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Entries in David Gilmour (9)

Wednesday
Nov132024

David Gilmour Live - Madison Square Garden Show Review

On November 10, I had the privilege of seeing Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour live at Madison Square Garden in New York City. You might recall I bought tickets for his California show at the Hollywood Bowl. A few days later the NYC dates were announced, so I decided to get tickets for one of those dates and sell the California show. The NYC dates worked out better all-around regarding work and travel time. I tacked a Thursday Night Football game between the Bengals and Ravens in Baltimore to the front end of my trip and then took Amtrak on to NYC from the Charmed City.


While in New York I also saw a Steely Dan cover band called The Royal Scam at the legendary Iridium Club in Times Square. The Iridium was made famous by Les Paul. The Royal Scam were great and very authentic – the sold-out crowd had a blast. I openly cackled listening to “Gaucho” live.


The David Gilmour show was a bucket list item. So was seeing a show at MSG so two birds, one stone! Before the show began, longtime Gilmour bassist Guy Pratt (also of Whitesnake and tons of other acts) addressed the crowd and asked the sold-out crowd to not spend the entire show “behind a cell phone.” He reminded folks that having a cell phone up and recording nonstop is distracting to everyone else and he also made a plea for people to not use flash when taking photos. Naturally, folks took videos and photos here and there, but for the most part, people seemed to really be into the music.

The setlist is below - the show opened with instrumentals, including “5 A.M.” and “Black Cat.” Eric actually said “Is that him playing?” because the sound was so true to the album. I laughed and was like, “Yeah don’t you see him?”


David Gilmour Setlist Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA 2024, Luck and Strange


We were on the floor and the aisle too, so I was able to scoot out and stand without bothering folks behind me. The audience largely sat during the show but as songs went on, more and more people started standing and dancing around. The guy next to me said “No one else on earth is better at anything than David Gilmour is at playing guitar.” Accurate.

Gilmour’s new album is called Luck and Strange and he performed nearly every track from it – including those songs including his daughter Romany Gilmour. A high point was their duet on the cover of “Between Two Points.” Romany plays harp on this and other tracks and that was very cool to see live. Naturally, one of my favorite moments was “High Hopes” live since I love The Division Bell album. There were videos to match some of the songs and on “High Hopes” a man opens a car filled with balloons… at that moment, the balloons all floated from the stage to the crowd! These white orbs were special and remote-controlled. As soon as “High Hopes” ended, someone pushed a button and the balloons were gone as quick as they came.

There was a 15-minute intermission after “High Hopes” and then the second part of the show featured slower tracks including “The Great Gig in the Sky” which allowed for Romany and Gilmour’s other female singers to shine.

“Sorrow” was another highlight and the set ended with “Scattered.” At this point, Gilmour thanked the crowd for coming and we all stood clapping, waiting for the top of the mountain: “Comfortably Numb” live with all its soaring guitar solos. This encore did not disappoint with the solos lengthened and Gilmour in rare form. I swear the man could play “Happy Birthday” and everyone would know it was him just by the tone.

Here’s a very high-quality video from a side vantage point:


Here’s “Sorrow”



Like other Pink Gloyd and Gilmour Shows, Marc Brickman designed the lights for this run. He also does the lighting for the Empire State Building. He is so important to the Pink Floyd universe that Guy Pratt mentioned him specifically from the stage before his cell-phone use warning.


And “High Hopes” with the balloons!



Finally I will add that I spoke to people from all over at the show. I found another Ohio couple at our hotel (of course!), a couple from Arkansas, a woman from Costa Rica (!) and folks from Great Britian were behind us. That’s another reason why I love shows: you get to meet and interact with so many different people. Definitely money well spent.

Sunday
Oct272024

Happy National Black Cat Day!

National Black Cat Day is celebrated annually on October 27th! Is there any animal more metal than a black cat? I think not.


I wanted to post this today to remind folks to keep their black cats inside this week - especially on Halloween night - because people can be monsters and do bad things to the ebony furry felines.



Here's "Black Cat" by David Gilmour from his new album Luck and Strange. My favorite track on the album!


Friday
Oct182024

David Gilmour... The Remix?

For your Friday new music fix, I present to you the remix of David Gilmour and Romany Gilmour "Between Two Points" from the Luck and Strange album. Gus from alt-J did the remix.


This definitely doesn't sound like Pink Floyd!


Friday
Sep062024

David Gilmour, 'Luck and Strange' Out Now

This is not a drill! David Gilmour's new release Luck and Strange is out now. I can't wait for work to be over today so I can give the album a proper listen. I'm getting excited about the show in a couple months too! I will never see Pink Floyd live, but David's show will be a close substitute!


Thursday
May162024

It Is Happening: David Gilmour Edition 

About those David Gilmour tickets that I wanted so bad… I got a pair!


I ended up with the Hollywood Bowl on October 29. The date kind of sucks for me personally, but I am going to try and make it work. It’s been a dream of mine to see Gilmour play his guitar live and in a historic venue no less! The best part was that I got lucky with a pre-sale code and just bought tickets direct. They weren’t cheap per se but they also weren’t jacked-up aftermarket prices either.


Pink Floyd forever, man.


Saturday
Apr272024

David Gilmour, 'The Piper's Call' -- Official Video

The news earlier this week of David Gilmour's new solo album Luck & Strange coming in September got me excited. Now there's a video for the first single called "The Piper's Call." It's a behind-the-scenes video, shot while Gilmour was recording the new album.


The true guitar solo kicks in at 3:45 and it goes until the end of the track. The solo is good. Really good. I could extract that part of the song and just listen to it on a loop. The guitar tone is unmistakeble - hear it and you know it's the work of genius Gilmour.


Thursday
Apr252024

David Gilmour Announces New Album, Single

This is not a drill and I am kind of freaking out: my beloved David Gilmour is releasing a new album! It’s his first new one in nine years and is named The Piper’s Call. The first single is “Luck and Strange” and I just plain hope there is a tour involved too. Like, David Gilmour is the number one artist I want to see perform live. He is a guitar genius and I can listen to Pink Floyd endlessly. Gilmour is 78 so I don’t foresee lots of tours in his future – so he should strike while the iron is hot!


Gilmour could really threaten me with a good time and do a handful of shows in awesome places that would require me to get on a jet plane and empty my vacation fund.


The new album comes out September 6. Stream “Luck and Strange” below!