Pink Floyd, founded in 1965 in London, England, became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history, selling more than 250 million records. The classic line-up of the 1970s will never reunite, however. Guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour and bassist Roger Waters continue their public, decades-long feud while leading their own bands, drummer Nick Mason tours with his band (Saucerful of Secrets), and keyboardist Richard Wright died of lung cancer at age 65 in 2008.
The band’s music remains alive nevertheless, so much so that last month Sony Music purchased Pink Floyd’s catalog for approximately $400 million. Pink Floyd withheld the songwriting rights, while Sony Music now owns the rights to Pink Floyd’s recorded music, merchandise, and spin-offs. Meanwhile, the three surviving members alternatingly perform before live audiences, playing Pink Floyd’s catalog along with new compositions. Mason headlines theater tours, while Gilmour and Waters sell out multiple nights in the world’s largest arenas.
The year 2024 is Gilmour’s turn to tour, and it is a brief yet impressive venture. The tour was designed to play multiple dates in only four cities: Rome, London, Los Angeles, and New York. Gilmour plays guitar and sings lead. His band consists of Ben Worsley on guitar, Guy Pratt on bass, Greg Phillinganes and Rob Gentry on keyboards, Adam Betts on drums, Louise Marshall on piano and vocals, Hattie Webb on harp and vocals, her sister Charley Webb on ukulele, and Gilmour’s daughter, Romany Gilmour, on vocals and harp.
This is his first tour in eight years and it was designed to promote his fifth solo studio album, Luck and Strange, released on September 6. At Madison Square Garden, he and his band performed the entire album, plus three songs from his previous solo album, 2015’s Rattle That Lock, and reworked versions of a dozen Pink Floyd songs. The Pink Floyd songs leaned mostly on deep cuts rather than fan favorites, though. “Time,” “Wish You Were Here,” and “Comfortably Numb” were the most recognizable songs of the three-hour concert.
The program had no support act, so it consisted of two sets with an intermission and a one-song encore. Before the rest of the band assumed their stations for the evening, bassist Guy Pratt prefaced the show by politely asking the fans to be present to the “once in a lifetime” production and not to their phones, and to please turn off the distracting flashlight feature on their phones. It was election night, however, and at intermission and during the second set, large numbers of fans checked their phones for updated election results.
Moments after Pratt’s welcome, the concert began softly, with spotlights on individual musicians as they contributed musically to the opening song, “5 A.M.” from Rattle That Lock. The visual production gradually increased throughout the evening. In the tradition of Pink Floyd, a round screen behind and above the stage showed film reels and closeups of the musicians. Clouds of fog obscured the musicians at times, while at other times lasers cut through the darkness. To end the first set, the film reel that accompanied “High Hopes,” a song from Pink Floyd’s post-Waters 1994 album The Division Bell, showed people with giant white globes; as the visual ended, a dozen similar globes were tossed into the audience, the evening’s sole interactive engagement. The large-scale spectacle of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters’ productions was almost entirely absent. Sorry, no remote-controlled airplanes or inflated animal balloons flying over the audience.
Gilmour seldom spoke to the audience other than to introduce the musicians, applaud the stage crew, or announce the end of a set. He seldom even opened his eyes, except to glance at his teleprompter. Granted, the audience was in such deep darkness for most of the show that he would not have seen anything anyway.
His haunting voice was, but cracked often and did not offer the polish of the recordings and concerts of his more youthful years. At 78 years of age, he counted on the audience’s audio senses and memory to fill the gaps. Nearly the entire set was chill – a moody or melancholy mix of slow-tempo songs, augmented at time by the four background singers contributing orchestrated “ooo” and “ahhh” crescendos at key moments. The best effects were when Gilmour led a lackluster song into an extended guitar solo with his searing, signature style. The fans remained seated for the entire show until the encore of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” Although some fans were moved to stand when Gilmour cranked deeply into a soaring, extended guitar riff.
All 10 musicians were featured throughout the evening. David Gilmour’s 22-year-old daughter, Romany, was especially spotlighted. She sang lead and played a harp on a cover of the Montgolfier Brothers’ “Between Two Points,” a song that appears on Luck and Strange. The harp seemed more for visual than audio effect since it could hardly be heard over the other instruments. On the “The Great Gig in the Sky” from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Romany, along with Louise Marshall, Hattie Webb, and Charley Webb, each took turns leading wordless melodies and harmonized together. As on Luck and Strange, the two Gilmours sang “The Piper’s Call.” Although she was not seen on stage, David Gilmour credited his wife, Polly Samson, for writing the lyrics to the newer songs.
In the end, David Gilmour and his band treated the audience to a rare Pink Floyd-driven experience, but it was not Pink Floyd. The original band reached a summit in the 1970s that would never be climbed again by its various parts. For the spectacle, fans will attend Roger Waters’ concerts. For a mellower treatment, fans will attend a David Gilmour concert. With no reconciliation in sight between Gilmour and Rogers, this is not a bad option.
Setlist
Set 1
- 5 A.M.
- Black Cat
- Luck and Strange
- Breathe (In the Air) (Pink Floyd song)
- Time (Pink Floyd song)
- Breathe (Reprise) (Pink Floyd song)
- Fat Old Sun (Pink Floyd song)
- Marooned (Pink Floyd song)
- A Single Spark
- Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd song)
- Vita Brevis
- Between Two Points (The Montgolfier Brothers cover)
- High Hopes (Pink Floyd song)
Set 2
- Sorrow (Pink Floyd song)
- The Piper’s Call (with Romany Gilmour)
- A Great Day for Freedom (Pink Floyd song)
- In Any Tongue
- The Great Gig in the Sky (Pink Floyd song)
- A Boat Lies Waiting
- Coming Back to Life (Pink Floyd song)
- Dark and Velvet Nights
- Sings
- Scattered
Encore
- Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd song)
