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Entries in Pink Floyd (17)

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.

Saturday
Aug102024

How Did I Miss This Bonkers Pink Floyd Cover?

Ok, thanks to the Sirius XM app-exclusive Covers channel, I was introduced to the weirdest Pink Floyd cover ever. It's the Scissor Sisters doing "Comfortably Numb."

Yes, this is a 2004 disco-version of the song and it was even nominated for a Grammy!

Again, how did I miss this insanity? The first listen is jarring and then you kind of get it and I can totally see this being played on a Virgin Voyages cruise around the pool deck or something. Anyway, check out the song below if you haven't heard it before and add that Covers channel to your app library if you have a Sirius subscription because there are some wild gems on there!


Also, happy Who Dey - Bengals first preseason game tonight! See you in the jungle, baby!


Friday
May032024

David Gilmour Has Announced First Tour Dates! 

To celebrate the release of Luck and Strange, David Gilmour will be performing his only UK Shows at the Royal Albert Hall, select dates in October 2024. Tickets will go on general sale at 10am on Friday, May 10th at Ticketmaster.

The thing about this is that UK residents get first priority (as they should) so there is probably no chance for Americans to get tickets to these shows. I am hoping that means that Gilmour will travel to America for at least a week of shows in a single place. I will keep crossing my fingers for US dates!


Monday
Apr082024

Happy Eclipse Day (For Lots of Folks)

It's finally here: the day of the total solar eclipse. Some lucky folks are in the path of totality - and I'm one of them! There are eclipse playlists galore out there - but the best is probably to just listen to Dark Side of The Moon from Pink Floyd. Really, there's nothing better.


If you are taking part in any of the science fun today, be careful and wear your special glasses and enjoy!



Sunday
Jul092023

42 Years Of 'High n' Dry'

Well, if you want to feel ancient, I can help: Def Leppard's High N' Dry album is 42 years old. Of course the album features "Bringin' On The Heartbreak," a song that solidified the Brits as the real rock deal.

The new Def Leppard book DEFinitely has a little tidbit about the album cover for their debut On Through The Night and how the band had nothing to do with the creative concept at all. The label "took care of it" and the band wasn't pleased. From then on, the members of Def Leppard exerted creative control over their album covers and iconic art. The cover for High n' Dry was actually meant for Pink Floyd in the late 70s, but rejected by the prog legends. (The graphic designer of the cover was Storm Thorgerson. He also did the art for Dark Side of the Moon).

Def Leppard began their long partnership with the late designer Andie Airfix with the Pyromania album. 



Top Selling Rock CDs and Vinyl
Thursday
Apr132023

Pink Floyd Live In 1975 - Rare Footage

Watch some amazing footage of Pink Floyd playing on June 28, 1975 at the Ivor Wynne Stadium in Ontario, Canada.


The film was shot on 8mm and then converted to 4K. David Gilmour is amazing here, both in voice and guitar sound. Plus, the quality of the film is astonishing for how old it is and what it was originally shot on, too.


Tuesday
Feb072023

Roger Waters - David Gilmour Feud Hits Twitter

Oh boy. It's never good when band feuds spill over into social media. We all know that Roger Waters and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd basically hate each other these days.

Well, Roger has been on the wrong side of history for quite some time regarding Russia and the invasion of Ukraine. Gilmour's wife, Polly Samson, tweeted about Roger yesterday. It should be noted Polly isn't a regular rock spouse - she's also a Pink Floyd songwriter. Samson called it straight after Roger's recent interview in a German newspaper...

 

 


Of course, media picked up on this whole thing. I actually saw it myself because I follow David Gilmour and noticed he "liked" Polly's tweet.

 


Well, now Roger Waters is freaking out and "looking into legal action." This after the dude said Israel is just like Nazi Germany... and Ukraine is full of Nazi's too. I dunno man. Not a good look.