Gilmour Live!

January 16, 2002:

Well, what to expect of our David on his first of three appearances in London’s Royal Festival Hall this year that hasn’t already been said of his June 2001 show by “The Independent”: 'The revelation of the evening was the romanticism of his arrangements, the mellifluousness of his voice, the churchy swoop of the streaming arpeggiated (?) cello and the nine-part choral harmonies'? Curiously, there were no programmes or other merchandise on sale, apart from the naughty privateers selling “souvenir” t-shirts outside the Hall after the show.

So okay, he IS getting on a bit, hair much greyer and becoming more “robust” but some would say that is befitting a man of his age. We should feel lucky to have him still around unlike many of his contemporaries and, what’s more, willing to perform Live. And anyway, his guitar playing, if only occasionally not his voice, is still worthy of any Pink Floyd/David Gilmour fan’s attention.

David couldn’t have chosen a better venue for his London appearances. With spectacular riverside views of the Thames, Big Ben and Westminster, the Royal Festival Hall houses a superb auditorium with enough space to seem grand yet not so large one is deprived of intimacy with the performers. From virtually every seat the faces of those on stage can be clearly seen. Excellent acoustics and remarkable 50’s Modern décor aside, the only criticism would be the heating was set a touch too high.

David's recent web chat didn’t give much away regarding what to expect from this round of semi-acoustic outings. In fact, he could be accused of being positively cagey about it: “More or less the same set list as I did last June. If you know that, great, or you'll find out! Quite a few Pink Floyd songs and one new song from the Bizet opera.” The only other clues we had was that last June he played “Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Bizet, and other material.”

The support group, Ghostland, was pleasant enough and spookily Enya-like in spirit if not sound. But with the help of the London Metropolitan Orchestra, Ghostland’s three-quarter hour “warm up” was more a gentle simmering rather than a full-on BBQ. I was lucky to have gotten enough sleep the day before or otherwise, with the heat and soporific effect of Ghostland music, I would have been out like a light.

After the Ghostland set and a quarter-hour interval – taken in the cool air of a riverside terrace – the audience was informed David Gilmour would be on the stage in minutes and, indeed, within minutes the man himself took the stage alone to thunderous applause. Who ever it was said the British audience is a cold and reserved bunch wasn’t at the RFH last night.

Now here is where I wish I’d had the presence of mind to note down the songs played because I can only remember the most exciting highlights, of which there were plenty. Alone on stage, David treated us to the beginnings of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” while his band assembled themselves in the background.

Of Pink Floyd songs, there was the aforementioned “Shine On…”, the very warmly greeted and pleasantly surprising “Fat Old Sun,” “Wish You Were Here,” “High Hopes” and “Coming Back To Life.” He played a beautiful rendition of Syd’s “Dominoes” and a very haunting piece from Bizet’s opera “Les pêcheurs de perles” (The Pearl Fishers). For “Comfortably Numb,” David introduced the wheelchair-bound Robert Wyatt who sang Roger’s part with much feeling and not a little originality. He also introduced a song he and Polly wrote together but which has yet to be recorded and which he performed in duet with a lovely female backing vocalist. After the end-of-show “Shine On…Part 7” - this time, with the band leaving the stage - and “High Hopes” as the encore, the finale was a shortened version of the lullaby from the perennial children’s favourite: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Magic.

For the sake of those yet to see his other two shows in London and two appearances in Paris, I won’t reveal the surprise of the evening, but this was truly a thrilling moment with a bit of comedy in the middle. Hint: the sax solo had to be played twice; there were forgotten lyrics and David’s claim that “it was going SO well.” I know of one very special PF fan here who will be kicking herself she missed this bit in particular.

Nick Kamen on piano and alto-sax and Sam Brown as one of several backing vocals were amongst the well-known players in David’s band, although I am sure I should remember the accomplished saxophonist. I was too excited, or the audience too raucous for me to catch everyone’s name.

All in all: a very good, highly memorable concert. David was his usual brilliant and ever so polite self and he seemed to have enjoyed himself as much as we, the audience, enjoyed seeing him. I enjoyed my little quasi-Floydian adventure immensely. See me smile, see me beam. :grin:

Rating:
9/10 for effort
10/10 for style

"Isn't THIS where the sax solo should be?" - D. Gilmour

Byron, I hate you.

Good one Big B.

Sounds like you had a Ginormously Gilmourian time and Fat Old Sun to boot, huh?

Nice one matey,

Mark

And you think I forget how lucky I am

Bugger, Bugger, Bugger...jealousy is a curse.

As a suffix to what's already been said, here were my thoughts on it:



David Gilmour was very good, though there were a few hiccups, not least Dick Parry completely forgetting to play his sax solo during [mystery guest's] number! They had to pick up playing again from there after the track fell apart...



