Location: Burg Clam / Klam / Austria
Concert date: 07/26/2006
Attendance: 5000
Ticket price: €71.50 (standing)
A handful of the most devoted “Gilmourians” and “Floyd heads” rolled into the village at 5:00 PM. All around us were proper countryside postcard views. At first glance, Klam really is a godforsaken place. Little hills and valleys, a patchwork of tall-trunked orchards, meadow hayfields and forest, none of it gave off the vibe of what we had actually come for. The friendly security guys, after our safe “landing,” pointed us on foot along the asphalt, and soon we reached a container where a handful of the thirstiest afternoon “beer-philes” were already crammed together. That’s where we camped out for the next two hours. Smack in the middle of nature. Soon a “double decker” bus with British plates came thundering past us. We never saw any band members get off. Maybe they were whisked invisibly and safely to the stage in some van with tinted windows. The “sound check” started at 6:00 PM. It sounded great all the way to where we were, about 700m away, cooling off with a beer. They played the whole “On An Island” album plus one more song that almost made me spill my beer all over the table! I’ll get to it later. It caught us completely off guard, because it was a brand-new addition to tonight’s setlist.
Around 7:00 PM we got our bones moving and headed for the grounds. Soon the plateau opened up in front of us, with the stage set up on it and chairs in front for everyone who splurged on the pricier tickets, carefully fenced off so nobody with a standing ticket could “smuggle” themselves onto one of the seats. The view was seriously fascinating. To the left of the plateau stands the “brick schoolhouse,” sorry, the old castle stables, and where an old apple tree would be, a big old oak towers instead. A huge building! To the right of the plateau the slope continues, and on it stands Burg Clam. A castle of striking dimensions, one of the most magnificent in Austria, among the largest and best preserved.
The concert kicked off at 8:05 PM. No support act! Fantastic. It was still broad daylight! David Gilmour and the gang surprised us right from the start. They went straight into Breathe, followed by Time and the way out with Breathe Reprise. The crowd was fired up immediately! A tactical move to shatter the “sleepy” effect of listening too long to the “On An Island” record, which holds only one heavier rocker (Take A Breath), truly born for concert stages. The opening nailed us to the spot as “obedient” listeners! During Breathe, Jon Carin helped Dave out on a second “steel pedal” guitar in the transitions! Yep. It’s not always easy to move at a brisk pace inside a triangle whose corners are an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, “steel pedal” guitars, and on top of that catching every vocal part! Especially when you’re born in the ’40s.
After a short opening stretch with material from the Pink Floyd record “Dark Side Of The Moon,” David greeted the crowd in proper German and announced that in the first half the band would play Gilmour’s current solo record “On An Island” in full. The key thing, compared with what I experienced in Milan on 03/25/2006, is that this time the band with David at the helm was truly tight. The sound was excellent from the start! Dave sang at a level of perfectly desired acceptability. His voice didn’t crack and didn’t run out of steam in the verses; the power and color of his voice stayed at the required level all night, with no wobbles in quality. Nor did the guys botch any of the multi-part vocal harmonies. The same goes for the sound, with every single instrument’s contribution clearly audible. The volume was ideal from the very start and Gilmour and his crew delivered a perfect sound. Once again, the album’s only wound-up track, Take A Breath, was placed eighth on the setlist rather than fourth, where it sits on the official studio release of “On An Island,” and Red Sky At Night was played on sax by Gilmour himself, so we had to wait a bit longer for Parry. As I said! The performance was excellent and everything “clicked” just as it should. The atmosphere alone was grandiose. People everywhere! Even on the slope below the castle,… That atmosphere was boosted by the well-known trademark Gilmour brought over from the Pink Floyd legacy. A special kind of “light show,” the closest possible approximation to the Pink Floyd vibe. The clock struck 9:15 PM and Gilmour announced a 20-minute break, but not before delivering his classic thank-you to the crowd: “Thank you! Thank you indeed!”
