1988–2000 The band was originally formed in 1988 in
Adelaide, South Australia, by guitarist Lee Smith. Smith placed an advert in Allan's Music, a city music store, which read "Vocalist and Keyboardist required for band. Professional attitude expected. We only play Pink Floyd". Vocalist and guitarist Steve Mac, and keyboardist Jason Sawford joined the existing line up of Grant Ross (drummer), Trevor Turton (bass) and Smith (guitars). Their first live show was performed to a select group of family and friends. The band settled on the name "Think Floyd", and thereafter played a number of venues around Adelaide until the lack of a regular audience saw them drift apart. By 1992, when Mac and Smith refocused efforts to bring Think Floyd to a larger audience, Turton had left the band. Peter Whiteley (bass/vocals) was auditioned and joined the band during rehearsals for an interstate tour of Australia's East coast due to take place the following year in May 1993. During the period of rehearsals, Mac visited family in the UK where he met with Glenn Povey, publisher of the most popular Pink Floyd fanzine of that time, 'Brain Damage'. During the meeting it was decided that Think Floyd should headline Povey's planned Pink Floyd fan convention to be held at Wembley in August 1993. The purpose of Think Floyd's 1993 East coast tour became one of raising funds for the band's trip to the UK. At the end of the East coast tour Whiteley left the band, and was replaced by bassist and vocalist Colin Wilson. He subsequently invited the band to attend the end-of-tour after-show party for
The Division Bell Tour at
Earls Court in
London. The Australian Pink Floyd is the only Pink Floyd tribute act to play for a member of Pink Floyd; in 1996 they performed at David Gilmour's 50th birthday party. In 1995, the band appeared on Irish national television, performing "
Young Lust" on the chat show
Kenny Live. In 1998, the band played
Glastonbury, performing on the acoustic stage.
2000–2010 In 2004, the band performed
The Dark Side of the Moon at the
King's Dock, Liverpool. The performance was recorded and released as a DVD the same year. This was released as a two-DVD set with the full concert on disc one and bonuses on disc two. Also in 2004, the band commenced a major tour of the United States, Canada, Germany, and Italy, including a show in
Switzerland. The Liverpool Pops DVD (and more recently the 2004 Royal Albert Hall performance) has aired on television in the United States. In 2005, the band released a CD of their renditions of
Animals and
Wish You Were Here at the Liverpool Pops Festival. In the same year the band undertook a two-week tour of South America consisting of dates in
Mexico City,
Buenos Aires, and
Brazil. A documentary about the group was shot at the
Bell Centre in Montreal,
Quebec and broadcast in North America on the
Discovery Channel in 2007. In 2007, the band performed at several major European Music Festivals, including the
Sweden Rock Festival, the
Malta Jazz Festival, the
Arrow Rock Festival,
Rock Werchter, and
Festival do Sudoeste. A DVD of the band performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2007 was released later that year. In September 2007, the group commenced its longest ever continuous tour of the Americas, performing for the first time in
Panama,
Venezuela, and
Chile. In the same month a performance of the show in Buenos Aires was aired on
Argentine national television as part of the
Pepsi music festival February 2008 saw the group commence their "Best of The Wall" tour in a five-week tour of Europe, performing in Spain,
Luxembourg,
Poland,
Norway, and (for the first time) the
Czech Republic and
Israel. The group performed at the
Isle of Wight Festival in June 2008, were the headline act of the last night of
Guilfest 2008, and in August of the same year made their first appearance at the
Lokerse Feesten in
Lokeren, Belgium. The band played their first shows in
Ukraine and
Slovakia in September 2008. A complete production of
The Wall, incorporating new animation based on the original Gerald Scarfe imagery, was performed for the first time by the band during their 2008 North American tours. The production continued throughout the 2009 European tour, which included dates in the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, France, Spain, Portugal and, for the first time,
Serbia. Mid 2009 saw the group perform for the first time in
Austria at the Lovely Days Festival in
Wiesen, and the Castle Clam Classic Rock Festival in
Klam. In the June they were the closing act of the
Bospop festival in the Netherlands. Early 2010 saw the band commence its longest ever tour of Europe, playing in
Croatia for the first time.
Since 2010 " in front of the
Lovell Telescope at
Jodrell Bank. In 2010, new management was appointed and David Domminney Fowler was recruited as a guitarist, alongside vocalist
Alex McNamara. 2011 saw the introduction of 3D stereoscopic projection and quadrophonic sound into the band's performances. The Australian Pink Floyd is the first ever band to implement stereographic 3D on tour. Performing in June 2011 at the
Hampton Court Palace Festival in London, the band was joined by
Guy Pratt, long-time session bass player for Pink Floyd, for a rendition of
Run Like Hell. For the North American segment of their 2011 tour, the band added Lorelei McBroom as a backing vocalist. Lorelei had previously performed live with Pink Floyd on the
Momentary Lapse of Reason tour in 1988 and 1989. At a show in
Anaheim, Lorelei was joined by her sister
Durga McBroom,-- she had sung for Pink Floyd on the Momentary Lapse and
Division Bell tours – to sing
The Great Gig in the Sky. In 2012, the Australian Pink Floyd completed their
Exposed in the Light tour. Lorelei McBroom rejoined the group for both the European and North American segments of the tour. In 2013, the band toured Europe with their
Eclipsed By The Moon tour, celebrating the 40th anniversary of
The Dark Side of the Moon. In July 2013 the band played in front of the
Lovell Telescope at
Jodrell Bank in England. In 2016, Chris Barnes (vocals) and Ricky Howard (bass/vocals) were welcomed to the TAPFS family. 2022 saw new members Luc Ledy-Lepine (guitar), and Alex Francois (saxophone) join the band. On January, 9th, 2025, Jason Sawford died. The band announced his death on YouTube. Matt Riddle joined on keyboards replacing founder member Jason Sawford. Throughout 2025, backing vocalists Chess Galea and Kelly Lamont filled in for Lara Smiles. ==References==