Set list (as best I can recall):



Shine On (Pts.1-5)

Dominoes

Fat Old Sun

Coming Back to Life

Je Croix Entendre Encore

High Hopes

Mystery Guest Number

Wish You Were Here (with guest)

Smile

Comfortably Numb

Shine On (Pts.6-9)



Encores:



A Great Day for Freedom

Hushabye Mountain



Michael Kamen was on piano and some wind thing, a seven (count them, seven!) piece choir led by Sam Brown with Durga McBroom and several other familiar names in there from previous floyd backing singer line-ups.



DG's wife, Polly Sampson, on cello (I think - name was a bit muffled).



A good night, though a little too predictable with knowledge of last June's Festival Hall date.



No banter from DG and he apologised in advance for his voice on several occasions, so perhaps the report in the Sunday Times last Sunday about him suffering heavily from a cold were correct.

beardedbloke,

Thank goodness you're here (and there) to supply more concrete facts rather than my hazy slacker memoirs. It was difficult to understand a lot of what was spoken during David's set because shouters kept shouting between songs.

Also thanks to you, I now have names to put to the remaining question marks I had on the show (and corrections for my mistakes):

- "Je Croix Entendre Encore"
- Dick Parry on sax
- MICHAEL Kamen (not Nick)
- Smile
- "It's a Great Day For Freedom" instead of "High Hopes" before finale (Am not the greatest DG-Floyd fan.)

But was that REALLY Polly Sampson on cellos? Is she a member of Ghostland, or just appearing with them as a guest cellist?
Enquiring minds want to know. :smile:

eug'axe & Driven: Sorry you missed it. Wish you were here. Though I don't think you'd enjoy the weather, Driven, old chum, eug'axe would think it a walk in the park and what one has to endure to see DG Live!

fixxy: It was a BRILLIANT night! A double-decker bus ride direct to venue, the show, then a double-decker straight home. Gilmouricious to the max!

Hope Geedub#1 enjoyed it. Hiya GW#1!

Feverishly Floydian,
Byron

p.s. Why have we never heard about Paulo's PF pilgrimage of last year?

Oh I think I could endure the weather to have seen that.

"Goodbye...bluuuuuue sky, goodbye"

Well, I unfortunately live in the States so I had no chance to catch Mr. Gilmour and his show. I do however, have a RoIO of it and although the recording sounds a bit "distant", I enjoy hearing songs such as Shine On, Fat Old Sun, and Terrapin. I would have loved to hear "Numb" done aucustically on Davids solos but... those are the breaks. What can you do?

bride,

I think in fact it *wasn't* Polly Sampson on cello. Part of my confusion probably arises from the fact that we were in the bar for the entire Ghostland set, so wouldn't notice a member reappearing!

I'm not a huge fan on DG-PF either; so I was pretty disappointed with the amount of TDB he played (three whole tracks?!).

Wonderful to hear him play Dominoes, though - I was expecting Terrapin based on last year's show.

Highlights of the night for me were definitely Fat Old Sun, Dominoes and WYWH. Also great to hear Comfortably Numb again (particularly the electric solos :smile: I have yet to tire of that song after many years of listening...

I'm just waiting for some kind soul to put out an ROIO :smile:

beard

After sitting for the entire show with a microphone connected to my jumper I was really looking forward to getting my headphones out when David finshed and checked I had got it. I turn it on and for the first 5 minutes of shine on everything seems to have gone well, the suddenly I hear a muffled noise and complete silence, which turns out to continue for the rest of the show!!!!

This really has pissed me off a great deal and im sorry for not being able to get it onto the net for you.

Anyways an absolutely amazing concert from David Gilmour and I only wish i was going again tonight and friday ( and then possibly not balls up the recording).

If anyone managed to successfully record it please direct to the files!

Could someone (after all of these shows) make another attempt at transcribing the lyrics to "Smile"? The last transcription seemed to have a lot of holes in it...

And what about that mad woman up front, stage left with wildly waving arms, and madly nodding head.

She was a real bit of comic relief.

Fiendishly Floydian,
Byron

p.s. Gosh! I hope the mad woman wasn't GW#1!

Uh-oh...GeeDub #1 was to be at both shows. What did it say on her T-shirt? I believe she was to be wearing a T-shirt that said "I am GilmourWhore #1" so that other GeeDubs could identify her... (I don't know whether she really did that.)

That would be REALLY embarrassing if GW #1 was disruptive...

_________________
"But now the day has broken, can see in better ways,
A path leading to the light, a hope that never fades.
All power to the brave."

--"Along the Shoreline" by Richard Wright

The mad woman - I will assume the long-haired being was a woman - wasn't disruptive in any sonic sense, but she could have been thought so by those seated in the stalls at the front right of the auditorium.

I didn't spot anyone with THAT t-shirt on, but there were too many people to choose from for identification. :smile:

You know, I think GeeDub #1 was seated in the front...

But I'm not sure...she may have been further towards the center.

Oh, how I wish, how I wish I were THERE!

Too bad I can't go. Really--what a shame.

Say hello to the BDG and to all of the musicians there for me, please!