'Dark Side of the Moon' live at the Tivoli

Sunday, January 1, 1905

IF YOU GOWhat: Black Jacket Symphony presents Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon."Where: Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.Admission: $20 and $25.Phone: 642-8497.

If you never got to see Pink Floyd live, or if you just remember listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" through headphones while staring at blacklit posters of the band on the wall, you'll dig seeing The Black Jacket Symphony perform the classic album live at the Tivoli Theatre.

The Birmingham, Ala.-based group will make its Chattanooga debut Thursday evening with a note-for-note performance of the album. Thirteen musicians will be onstage, and the show will be enhanced by three video projectors and a light show.

After an intermission, the band returns and does a set of Pink Floyd hits.

The Black Jacket Symphony was founded by J. Willoughby and features a handful of core group of musicians to help produce shows featuring the music of such classic-rock artists as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and AC/DC. They ensure the music is as close to the original as possible. Players and singers from around the South are added depending on the need.

Willoughby, for example, performs on Beatle-album shows but only has a small role on stage for this show.

"We find the right people for the show," he said. "Not everyone is right for every part. We do whatever it takes to make it sound right.

"The David Gilmour parts on guitar take three guys onstage, because he overdubbed. And we had to find the right girl to sing 'Great Gig in the Sky,' and we did."

Willoughby said he knows fans will "stand in the audience with their arms crossed wondering how we will pull off certain parts."

It's that challenge he enjoys.

"It truthfully is a lot of fun," he said. "It never stops until you have to get up and turn the album over. It never stops. It's a true album from the golden age of albums."