There's no keeping a great band down! Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets, fresh from the hugely acclaimed 21-date 2018 European tour (as well as the four London shows in May) have now announced a string of concerts for North America, taking place in March/April next year, and detailed below.

These shows mark Nick's first full concert performances in North America since the 1994 Pink Floyd Division Bell tour; the last time he drummed in the US was during the 2006 Roger Waters tour. 

As with the European shows this year, the venues picked are more intimate than arenas, with some of the places being quite historic. This will ensure the special atmosphere of the show is retained; for those who haven't yet heard, or seen, any of the band's performances, you are in for an absolute treat. Using the smaller venues results in shows that are truly memorable, and you aren't seeing specks on a distant stage, or sat there watching large video screens on the sides.

The band focus on the early days of the band - with nothing performed from later than 1972. We'll leave it at that if you don't want to know what exactly was performed this year, although you will of course find full details of each show, including the setlist performed, over at the Saucers' 2018 page.

Tickets for these 2019 North American shows go on sale on Monday (November 5th) and Friday (November 9th) as detailed below, at 10am local time, through this link at Ticketmaster. Please support this site (particularly as we struggle with getting rid of the persistent adverts) by using the link here to go to Ticketmaster to purchase your tickets; we really appreciate it. We also suggest you don't delay getting your tickets - this really is a show you won't want to miss!

As normal, we have set up a show page for each individual concert, found here, and in the side menu, look for Nick Mason's SOS 2019. Each page has information on the show - where the venue is (including a map), the capacity, where and when to get tickets, and as the show gets nearer/takes place, with your help it will have pictures of the show, reports on what happened, the set list, and so on...

Here are the all-important details of where - and when - you can catch Nick and the band, and when tickets for your chosen show(s) go on sale:

Happy Halloween to you all! Regulars to Brain Damage over many years will know that our friend Joe Ringus is a hugely talented pumpkin artist, and each year crafts a Pink Floyd themed pumpkin for Halloween (which is celebrated by many, principally this evening, but in a number of places it covers a number of days).

Those regulars will no doubt be as keen as we have been to see if Joe would be continuing the tradition this year, and if so, what design would be picked. The great news is that Joe has been hard at work yet again, and has done a phenomenal job once again! We're delighted to share his incredible carving with you.

Joe said: "Happy Halloween! Here's this year's pumpkin. Looking back over the years, there is definitely more from The Wall than any other album - and probably for good reason - it has the most content (and they make great pumpkin designs). Hope you enjoy!"

Thanks Joe - we think you've done another excellent job! It's a great tradition and we know many of our visitors love to see them. If there are any other pumpkin artists out there who have created Floyd designs, we'd love to see them.

In the meantime, it is worth clicking the thumbnail to the right to see Joe's hard, and careful, work in more detail.

Each month, trade publication TPi (Total Production International) takes an inside look at recent and current touring productions, to reveal the details behind the staging of these - looking at how the tech teams behind each aspect sort out issues and ensure audiences get the best experience possible.

As the world of concert staging develops, some incredible technical advances keep pushing the envelope of what's possible, making truly memorable experiences. The magazine doesn't just look at the visual aspect, but at the delivery of sound too. It's thankfully rare to have poor audio at a gig these days, with equipment getting smaller, more portable on the road, and higher quality.

The September 2018 issue will be of particular interest to our readership: in it, there's a massive 16 page article looking at the current Roger Waters Us + Them tour, with additional pages of adverts from assisting companies involved in the tour. TPi: "There are few British rock legends who rose to fame in the '60s and continue to tour today, let alone with the magnitude and stamina of Roger Waters. Following an indoor arena tour which started in North America, the production then headed to Europe, via NZ And Australia, for the Lucca Summer Festival before upscaling further for Rome's Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) and its audience of 65,000 fans.

"The outcome did not only deliver awe-inspiring technology in a juxtaposing event space but was a team effort - delivered seamlessly in 36°C heat - led by a hearty dose of calmness and clarity. Read the full in-depth tech feature in this month's TPi front cover story."

The good news for those who aren't subscribers to this magazine, is that it is available online through this direct link!

Last month, we brought you the news about the somewhat unexpected latest project from Roger Waters. It was confirmed that Roger, in conjunction with the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Orchestra, had been working on a new album - Igor Stravinksky's The Soldier's Tale - to be released on CD via Sony Music Classical, on October 26th, 2018.

For this new recording of this classic, Roger has rewritten the text, telling the whole of the harrowing modern fairy tale, playing not just the Soldier, the Devil and the Narrator, but all the other characters as well!

In this update, we've got the good news that on November 30th, 2018, a special, 180g heavyweight vinyl double album, housed in a gatefold sleeve, is being released. This should prove to be very popular, and with the work spread across four sides of vinyl, we suspect the sound quality will be excellent. We've also got the newly released trailer for the album, to give you a taste of things - it can be seen just below.

The track listing for this album is shown below the ordering info; longer term visitors to Brain Damage will recall that Roger performed The Soldier's Tale back in 2008 with the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Orchestra. It clearly made a big impression on him, resulting in this recorded collaboration with the same orchestra, which certainly sounds very intriguing.

ORDERING INFORMATION:
To secure your copy now, for despatch upon release, please use these direct links, which will also qualify for Amazon's pre-order price guarantee - they will automatically charge the lowest asking price between your order, and release: