Rudolf-Weber-Arena, Oberhausen, Germany21st February 2026
Australian Pink Floyd Show - “The Happiest Days of Our Lives - Greatest Hits” Tour
On 21 February 2026, the Rudolf-Weber-Arena in Oberhausen was once again transformed into a temple for Progressive Rock lovers. As part of their current “The Happiest Days of Our Lives - Greatest Hits” tour, THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD SHOW - undoubtedly the most successful PINK FLOYD tribute band in the world - stopped off in the Ruhr region. Those who miss the originals are known to be consoled by the Australians with absolute musical precision and a bombastic stage show. Saturday evening's concert impressively demonstrated why this formation will continue to fill larger arenas with ease in 2026.
The evening began appropriately powerfully with the opener ‘In the Flesh?’, before the majestic ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)’ finally drew the audience into the typical Floyd cosmos. An early highlight in terms of sound design was undoubtedly ‘Time’ - the drum sound at the beginning was simply magnificent and resonated powerfully throughout the hall. During ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’, the three backing singers were given the chance to shine, taking turns wonderfully on the demanding vocal parts.
This was followed by the classic ‘Money,’ in which saxophonist Alex François once again drew everyone's attention with a brilliant, short interlude. Finally, ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2’ provided a visual spectacle: the iconic, terrifying ‘Teacher’ figure loomed large on the right side of the stage, while Chris Barnes' vocals were absolutely spot on. After a seamless transition to ‘Part 3,’ the first set ended with ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ in a fitting, oppressive atmosphere. That concluded the first set, and the band took a 20-minute break.
The band kicked off the second half in a colourful and wonderfully vibrant fashion with the psychedelic ‘See Emily Play’. The band then really rocked out with “Sheep”: introduced by a distinctive ‘baa’ from the tape, the driving track unfolded amid a rapid light show in red and white. After ‘Empty Spaces’ impressed with a fantastic groove, ‘Hey You’ created a reverent atmosphere - the visual highlight here was guitarist David Domminney Fowler, who stylishly played his acoustic guitar mounted directly on a stand.
A clever trick accompanied ‘Have a Cigar’, whose lyrics ran appropriately in the striking circle of the round video installation. The musicians gave a tongue-in-cheek nod to their homeland in ‘Wish You Were Here’: A humorous video about Australia celebrated typical export hits from Down Under such as Crocodile Dundee, Kylie Minogue and, last but not least, AC/DC. Then the music began, carried by two acoustic guitars, while bassist Ricky Howard convincingly took over the lead vocals.
For ‘Learning to Fly’, the background singers returned to the stage for the first time in the second set and enhanced the song as well as the consistently great solos by the instrumentalists. ‘On the Turning Away’ began wonderfully calmly and culminated in an epic, long instrumental outro. The grand finale of the regular set was ‘One Of These Days’: an extremely fat bass drove the instrumental piece forward, lasers cut through the air in the arena, and the band's trademark giant inflatable kangaroo bounced into the spotlight. A truly wild ride!
For the encore ‘Run Like Hell’ THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD SHOW finally brought out the big guns: the legendary giant inflatable pig made its grand entrance on the left side of the stage and watched over the stomping rhythms in the audience with glowing red eyes. ‘Comfortably Numb’ finally provided the ultimate finale. With a magnificent light show that once again pulled out all the stops of modern stage technology and a legendary guitar solo, a grandiose finale ended that left nothing to be desired. THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD SHOW will remain the gold standard of tribute bands in 2026.
Setlist
---Set 1---
01. In the Flesh?
02. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
03. Time
04. The Great Gig in the Sky
05. Money
06. Take It Back
07. What Do You Want From Me
08. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
09. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2
10. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3
11. Goodbye Cruel World
---Set 2---
12. See Emily Play
13. Sheep
14. Empty Spaces
15. Young Lust
16. Learning to Fly
17. On the Turning Away
18. Hey You
19. Have a Cigar
20. Wish You Were Here
21. One of These Days
22. Run Like Hell
---
23. Comfortably Numb
All Pictures by André Wilms
