“We’re not the Australian Roger Waters or the Danish David Gilmour and I got bored waiting for either of them to call,” says former Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason by way of explanation to a sold out Roundhouse. While the initial idea of yet another faction of the veteran band going forth may have caused eyes to roll, Mason’s decision to revisit the music made by Pink Floyd between 1967 and 1972 – a period largely ignored by the wider public – has proved to be as intriguing as it is successful.

Mason’s choice of adding Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp to the line-up has been an astute one. Though he may lack Syd Barrett’s more middle class vocal flourishes on the earlier material, he nonetheless plays with an enthusiasm and sense of joy that serves the music well. His slide on the groove monster that is ‘Obscured By Clouds’ is on point, while the sustained and the downtuned chord that opens the mind bending reading of ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’ recalls the grind of Sunn O))) more than anything that ever emerged from the Blitz Club.

Augmented by Floyd touring bassist Guy Pratt, Blockheads guitarist Lee Harris and keyboardist Dom Beken, Nick Mason brilliantly displays the distinct Englishness that flavoured Pink Floyd’s unique variant of psychedelia. The sheer bonkersness of ‘Bike’ or ‘Lucifer Sam’ couldn’t have come from anywhere else yet, as evidenced by tonight’s performance, rock as hard as anything that arrived from the other side of the pond during the same period.

Elsewhere, ‘The Nile Song’’s ferocity makes a convincing case for helping birth the post-punk of Killing Joke, while trainspotters are rewarded with an extremely rare outing of the oft-bootlegged Barrett-era outtake ‘Vegetable Man’.

“I hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as I have,” says Mason. Oh yes. And you can consider our minds truly blown, too.

Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets played:

'Interstellar Overdrive'
'Astronomy Domine'
'Lucifer Sam'
'Fearless'
'Obscured by Clouds'
'When You're In'
'Arnold Layne'
'Vegetable Man'
'If'
'Atom Heart Mother'
'The Nile Song'
'Green Is the Colour'
'Let There Be More Light'
'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun'
'See Emily Play'
'Bike'
'One of These Days'
Encore:
'A Saucerful of Secrets'
'Point Me at the Sky'