The Machine has been performing Pink Floyd’s catalog for more than 30 years with what Rolling Stone’s Matt Diehl called “chilling accuracy” — but the Unplugged format removes the elaborate theatrical staging that normally defines the experience and asks a simpler question: what survives when you take the electric architecture down?
About the Show
Tahrah Cohen (drums, founding member), Scott Chasolen (keys and vocals), Ryan Ball (guitar and vocals), and Chris DeAngelis (bass and lead vocals) bring this acoustic program to Daryl’s House in Pawling on Saturday, November 21. The evening draws from Pink Floyd’s full career span, from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn through The Division Bell, working through both radio-familiar tracks and the deep cuts that typically surface when The Machine opens the floor to fan requests or runs one of their A-Z alphabetical sets. No support acts are listed.
What the Unplugged format does to this material is worth sitting with. The Machine’s standard show leans on theatrical staging and lighting displays that explicitly honor the 1980s Pink Floyd aesthetic. That production has helped them sell out theaters, showcase rooms, and casinos across North America, Europe, and Asia. Strip it away and you’re left with the compositional core: the chord progressions, the bass lines, the vocal arrangements that actually hold these songs up. Sixteen albums of material is a lot to command under those conditions. For an ensemble that has also performed alongside full orchestras from Atlanta to the Buffalo Philharmonic, acoustic rendering is not an unfamiliar challenge. In some respects, it is the harder one.
Founded in 1988 by Cohen and Joe Pascarell, whose memory the band continues to honor, The Machine has played Bonnaroo and Gathering of the Vibes. Bob Ezrin, who co-produced Pink Floyd’s The Wall, has said: “These guys are great.” Spin’s Matthew Webber offered a more precise read: “The Machine look nothing like Pink Floyd, but that doesn’t matter — they sound exactly like Pink Floyd.” Acoustic or electric, that verdict stands.
Venue & Logistics
Daryl’s House is a 300-capacity club on Route 22 in Pawling, in the Hudson Valley. For an acoustic evening without the full production apparatus, the intimate room suits the format. Doors open at 5:00 p.m.; the show begins at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are priced $45.17–$60.62; the show is all ages. On sale now. Buy tickets