Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd: Ukastle Ukestra at the 2025 Blue Mountains Ukulele Festival

In many people’s books, attempting a ukulele group performance of Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd would be madness. But we think we did it justice! With a great singer, disciplined mobs of ukers (largely doing single chord thumb strums) accompanying a few dedicated and reliable amplified lead ukuleists. Emily Thomas is our resident rock chick, and managed to be restrained (as is the vibe of the song) yet deliver impeccably (as we expect from her always). How could anyone tell that this professional was a last minute stand-in to make up for the absence of the allocated lead singer. Thanks so much Emily! Amongst the lead players, Heather Kember took on the difficult Uke Two role, and excelled. We are grateful to her efforts for actually practising, and making the song something very special. We believe Will Sands might’ve been coached along by Heather as well whilst Kathy Wilson underpinned the Uke One role. It also bears mentioning that there are other lead players amongst the unamplified uke mob, and they play an important supportive role (both moral and audio-wise) for those who can be heard better.