As I said! At exactly 9:35 PM the concert resumed with the second part. This one was devoted to Pink Floyd material. We felt the euphoria pretty quickly, since the rows had tightened up nicely, and people had also frantically stocked up on beer beforehand, as if this weren’t a David Gilmour concert but the declaration of a state of emergency.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and the opening section of that song especially, is one of the most magnificent things Pink Floyd are and ever were. Thanks to the Wright/Gilmour duo, who kept us company tonight too. Richard and David in a solo showdown together! David shone in the articulation of the notes on his “Fender,” and was precisely soft when that was most called for. That’s when his guitar got that thin tone only the magic hand of the Pink Floyd guitarist can coax out. Pure magic! The tune then blazed up as expected, and the crowd greeted it with special euphoria, joining in on the singing more decisively for the first time all night. Of course, the arrangement didn’t undergo any notable change that would shake things up compared with the one in Milan. But the difference was obvious! It was in a far more heartfelt and decisive approach. Finally, Dick Parry, the legendary saxophonist, joined the band on stage. He delivered a top-notch double solo. He blew the first one over the tenor sax, then in the middle of the song he jerkily flung it back over his shoulder and grabbed the alto sax, which he kept slung over his shoulders the whole time. Of course, in the solo he allowed himself a bit more improvisation than the original solo, which is captured on the “Wish You Were Here” (1975) vinyl. At the end of this song Gilmour introduced the whole band. As expected, the biggest applause went to the first one introduced, Dick Parry, and the last, the legendary “Floydian” and keyboardist Richard Wright, who celebrated his birthday the next day. Then came the announcement: “Next song we haven’t performed yet on tour. It is called Astronomy Domine!” Aaaaaa!!!! The psychedelic punkiness had begun!!! Suddenly we found ourselves in a whirl of UFOs landing and taking off. The illusions created by boundless amounts of stage smoke and lasers helped, so it looked like we’d landed in the middle of foaming, vivid green ocean waves. A wild and one-of-a-kind replay of a long-awaited unique experience came to life again. The band stayed in the spirit of the legendary Syd Barrett and surprisingly continued with Dark Globe, from Syd Barrett’s solo record “The Madcap Laughs” (1970). After it, David addressed the crowd: “This was a song from and for our old friend Syd Barrett, who passed the other week!” The guys stayed on acoustics and carried on with the “fat old sun” (Fat Old Sun). They spiced up the outro of that song with a stretched-out, heavier “rocker” section. Dave strapped on the electric guitar again and even the legendary Phil Manzanera, the lead and irreplaceable guitar of Roxy Music, got a few moments to shine in a short solo. Next came minutes from the “Floyd” record “Divison Bell” (1994), which has obviously become a people’s favorite even at Burg Clam, 12 years after its release. The crowd was especially fired up by Coming Back To Life, which tells of Dave’s wanderings while flirting dangerously with addictive substances, his recovery, rebirth, and the fresh start of a renewed, cleansed man. An extraordinary positive energy swept over the grounds, and it was one of the most magnificent moments of the concert, because the people received the song with huge approval they made no attempt to hide. Next came the most beautiful composition from that record, a true “Floyd” requiem called High Hopes. A standard performance, and the shivers down the spine charged in for another assault. Gilmour, who was visibly working harder on stage than in March in Milan, had to make quite a few longer treks between instrument positions during the song. Manzanera, Carin, and Wright masterfully covered for him on the vocal lines. Not only here but in other numbers too, it simply happened that Gilmour had to switch instruments at some passage where his vocal is present in the original, and his bandmates stepped in and took over Dave’s vocals. Gilmour made the only mistake of the entire concert in the High Hopes solo on the “steel pedal” guitar. He noticeably missed twice. For me personally, the “live” magic of Pink Floyd’s performance of this song, staged on 08/04/1994 in Munich, remains untouched. But given the uniqueness of the rest of the band’s performance as a whole, with David at the helm, we gladly forgave him that unwanted “flub” this time. The peak of the concert was the performance of the giant musical beast Echoes, one of the greatest psychedelic epics in the history of “rock” music. What can you say about all that wash of colorful light reflections that flooded over us and atmospherically lifted the brilliance of this song, blowing us away into a one-of-a-kind “Floyd” world. Unforgettable fantasy, a performance that satisfied every single person who came to the concert at Burg Clam. The regular part ended at 10:40 PM.
