Location: Pula / Arena / Croatia
Date: Saturday, 12.09.2015
Whenever Mr. David Gilmour goes out on tour, the Earth’s magnetic axis shakes. Once a decade. Last time, in 2006, he was presenting the album »On An Island«, and in between he and his buddy Nick Mason stirred up the public for a bit with the release of the new Pink Floyd album »Endless River« (2014), which set off hints of a new Pink Floyd tour. David Gilmour was quick to cool the overheated heads that were expecting the miracle of the century, saying that in 2015 he planned to release a new solo studio album and present it on a new solo tour.
If you’re David Gilmour, you can afford a lot. Not quite everything, but almost. »Rattle That Lock« is the guitarist’s new, fourth studio album in total, released on 18.09.2015. The tour the guitar master dedicated to presenting the new album was announced in early March, and tickets went on sale on his “modest” 69th birthday, exactly on 06.03.2015 at 11 a.m. Central European Time. The Pula show sold out in two hours, no more, no less! For the first leg of the tour, Gilmour picked prestigious concert venues. The Arena in Pula was placed at the very start of the tour. It was David Gilmour’s first real concert appearance since 2007!
Seven thousand people filled Pula’s Arena. The magical venue was buzzing like an anthill. Everyone flocked there, including loads of visitors from Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany, the USA, Russia and who knows where else. The concert, which kicked off at exactly half past eight, was split into two parts. The first lasted exactly one hour, and in it Gilmour mostly presented the new material from »Rattle That Lock«. He was backed by a crew of eight accompanying musicians: Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music, guitar), Guy Pratt – the son-in-law of the late Richard Wright (bass guitar), Jon Carin (keyboards, ex-Industry), Kevin McAlea (keyboards), Stevie DiStanislao (drums), Bryan Chambers (backing vocals), Theo Travis (saxophone) and Louise Marshall (backing vocals).
To get as close as you can to the spirit and work of Pink Floyd live today, you have to go see two acts. The first is Gilmour, the second his former Pink Floyd buddy Roger Waters. So the stage logically echoed the basic hallmarks of classic Pink Floyd shows. The backdrop was a giant round screen ringed with spotlights. Mist, mist, and mist everywhere. Although the new songs in the first part sounded more than promising, meaning Gilmour has made another excellent studio album, everyone was of course waiting for the Pink Floyd classics. They got the first one very soon. Wish You Were Here came fourth, and soon after Gilmour played two Dark Side Of The Moon classics back to back, Money and Us And Them, where Jon Carin took over the lead vocals in the verses from the late Richard Wright. Gilmour last performed the latter with Pink Floyd in 1994. The first part closed with a fantastic High Hopes, spiced up by an outstanding closing solo from Gilmour on pedal steel guitar. The first half showed that complete perfectionism is another name for David Gilmour. The band of exceptional musicians built a one-of-a-kind musical backdrop, in which for the first hour lived Gilmour’s unique, famous, soulfully passionate voice and his singular guitar sound, recognizable from a mile away. Still, this part hinted that the years have touched Gilmour just a little. The higher registers no longer obey him in his vocal delivery quite like they once did. Mr. Gilmour also allowed himself a few sloppy moments on guitar that rang out unclean or even in a clashing tone. But those are minor remarks. The 7000-strong crowd was in total delirium.
After a twenty-minute break the band continued the show. The second part was further intensified and especially nostalgic and emotionally powerful! It was dominated by Pink Floyd classics. Picking the highlights of a show like this is always a thankless job, and the opening section alone set things straight. Astronomy Domine gave the band a welcome warm-up and the audience a nice tease on the way to one of the concert’s peaks, which came with the dramatic epic Shine On Your Crazy Diamond. An outstanding performance, accompanied by the famous backdrop of projections. No less superb was Fat Old Sun, which maestro Gilmour sang in magnificent vocal form. The birth of Pink Floyd! No need to stress that, right? The title track of Gilmour’s previous album »On An Island« also fits the set list extremely well, and it paved the way for the landing of two brand-new songs: The Girl In The Yellow Dress, wrapped in a cabaret-jazz chanson and announcing from the first bars that it’s the real oddball of the new album »Rattle That Lock«, and right after it Today, the second single from the new record. The infectious charisma of the new songs, steeped in the unique character of the most luminous excellency David Gilmour, delivers what is today the closest thing to classic Pink Floyd, especially from 1987 onward.
The return to Pink Floyd followed with probably the best song on »A Momentary Lapse Of Reason« (1987), the famous Sorrow, and the band closed the main set with what was, up to that point in the concert, the first »The Wall« song. Run Like Hell. In this song Phil Manzanera also got plenty of room to show off his superb guitar skills! When the song slowly built through its atmospheric boiling point into the closing section, he and Gilmour traded a few inspired guitar duels.
The roaring and the huge excitement just wouldn’t die down. The emotions boiled over at practically every Gilmour move, every passage, every change of rhythm. People sang along to every Pink Floyd song with Gilmour without a break. The atmosphere at the concert was frankly indescribable. You have to experience it, nothing else counts. Humanity simply hasn’t invented the right words for an objective account. The sound? Absolutely brilliant. Not a single miss. In the second part the band came even more alive. Thanks to the repertoire itself, which included several Pink Floyd classics, as well as the emotions and energy with which the audience rewarded the band. That’s why the second part of the concert came off even more intense.
In the encore we got more songs from »Dark Side Of The Moon« and »The Wall«. You’ve probably already guessed which part of »Dark Side Of The Moon« has wall clocks raining from the sky in the stage set? Time. Once again it boomed and thundered, and the crowd sang, bellowed, roared. Unrestrained. The magical moments of this hard-to-describe encounter with a music legend were slowly nearing the end. Gilmour and company bridged Time to Comfortably Numb with a short Breathe Reprise, and then the band stepped into the final act of the show. Just like during Run Like Hell, during Comfortably Numb Gilmour wasn’t allowed to use the film excerpts from »The Wall«, which Roger Waters owns. In the end that doesn’t even matter, especially when the song flows into the second solo, delivering the drama of all dramas. It’s one of the most beautiful and most striking solos not just in the entire Pink Floyd discography, but in rock music in general.
What to say at the end? Gilmour came back in grand style. Nothing else could be expected. With ticket prices this dizzying, the man can’t afford even the slightest slip-up, since his loyal audience can literally recite his music and Pink Floyd’s music in their sleep. He’s backed by a guard of exceptional musicians, and David remains a musical one-of-a-kind in every respect, with whom the whole world keeps living the Pink Floyd story (after Pink Floyd). The return of a music legend to the world’s stages made the whole crowd happy in Pula, especially the younger fans who never had the chance to see Pink Floyd live. An unforgettable, one-of-a-kind experience in Pula’s Arena. Let’s hope Gilmour decides to extend the concert epic across European stages into 2016, too. Plenty of people were left without tickets and are eagerly hoping for another chance to see David Gilmour live and merge with the unique character and work of the timeless Pink Floyd. The music of generations lives on!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. 5 A.M.
2. Rattle That Lock
3. Faces of Stone
4. Wish You Were Here
5. A Boat Lies Waiting
6. The Blue
7. Money
8. Us and Them
9. In Any Tongue
10. High Hopes
— 20 min. break—
11. Astronomy Domine
12. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
13. Fat Old Sun
14. On an Island
15. The Girl in the Yellow Dress
16. Today
17. Sorrow
18. Run Like Hell
—encore—
19. Time
20. Breathe (Reprise)
21. Comfortably Numb
