Nick Mason at Tsunami concert - full story
Written by Matt   
Thursday, 31 March 2005

Pink Floyd's drummer Nick Mason spared some time in February to take part in a charity concert in aid of the Tsunami appeal. The concert, held at the Olympiad in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, on February 5th, was a big draw, despite the presence of Nick not being known until he walked on stage.

We posted some information and a selection of pictures on February 21st and also February 23rd, and with much thanks to one of the organisers, Chris McCormack (aka Mac), we have some more, exclusive pictures from the show, along with details of Nick's appearance.

Mac told us: "Nick had indicated his support for the show, and it was a delight when he showed up half way through the evening. We had purposely not announced his potential involvement, so that we could pull a few surprises on the crowd.

"The original intent was for Nick and Andy Scott (Sweet) to help work the auction, but after our initial introduction to the rest of my band Iron the Cat (a local charity rock band), photo calls, and signing, it was obvious that Nick was very much enjoying the evening, and conversation moved onto the Cat set for the night.

"Andy would be joining the "Cat" so we asked Nick if he wanted to sit in for a couple of numbers, to which he agreed. We where headlining for the night, so around 10:30pm we opened with "Rocks Off" after which we introduced Nick and Andy to the crowd of a 1000 lucky folks - who then witnessed an amazing performance from these two as they joined Iron The Cat in playing "I Saw Her Standing There" and "You Really Got Me".

"Both very much enjoyed the session, grinning from ear to ear, as were all the other members of the band, as its not often you get the chance to share a stage with such luminaries... They left the stage after around 10 minutes performance to rapturous applause and retired to the bar, leaving us to comment: "follow that!!" But, it was that sort of evening, more about why we were there, rather than strict musical performance.

"The event was an amazing success, way outstripping our initial fund-raising targets, with the final figure being over £75,000 going to the British Red Cross. We had always billed the evening as Iron the Cat + special guests; these guys were very special, and couldn't have done more to support us."

Before we launch into the exclusive images, which Mac sent us, we'd like to let you know that there will be some video footage from the show, that will go up on their website soon - www.maideforasia.org.uk, and in addition, they have released a single with all proceeds going to the Tsunami fund, which is available worldwide from the WOMAD shop.

Finally, Mac signs off with this: "We had a fabulous evening, likely never to be repeated, but ITC do a mean version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond and The Wall mixed together, so if any of your folks want to come and see us, we will be supporting the music festival at the Crimestoppers open day at Bowood House in Wiltshire on September 4th, 2005. Check us out!"