Exactly five minutes later the guys were back and offered the crowd the unforgettable evergreen Wish You Were Here. Heads were spinning, and for the finale Dave announced: “This is the last song of the evening. The song is called Comfortably Numb!” In the pre-chorus Richard Wright took some of the load off Dave this time too! A much softer-structured arrangement than we’re used to from the “live” records “P.U.L.S.E.” or “Delicate Sound Of Thunder” took us by surprise, because it lacked that expected bombast you quietly crave and demand at the end of a concert! But we didn’t have to wait long for the peak! This is the performance of one of the most impressive solos on the planet, if I may say so. The solo that many came to Burg Clam just to hear live. That’s the pivotal part of the song! The switch from the gently major-key, wave-swaying chorus back into a dramatically executed, energetic finish with a solo that only confirms the universal uniqueness of Gilmour’s guitar genius, a solo that still inspires many young guitarists today,… A superb finale in the glow of green laser beams that finally netted the whole venue. The time is 11:00 PM. Gilmour and his heavyweights say their final goodbye!
The feelings were exceptional. At the end I stood rooted to the spot! During the crowd’s applause I honestly didn’t grasp what was going on. That’s it! Gilmour seduced me completely. He managed to bring out in me, once again, that phase where you’re nearing the alpha state: “I’m seemingly awake, but I don’t know what’s happening around me!” Someone is saying something to me, I hear them, but I don’t understand what they’re telling me. I’m entranced in another world. I simply can’t explain it, but it’s an experience that only the truest performers can give you! A repeat of the experience of hearing Tarkus at Keith Emerson’s concert in Wiesen (07/07/2006).
The band added one more number to the current setlist compared with their spring tour. The guys showed a vastly higher level of tightness and agility on stage (Dave especially). The sound was gorgeous. The only “shortcoming” of the concert may have been that Gilmour could have sprung for a big screen or two, to bring the band closer during the show to those watching from several hundred meters from the stage. Anyway, nobody could have been shortchanged on the unforgettable sound, of unforgettable classics, by unforgettable performers, on this magical evening in Klam. It was a concert a whole level more mature than the one in Milan in March. An open-air venue is simply something that music like this needs. A clear sky sprinkled with glowing stars, a stage surrounded by the magnificent medieval energy of the nearby castle, the old stables and old, gnarled, twisted oaks. Okay guys, hats off! But now the time has come to leave your private sandboxes! You bake lovely little cakes in them, but it’s long past time for the classic Pink Floyd lineup to reunite. Dave! Next time, make sure I see you on stage again with the other three “Floyd” companions!
Lineup:
David Gilmour – guitar, vocals
Richard Wright – keyboards, backing vocals
Phil Manzanera – guitar, backing vocals
Dick Parry – saxophone
Jon Carin – keyboards, “steel” guitar, backing vocals
Guy Pratt – bass guitar, backing vocals
Steve DiStanislao – drums, backing vocals
Setlist
1. Breathe
2. Time
3. Breathe (Reprise)
4. Castellorizon
5. On An Island
6. The Blue
7. Red Sky At Night
8. This Heaven
9. Then I Close My Eyes
10. Smile
11. Take A Breath
12. A Pocketful Of Stones
13. Where We Start
—intermission (20 min.)—
14. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
15. Astronomy Domine
16. Dark Globe
17. Fat Old Sun
18. Coming Back To Life
19. High Hopes
20. Echoes
—encore—
21. Wish You Were Here
22. Comfortably Numb
Photo Gallery
