Dave Janowski (guitar), Connie Hynes Mattison (vocals), and Howard Freund (saxophone). The group covers the Floyd catalog broadly — “Dark Side of the Moon,” “Wish You Were Here,” “The Wall,” “Animals” — with Mattison describing the assembled musicians as handpicked. The résumés hold up. Freund’s role is specific: he recreates the saxophone solos Dick Parry played on the original Floyd recordings, the lines that give “Money” and “Us and Them” their particular texture. Connie Hynes Mattison, who has performed original music at New York venues including the Bitter End, handles vocal parts that punish imprecision. Mattison himself came to this project as a recording engineer with a Billboard number-one dance track, which goes some way toward explaining why the production reportedly holds together at a higher level than the tribute-circuit average. The UCPAC, which has hosted the group, described the result as combining “the raw energy of a club band with the polish and professionalism of a theater stage act.” Mattison has been candid about the logistical reality: “It’s hard to do Pink Floyd and travel light,” he said. Doors open at 8:00 p.m.; show begins at 9:00 p.m.
Venue & Logistics
Lovin’ Cup, the Park Point bar and bistro in Rochester’s Finger Lakes corridor, holds 250. That’s not a lot of space for a seven-piece band carrying Pink Floyd’s production demands, but it forces proximity: when Freund plays those Dick Parry saxophone lines and Mattison’s keyboards fill the room, there’s no lawn, no delay, no distance between the audience and the sound.
Tickets
Advance tickets are $15; day-of tickets are $20. Buy tickets.