A Pink Floyd tribute concert you shouldn’t have missed

Strangers passing in the street

By chance two separate glances meet

And I am you and what I see is me

And do I take you by the hand

And lead you through the land

And help me understand the best I can _ Echoes

It is one thing for a band to perform a Pink Floyd song or two in a setlist of rock classics. The task at hand multiplies manifold in complexity and ambition when a group of musicians undertakes the onerous job of paying tribute to one of the greatest musical ideas of all time, playing one song after another, chosen carefully from a palette of tunes that have defined an era in progressive rock and then weave a yarn of emotion and memory.

Bodhi and The Omega Force came out with flying colours as they presented “Any Colour You Choose”, a concert curated with so much love, affection and dedication at the Princeton Club on Friday night (January 13, 2023) that youngsters who weren't even born when Messers Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason wrote and composed these songs head-banged alongside a few geriatrics (well, not quite; but you know what we mean) who unbeknownst to them sported silly grins and beatific smiles throughout the two and-a-half hour concert as though they had been injected with some kind of '70s serum that made them forget it was 2023.

The Omega Force, as the billing suggests, is headed by guitarist and singer Bodhisattwa Ghosh, who also fronts his own jazz-rock band which plays original music that is a sonic pastiche of thought, feeling, intellectual probing and even science fiction. Here, he was joined by a band of serious musicians of Kolkata, all of them super proficient in their craft: Subhagata 'Rivu' Singha on guitar, synth and vocals; Nabarun Bose on keyboards, Gaurab 'Gaboo' Chatterjee on drums and Rupsha Sen and Shrestha Das on backing vocals. Keeping a friendly, but tight leash on the rhythm section was Mainak 'Bumpy' Nag Chowdhury on five-string bass, who framed all the tracks with seasoned composure, defining each song with the signature pattern of the original. Roger Waters would approve.

The gig poster

While Bodhi did most of the heavy lifting on guitar, Rivu was spot on with the nuances, particularly on Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb. Their exquisite, patiently executed guitar solos meshed smoothly with the synth cushion and three-part harmonies as Pink Floyd videos streamed on a screen behind them.

For me, the surfacing of Astronomy Domine as the second song of the show, was a thud in the heart. The opening track of Pink Floyd's debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), meant The Omega Force meant serious business. They doffed their hat to the crazy diamond that was Syd Barrett, and in doing so, let it be known that this would be a tribute show like no other. Part 1 of the concert primarily featured songs from The Wall (1979), a rock opera of momentous exploration, of individual alienation pitted against societal tensions. Six songs on the travails of ageing rockstar “Pink” were bookended by songs from Division Bell, that came over a decade later, only to be bedrocked with Echoes from Meddle (1971).

The time travel continued in the second half, which focused on The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), the band's iconic rock symphony on life, death, conflict, greed and the passage of time, that is embedded Zen-like in the collective consciousness of music lovers of the planet. They gave Money a miss. Yet, The Great Gig in The Sky was quite the high-point, ending with the wordless melodic flourish of the original, executed with aplomb by the two back-up singers Rupsha and Shrestha.

A tribute concert dedicated to any iconic act, especially classic rock giants such as Pink Floyd, must, by definition, have a single-minded focus: stay true to the originals as closely as humanly possible. The Omega Force's month-long preparation, concentrating — we have been told — first on the musical arrangements and then on vocals using only acoustic guitars in practice to get that right, seems to have worked. The band chose not to utter a word during the whole show. Which was kind of apt. The only time Bodhi spoke was to introduce themselves before the last song. Pity Princeton Club couldn't accommodate more than 220 people. Another performance at a larger venue will be in order. Kolkata sure deserves it. Till then, may the force be with Omega.

The grass was greener

The light was brighter

With friends surrounded

The nights of wonder _ High Hopes