Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and AC/DC will share the same stage when pigs fly, right?

Well, get set for some airborne ham and a classic rock triad at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday as the touring magnum opus, The Classic Rock Experience, assaults the stage at Bloomington's U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

Trampling over the maxim that "less is more," The Classic Rock Experience is out to prove that bigger is better, and more is best of all.

For the first time, three separately touring classic rock tribute entities have been corralled together: The Pink Floyd Experience (replete with inflatable pink porker), Led Zepplica and The AC/DC Experience (an umbrella name for two tribute bands taking turns, Back In Black and Canada's BC/DC; we're getting Back In Black).

The seasoned veteran on the bill is Tom Quinn, who fronts The Pink Floyd Experience as its David Gilmour surrogate. As a '70s-era alum of Peoria's Bradley University, he also has area roots.

For the better part of the decade, Quinn and his band have been lording it over the concert stages of the world as the sole attraction: a lavish multimedia extravaganza involving lasers, video screens, plane crashes, 'copters and, yes, those aerial pigs.

In short, all the stuff that made Pink Floyd what they were until they were no more.

Quinn admits that the original proposal for The Classic Rock Experience struck him as a little odd: "What's Pink Floyd doing with these two head-banger rock bands? I had some doubts about it."

Though the tour is still fresh out of the box (it began just several weeks ago), Quinn's initial concerns have been dashed.

"I think there's a lot of crossover between the bands' fans," he says. "It's not like everyone's hitting the beer garden when we get up there. The same people who appreciate Back In Black are comfortable with us."

And vice versa, he adds.

The concert's pecking order has been established for the sake of balance: The AC/DC band opens the show with a bang, The Pink Floyd Experience follows on their heels steeped in what Quinn refers to as its heady "sense of space and 3-D sound"; and Led Zepplica gets the closing slot, with all sonic stops pulled.

"We're like the palate cleanser," Quinn laughs, referring to Pink Floyd's more cerebral and ethereal approach to rock, versus the aural viscera of AC/DC and Led Zep.

Though Quinn and his fellow Floyd surrogates can't haul out every last bell and whistle they can as solo headliners, they're packing as much bang for the buck as they can in their 40-minute slot, flying pig included.

"There are no compromises being made," he says.

The West Coast-based group has been recreating the Pink Floyd sound to great fan favor since the guitar-playing Quinn began emulating his guitar-playing idol, David Gilmour, back in the mid-'90s, "on the heels of Pink Floyd's 1994 tour."

At that time, "we were the only (tribute) band on the West Coast who weren't doing Elvis or the Beatles, and the club owners didn't know what to make of us - until they wound up with people coming in droves."

Quinn knows the rap against tribute band musicians by heart ("they're those who can't write music themselves"), but he's not having any of that, thanks.

Knowing full well that the world will never see the classic Pink Floyd lineup together on a stage again (pigs flying or no), Quinn sees his function as providing stewardship for a legend in the most palpable way possible.

And he speaks for the other bands on the Classic Rock Experience bill as well.

"In fact, the Robert Plant in our Led Zeppelin looks and sounds more like Robert Plant than the real one does," Quinn chuckles. "Even Robert Plant can't do Robert Plant anymore."

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At a glance

What: The Classic Rock Experience

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: U.S. Cellular Coliseum, 101 S. Madison St., Bloomington

Tickets: $28 and $38

Box office number: (866) 891-9992

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Soldier collection cuts ticket prices

BLOOMINGTON - Discounted tickets to Wednesday night's Classic Rock Experience are available to those who also want to lend American troops serving overseas a helping hand.

For anyone who brings an approved item to the U.S. Cellular Coliseum box office, tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show will be available at a reduced $10 fee (regular admission is $28 and $38).

Acceptable items include lip balm, trail mix, batteries, Band-Aids, dental floss, DVDs, Kleenex and vitamins. For a complete list, go to www.uscellularcoliseum.com.

The collection is being sponsored by the Coliseum and the State Farm Military Affinity Group.