‘On top of our game’: Pink Floyd tribute band Pigs on the Wing heads to Bing Theater on tour celebrating 20 years

The Lilac City will soon get a dose of Pink Floyd tunes, but not from the band itself.

Portland-based Pink Floyd tribute band Pigs on the Wing will return to Spokane on Saturday to take the stage at the Bing Theater to show off the sonic progression the past two decades has brought them.

The eight-member band has two of its original members, guitarist/vocalist Jason Baker and keyboardist/vocalist Matt Jones, since their formation in 2006, but that’s hardly a slight with each member being a veteran in the industry.

The band found their groove in their early days, performing the entirety of Pink Floyd’s album, “Dark Side of the Moon,” in small Portland venues, where they proved to locals that they had something special, drummer Bryan Fairfield said.

“Musically, we’ve always been pretty on top of our game,” Fairfield said.

Growing up with a drummer father, percussion has always been a part of Fairfield’s DNA. He picked up his first pair of drumsticks at 9 years old and was in several bands before joining Pigs on the Wing in 2014.

Fairfield lives in Long Beach, Washington, while the rest of the band resides in Portland. He works full time with a surgical team at a veterinarian hospital in the West Side town. Twice a month, he strips out of his scrubs, sterilizes his last procedure tool and drives down to Portland for band rehearsals.

During the two- or three-hour rehearsals, the studio becomes a sanctuary where the band can tune out the outside noise and let their passion in music lead the way.

“We really, you know, just kind of hone in,” Fairfield said. “It comes extremely natural.”

Since their formation in 1965, Pink Floyd revolutionized rock music with pioneering psychedelic and progressive sounds. Their iconic albums, such as “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Wish You Were Here,” continue to be played on repeat by fans from around the world – Fairfield and the rest of Pigs on the Wing being no exception.

“Pink Floyd is one of those bands that just … transcends generation after generation,” Fairfield said, “I think everyone, whether they know it or not, kind of likes them.”

The band recognizes the tall task of covering one of the most influential bands in rock, but their tenacity of doing Pink Floyd justice has only grown over the years, Fairfield said.

“I feel like we have to really embrace the fact that we’re playing another band’s music,” Fairfield said. “So we have to keep all the integrity there musically, but we like to kind of add our own, you know, kind of energy to it.”

Pigs on the Wing doesn’t try to be a carbon copy of Pink Floyd – or like any other tribute band for the matter, Fairfield said.

“We don’t dress up like the band members, which, you know, all respect the bands who do that, that’s their thing,” Fairfield said, “but for us, we don’t do that. We don’t try to go and recreate how they look on stage. We put all of our attention into the music, into the show and the production.

“We kind of put in a little more of an edge and kind of give the music a little more push.”

Pigs on the Wing’s 20th anniversary tour features the entirety of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album, “Animals” during the first set, and then will play a mixed bag of Floyd classics from the Roger Waters era and before during their second set.

Saturday marks the band’s sixth appearance at the Bing Theater since 2017. Fairfield said the band always looks forward to playing at the beloved Spokane venue.

“It’s one of my favorite places to play just because it’s a really cool old theater. It’s big, and I just love it,” Fairfield said.

Locals may have high expectations for the renowned tribute band to deliver, like they have in years past, but they have no shortage of confidence, Fairfield said.

“If you like Floyd, you should definitely come to the show because you will get a dosing of it and it’ll be good,” Fairfield said. “I do hold us to that. We do a really good job of what we do.”