Will David Gilmour and Roger Waters ever tour together again as Pink Floyd? Gilmour famously said he is “done with Pink Floyd” during an interview in 2014, but dammit, if Axl and Slash can share a stage in 2016 then there really is no reason why Gilmour and Waters can’t put aside their differences. That’s just wishful thinking of course, but in the meantime, I’m quite happy with what Mr. Gilmour has going on currently.
A brilliant new record titled Rattle the Lock (released in September of 2015) and a handful of tour dates featuring songs from Rattle along with a slew of Pink Floyd classics. I was in New York earlier this week and caught the show at the legendary Madison Square Garden.
This was my first time to MSG and surprisingly the first time I’ve seen David Gilmour live. I’ve seen Roger Waters several times before, then again he tours much more frequently. Another thing to note is that as a photojournalist I absolutely refuse to use stock photo in my reviews and for the first time in several years I didn’t have a photo pass for this show. Apparently they are just impossible to come by. (For the record, Roger has always been very photog friendly so I’m not sure why management was so strict. Furthermore, I have no idea what the benefit is of having one photographer shoot every show.)
So the photos in this review were shot from a my point and shoot which is definitely not optimal for shooting a rock ‘n’ roll show but I did my best to capture what it was really like to be there. And that feeling was simply astonishing. (Speaking of astonishing, the keyboard player from Dream Theater was sitting behind me, I chatted with him for a second, what a super cool guy.)
There was no opener as David Gilmour and his band would play two sets clocking in at just under three hours. Highlights from the show included a couple of cuts from Rattle that Lock, including the title track as well as the under-celebrated standout track “A Boat Lies Waiting.”
As far as classic Floyd tracks go, there was a healthy dose of songs from Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, and The Division Bell. “What do You Want From Me” and “High Hopes” sounded stellar. “Run Like Hell” might have been the most powerful song if the evening, and “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” absolutely brought the house down.
It all seemed to end so quickly as it was time for the encore which was “Time,” “Breathe,” and “Comfortably Numb.” The crowd was absolutely in awe as Gilmour proved that, at that moment, he was Pink Floyd anyway you look at it.
The guy in front of me had brought his son and daughter to see their very first Pink Floyd show. On the way out his kids were looking at him like he was the coolest dad on the planet. (The photo below is of his son taking a shot with his cell phone.) They had clearly never seen anything like this before and the connection that David Gilmour had with this family was truly remarkable. It’s a shame that my 16 month old daughter, Penelope will never witness this spectacle live.
