Celebrations for what would have been the 80th birthday of Syd Barrett, the late Pink Floyd co-founder and solo maverick, will take place in October, with proceeds raised going to mental health charities. Barrett, who died in 2006, aged 60, quit Floyd in April 1968. After the release of two solo albums, he walked away from the industry, seeing out the rest of his days as a recluse.
With the full support of the Barrett family, Syd’s legacy is honoured with a live concert in Cambridge, an all-star tribute album and an exhibition. As well as Cambridge being his home city, Barrett’s last known live performance took place at the Corn Exchange there on February 24, 1972.
The tribute show – featuring Kula Shaker, Soft Machine, Men On The Border, Diana Silveira & The Psychedelic Circus, Radhika and Pünk Floyd, with additional surprise guests set to be announced – takes place at the same venue on October 10, which is World Mental Health Day.
“Eighty years after his birth, Syd Barrett’s influence remains as powerful as ever,” says co-organiser Neil Jones. “It’s especially fitting that this celebration takes place in Cambridge, the city at the heart of his story.”
The album, Clowns And Jugglers: The Songs Of Syd Barrett, scheduled for release the previous day on coloured vinyl and CD, stars an array of heavy-hitters and stylistically related acts including Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets, Soft Machine, and Robyn Hitchcock featuring John Paul Jones. Curated by Mark Wilkinson (designer of sleeve art for Marillion, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest), Syd’s nephew Ian Barrett and Gonzo record label boss Rob Ayling, most of the tracks were recorded specially for the project.
“It isn’t just a bunch of oldies,” Wilkinson says. “Some of the best tracks are by the younger artists – I love what Rosalie Cunningham has done with Lucifer Sam, from [Floyd’s debut] Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.”
The inclusion of Terrapin, from Syd’s solo debut The Macap Laughs, by Mancunians Henge, was down to Ian Barrett. “Henge are an incredible band,” he enthuses. “For me they are one of the highlights of it all.”
The project has taken more than a year of planning, helped by several twists of fate. It effectively began when Wilkinson exhibited a portrait of Syd at the Bloodstock Festival and happened to have a conversation with Syd’s nephew Mark Barrett. Talk of an album led to the show at the Corn Exchange, and then the exhibition, which turns the spotlight on Barrett’s life, art and cultural impact. Running from October 3-9 at the Cambridge OpenSpace arts venue, with a further display on October 10-11 at The Cambridge Guildhall, it showcases original paintings and sketches by Syd, alongside prints of larger works.
All of the above confirms that 20 years after Barrett’s passing, his legacy remains as strong as ever. “People still care because Syd was completely unique and always adventurous,” says Wilkinson. “I can’t praise his lyrics enough – they were incredible. You can see where Bowie and Bolan took some of their ideas from.
“[Noted journalist] Nick Kent wrote that as an artist Syd emerged from the womb fully formed,” he continues. “There was no lead-in period, it was bang! And he was doing it all straight away. That’s what we are celebrating here.”
“From a family perspective, we are still slightly amazed that people are as interested as they are,” comments Syd’s nephew Ian Barrett. “After he died I kind of expected it to fade away slightly, but I’m realising that it probably won’t happen. The fascination is as strong as it ever was.”
Mental health is a strong part of the narrative that runs through the project’s several strands. It’s a subject that people are far more comfortable talking about than they used to be.
“It helps that there are names for these conditions now,” says Ian Barrett. “People can get treatment for it. There’s less of a stigma and hopefully things will get better still in the future. We are raising money as well, so that’s another positive.”
Ian still has strong memories of his uncle, specifically the year in the 80s that Syd spent Christmas with the family in Luton.
“He came over from Cambridge, and he seemed pretty normal, really,” he recalls. “I didn’t realise what he had done, because nobody talked about his fame. I couldn’t really understand how he fitted into the Pink Floyd story, because in a sense he didn’t.”
(Image credit: Syd Barrett Music/Infinite Sun)
In the internet age, and thanks to the 2023 film Have You Got It Yet?, Ian believes that a lot of past myths and falsehoods about Syd have now been corrected.
“I hope so,” he says. “Rob Chapman’s book [A Very Irregular Head] took some of that stuff apart. The old stories about Mandrax and being locked in cupboards have all been discounted.
“Nobody is trying to deny that some strange things happened, and it was certainly a mysterious time,” he continues, “but I think people no longer believe in that stuff and hopefully they can focus on what’s important – the creativity he achieved in such a short career. And then he quit. The quitting was the important part. Nobody could understand that when he said that he was stopping, he meant it.”
Ian is prepared to offer hope that more of Syd’s work could be found and brought out of the archives in the future.
“Everyone’s looking around for it, and it’s possible there might still be some left to discover,” he says cautiously. “I’m pretty sure there will be something further, but these things don’t happen quickly.”
Asked to speculate what his uncle Syd might have made of the celebrations surrounding his 80th birthday, had he lived to experience it, Ian is adamant.
“Syd would have been pleased with it all, I think, especially because there is art involved,” he explains. “Personally, I think of him as an artist that ended up in music. Fundamentally, he wanted to be an artist, but he happened to play guitar too well and it all blossomed out of control. I think he just wanted to paint, really.”
Tickets for A Tribute to Syd Barrett – Official 80th Anniversary Celebrations are sold out.
