Freya Danielle

Regulars at the Hop Poles must have thought all their (late) Christmases had come at once. How often can you go into your 'local' and see a Pink Floyd tribute band? But that was the delight on offer for the many punters who turned up to see this outstanding tribute act. The most incredible thing about this multi-talented four-piece band is that they had only played together as a Pink Floyd tribute act for just one year. I'm no expert on Floyd's music so the next day I checked out some of the progressive rock band's original recordings -- and boy did Brain Damaged do a great job. The four of them recreated to near perfection the PF sound. The Floyd recorded 156 tracks and this band can already play 40 of them. The Hop Poles audience heard 24 of those compositions on this particular night -- and very enjoyable it was.

I’ve seen a few Pink Floyd tribute bands and some of them have been almost as expensive as the real thing so I hadn’t been expecting much when I went to see Brain Damaged at the Brewery Tap in Abingdon. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s hard to believe four musicians could sound that good playing Floyd. It was brilliant being so close and seeing the guys playing their instruments. Great mix too. They did the popular stuff (Shine on your crazy diamond, Welcome to the machine, Wish you were here) every bit as good as the big acts but they also played a lot of the more obscure stuff like Astronomy domine and Arnold lane. I’d definitely pay to see Brain Damaged in a bigger venue.