GENSHI SHINBO
We love Pink Floyd
To start things off I should clarify, I am a big Pink Floyd fan. There was a period of time when I listened to Floyd almost daily. However my level of fandom certainly pales in comparison to Japan’s Genshi Shinbo, who must have listened to Floyd daily For the bulk of his life. For a cover band to be successful in this day and age of copying, remixing, reworking and more, they have to be really special to even get a second glance. It came then as no surprise then, that a band booked to Fuji Rock, exclusively covering another band’s music would be something remarkable.
Genshi Shinbo the band is eight members deep, and while they play only Pink Floyd covers, from the most popular to the more obscure, they add their own flair and sound into the interpretation. Tunes I’ve heard countless times sounded fresh and inspired instead of just a copy of someone else. The band is all Japanese, except for the lead singer, who came across as British in his renditions of the Floyd classics, ranging from “Echoes”, “Time”, “Great Gig in the Sky” and more. The band, in its separate sections, from guitars, to synth and organ, percussion, to female vocals are all deeply talented in their own right and together sound fantastic live.
When given time to solo and improvise, each member delivered Floyd-like expressions while also adding a personal touch to the music. Many Pink Floyd live tunes extend ten, fifteen minutes and beyond, the one hour, early afternoon time slot was hardly enough time for Genshi Shinbo to really get going. It was more like a sampling of what they can do. That said, what they did deliver was a Pink Floyd fan’s dream set list for the time allotted. The mostly older crowd was singing along and swaying to the beat as Genshi Shinbo gave the heads one hit after another.
While the outdoor setting of the Field of Heaven stage was great, I can only imagine this band given full control of the set length and light show to really bring us closer to a Pink Floyd experience. They’re a band I’d easily recommend to my fellow Floyd geeks, and that’s a number that is surprisingly high still to this day.
