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David Gilmour, Royal Albert Hall, London


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So, with it being just over 10 years since my Dad took me to one of my first concerts which was Pink Floyd at Earl's Court, I returned the favour and treated him to David Gilmour at the RAH. I paid a bit for the seats and was really pleased with them; near the front, to the right and very close to the stage.

 

The first half of the show kicked off with Speak To Me / Time which sounded great, great swathes of guitar that had everyone tingling. He then proceeded with a rendition of the new album, On An Island, in full. Sounding a little less produced, as if the music had more of a chance to breathe than on record, I was pleasently surprised after an initial feeling of dread as it's not earth shatteringly good. He was joined on stage by Crosby & Nash doing backing vocals, with Nash "dancing" like your pissed up father at a wedding, which was kind of off putting. He was also joined by Robert Wyatt who played trumpet and is looking, unfortunately, a little shakey these days.

 

The second half of the show was the amazing. A trawl through the Floyd back catalogue, with a couple of numbers off the Division Bell album, as Richard Wright was the keyboardist, which included Great Day For Freedom and Wearing The Inside Out. They then, amazingly, did the full version of Echoes!! I never thought I'd hear it live, it was amazing along with the light show to go with it. Proves that he can let himself go without the stylised and overproduced MOR he has made. It was fantastic, Gilmour and Wright giving each other smiling looks through the music as if they never thought they'd find themselves playing it again. I could die happy after that, but things, impossibly, got better.

 

For the encore Crosby, Nash and Gilmour (hehe) did a version of Find The Cost Of Freedom which was quite haunting, the vocals nicely complimenting each other. Next was the obligatory Wish You Were Here, which is still a great song. Then, however, things went a bit mad, David jokingly saying "And you thought it was all over" as DAVID BOWIE comes on stage!!! Fan-fucking-tastic! He did two numbers, an early Floyd song which I can't quite place but a Syd Barrett-era one... He then stayed on to do the Roger Waters vocals for Comfortably Numb which was amazing, it send shivers down my spine, Bowie's vocals perfectly suiting it and Gilmours guitar work still impeccable. And then it was over! What a night, my Dad was very chuffed and happy, and so was I!!

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an early Floyd song which I can't quite place but a Syd Barrett-era one...

They did Arnold Layne on Later with JH (no Bowie of course, but C & N were there ans said that they'd come back to perform properly themselves next week), but I suppose you would have known that one. I had that first album and Dark Side of the Moon on cassette taped from a friend, but that is the only stuff of theirs that I've ever owned.

 

Still on the dark side

(Filed: 28/05/2006 - Daily Telegraph)

 

David Gilmour is the model rock-star plutocrat - modest, creative, generous. Until the talk turns to money... and the Rolling Stones. 'How much do they need?' he asks Nigel Farndale. 'It's like a sexual compulsion'.

 

An arrow of barking geese spirals down towards a lake. Horses stand dozily in meadows, swishing their tails against the early summer flies. There are copses of woodland here, and thickening hedgerows and, sometimes, because this parcel of West Sussex is owned by a rock star, fans. 'There is a public footpath beyond those fields over there,' David Gilmour says with a lethargic nod. 'Fans do sometimes walk it and I see them videoing the house. On the whole, though, they leave us alone.' The 'house' he refers to is a rambling, ivy-covered farmhouse with an Aga, the odd dog hair on the upholstery, and dozens of gymkhana rosettes - but no platinum discs, no leopardskin throws. The 'us' is his wife, the novelist Polly Samson, and four of his eight children (he has four from an earlier marriage, now grown up).

 

Standing barefoot in jeans and T-shirt, Gilmour seems a solid and unyielding figure with an angular head and an impassive and narrow stare. There is, you soon sense, depth below his still surface. He is a David, never a Dave. In fact he is David Gilmour CBE, partly in recognition of his philanthropy, which included giving the proceeds from the sale of his London house to the homeless charity Crisis:

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reminds me of when I went to see Keith Richards a few years ago, and I said it was the best Stones show I'd been to in years. Dave Gilmour, sounds like he's doing the better Floyd shows.. ;)

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They then, amazingly, did the full version of Echoes!! I never thought I'd hear it live, it was amazing along with the light show to go with it. Proves that he can let himself go without the stylised and overproduced MOR he has made. It was fantastic, Gilmour and Wright giving each other smiling looks through the music as if they never thought they'd find themselves playing it again. I could die happy after that, but things, impossibly, got better.

 

... things went a bit mad, David jokingly saying "And you thought it was all over" as DAVID BOWIE comes on stage!!! Fan-fucking-tastic! He did two numbers, an early Floyd song which I can't quite place but a Syd Barrett-era one... He then stayed on to do the Roger Waters vocals for Comfortably Numb which was amazing, it send shivers down my spine, Bowie's vocals perfectly suiting it and Gilmours guitar work still impeccable. And then it was over! What a night, my Dad was very chuffed and happy, and so was I!!

:omg :w00t

 

rich! what a dynamite show! i waffled about seeing david g. here, and missed out. ECHOES?! HOLY CATS!! DAVID BOWIE!?? if you're going to have a guest vocalist on comfortably numb, you best call in the big guns. damn. what a lucky, lucky crowd.

 

for the record: have seen roger waters solo and various pink floyd-sans waters shows over the years and am still a fan of the waters shows. LOVED the floyd shows, but they were always a bit on the huge and slickly produced side for me. sounds like i missed an opportunity to see d. gilmour play a more low-key show on this tour. rats.

 

 

QUESTION: did he play anything from about face? i'm thinking all lovers are deranged...pete townshend guested on the lp...

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i saw roger down here in 2002 and it was a great show.

 

little bit of gilmour trivia... i heard that in 1987, when floyd were on their Momentary lapse of reason tour, gilmour played an an announced gig at a local pub, using a different name, just playing old rock n roll covers

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:omg :w00t

 

rich! what a dynamite show! i waffled about seeing david g. here, and missed out. ECHOES?! HOLY CATS!! DAVID BOWIE!?? if you're going to have a guest vocalist on comfortably numb, you best call in the big guns. damn. what a lucky, lucky crowd.

 

for the record: have seen roger waters solo and various pink floyd-sans waters shows over the years and am still a fan of the waters shows. LOVED the floyd shows, but they were always a bit on the huge and slickly produced side for me. sounds like i missed an opportunity to see d. gilmour play a more low-key show on this tour. rats.

QUESTION: did he play anything from about face? i'm thinking all lovers are deranged...pete townshend guested on the lp...

 

Nothing from About Face, he stuck to the new album and old Floyd material...

 

Just to see them play Echoes live is enough for me and for Bowie to come on as well. There were other guests for the other two nights; Mica Paris on Tues and Nick Mason on Wed, but I think we had the best night with Bowie... still can't quite believe it!!!

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