Bradford musician Dave Fortune spends his time on stage invoking the spirit of Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour, and feels it's the best tribute he can pay to the band he grew up listening to.

His band, the eight-piece Off the Wall, have not long finished a European tour, shooting a DVD in Berlin and fitting in an extra gig in France.

On July 7 up to 4,000 people are expected to pack Halifax's Piece Hall for an Off the Wall special - three giant video screens, lasers, and all the special effects associated with the band and its mentors, the original Pink Floyd.

The band has played there for six years. Lead guitarist and vocalist Dave Fortune, otherwise known as Fluff, particularly enjoyed the second year.

"It was a really hot summer and the place was heaving. It was brilliant. It gets more controlled every year," he said.

He started the band along with Paul Barker - no longer a member - six years ago. Aged 46, he lives at Clayton Heights and had been playing in various Bradford bands for years, none of them as successful as this one.

Why Pink Floyd?

"I had been listening to them since the early 1970s. I used to jam along with the records."

That means he followed the guitar leads of Dave Gilmour. Not an easy thing, I would have thought; but Fluff surprised me by saying he knew of several other Pink Floyd tribute bands, including Think Floyd and the one Down Under, The Australian Pink Floyd.

I wondered how he would feel if he was in a band which others copied.

"You'd like to be the only one. But it is a tribute to Pink Floyd," he said.

Off the Wall's lucky break came when they were performing at Nottingham.

"Some agent from Holland saw us and offered us a tour of Scandinavia mainly," Fluff said.

Of all the Floyd's back catalogue his favourite piece is Echoes, with melancholy lyrics by Roger Waters. It is a 23-minute piece and takes up the whole of one side of the album Meddle.

Dave says he likes the Englishness of Floyd and their music, so reminiscent of the 1970s, when he started listening to them.

How long can Off the Wall go on?

"The band is capable of doing a lot of good things, so who knows?" he replied.

  • Off the Wall's concert at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on July 7, begins after 7pm and ends at 11.45pm. For tickets priced £17 ring (01422) 351158. Tickets on the door cost £20.