Granada Theater Is Hosting a Birthday Party for Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd’s album dedicated to the band's original frontman Syd Barrett. Bricks In The Wall, the longest-performing Pink Floyd tribute band in the U.S., is playing the album in its entirety along with other classics from the '70s psych-rock pioneers this Saturday, Feb. 8, at Granada Theater to celebrate.

Bricks In The Wall has been performing Pink Floyd since 1998, when the band set out to be the best PF tribute act in the nation. The show is intended to be a “note-for-note sound and visual recreation” of a Pink Floyd show and will include plenty of lasers and lights as well as a circular video screen that plays the same videos PF would use in its performances.

Pink Floyd was on its way to becoming one of the world’s best-known bands well before it released Wish and The Dark Side of the Moon, largely due to Barrett’s contributions. While most of their memorable material was created after his departure, the band would never have made it that far without his unique songwriting style and spontaneous but fluid guitar solos.

Because of drug use, Barrett’s mental health steadily deteriorated as the band’s popularity grew. The once-charismatic and radiant guitarist became less cooperative with bandmates and producers and started tanking their live performances with frantic playing and aimless solos. This eventually became too much for the band to deal with, so one day they unceremoniously decided to just leave him behind when they left for their next gig.

“He was a charming, ebullient, talented friend,” Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters said in an interview with Dan Rather. “And I miss him, but I've been missing him since 1968.”

Waters is an extremely talented artist who’s well-known for his ego. Whether it's an earned behavior or not, his energy is completely different when Barrett is brought up — Waters’ immediately becomes more modest and sincere, which shows the great deal of respect he holds for his friend and former bandmate.

Wish You Were Here’s story of being pushed through the music machine and thrust into stardom just to end up with fat pockets and a haunting sense of absence mirrors their journey after parting ways with Barrett and shows how they reflected on the situation after growing and gaining perspective. The record is bookended by “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” a nine-part, 26-minute tribute to Barrett split into two pieces with whiny, tear-jerking solos from David Gilmour and lyrics from Waters lamenting the trajectory of his friend’s life.

“Remember when you were young? / You shone like the sun / Now there’s a look in your eyes / Like black holes in the sky,”

While recording the sitcom-length song, the band received a surprise visitor. Keyboardist and composer Richard Wright told the story in an interview with The Source in 1984.

“Roger was there, and he was sitting at the desk, and I came in and I saw this guy sitting behind him – huge, bald, fat guy. I thought, ‘He looks a bit... strange…’ Anyway, so I sat down with Roger at the desk and we worked for about 10 minutes, and this guy kept on getting up and brushing his teeth and then sitting – doing really weird things, but keeping quiet. And I said to Roger, ‘Who is he?’ and Roger said ‘I don't know.’ And I said ‘Well, I assumed he was a friend of yours,’ and he said ‘No, I don't know who he is.’ Anyway, it took me a long time, and then suddenly I realized it was Syd, after maybe 45 minutes. He came in as we were doing the vocals for 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond,' which was basically about Syd. He just, for some incredible reason picked the very day that we were doing a song which was about him. And we hadn't seen him, I don't think, for two years before.”

Compared to the breadth of their success, Barrett’s time with Pink Floyd was tragically short-lived, but the mark he left on the group was indelible. His work on “Astronomy Domine” and “Interstellar Overdrive” laid the foundation for Gilmour to expand on when he took over as lead guitarist in 1968, and Roger Waters never could quite match Barrett’s lyrical creativity after becoming the band’s main songwriter.

Granada Theater is located at 3524 Greenville Ave. Doors open at 6:30 and the show kicks off at 8 p.m., Feb. 8. Tickets are $18 before fees and can be found at granadatheater.com. Whatever you do beforehand to “prepare” for the show is your business, just don’t be the only one wishing you were there when the lasers start spinnin’