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Guitar legend David Gilmour shines on
By Jeremy Johnsonl
jjohn308@mscd.edu

After minimal appearances over the last decade (basically just the London Live 8 Concert in September of 2005), seminal psychadelic rock band Pink Floyd, and all of their illustrious bandmembers, appeared to have vanished from the limelight. Perhaps they had retreated to the dark side of the moon, if you will.

That all changed last year when Pink Floyd co-frontman and guitarist David Gilmour launched his acclaimed SRO Tour. On Sept. 18, for all of those who were unable to make it to one of the rare and intimate performances (or, to be honest, simply couldn’t afford the monstrous travel and ticket prices), Gilmour and Columbia Music Video released Remember That Night: David Gilmour Live At The Royal Albert Hall.

“It’s the next best thing to going to the gig,” Gilmour said during a roundtable telephone interview Sept. 20 with college music writers from around the nation. “The amount of touring I do these days is a little limited. I’m just hoping this DVD will be something that people who have a good home television and surround sound system will invite friends over to watch and enjoy a glass of wine.”

That’s certainly a different approach for a man whose band, in the past, elicited the heavy consumption of hallucinogens by fans who were eager to tune into Pink Floyd’s trippy tracks and lavish light shows. The truth is, Gilmour’s work, and fans thereof, have simply matured into a demographic with an incredibly demanding palate for masterfully composed rock ’n’ roll, much like that of Gilmour’s solo album from last year, The Island.

“(The DVD is) not Pink Floyd and I don’t have to do things like I feel I ought to if it were,” Gilmour said. “There’s a certain liberation in doing it under my own name and in this way.”

The new album is played in its entirety during the first half of the Royal Albert show in much the same fashion as when Pink Floyd would play their newest album first during tours, Gilmour said. “People might not know a lot of (the new album) but we always throw some more recognizable stuff in later on.” Gilmour also mentioned that several Floyd standards were left out due to copyright issues and his long-standing feud with former frontman and long-time Floyd bassist Roger Waters.

Still, the DVD not only manages to capture several recognizable numbers along with the new ones, but Gilmour’s star-studded band includes several discernable former members of Pink Floyd such as Jon Carin (keyboards), Guy Pratt (bass) and Dick Parry (saxophone).

On the second disc – a tour documentary – special guest Graham Nash says about Gilmour, “you can tell a lot about a man by who they surround themselves with.” This sentiment rings true in Remember That Night as the performance includes palpable cameo appearances from music legends such as Nash, David Crosby, David Bowie and Robert Wyatt. In one particularly moving performance, Crosby, Nash and Gilmour, with their heads of white hair and soulful harmonics, give a whole new meaning to “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” Bowie also makes a keen cameo on old-school classic “Arnold Layne” and the show’s finale and Gilmour colossal “Comfortably Numb.”

“It’s more for me than it is for anyone,” Gilmour said of the DVD release. “It’s something for me to watch and enjoy. I don’t really have any notion of what I want to give to fans. You just hope other people will come along for the ride.”

Good camerawork and great lighting give the DVD a definite full-capacity feel for the Royal Albert Hall and its incredible acoustics (highlighted by Gilmour’s absolutely mind-bending control over his instruments, which vary from guitar to slide guitar to saxophone). And Gilmour’s own sharp editing helps to recreate the atmosphere of that special night.“

I’m afraid I’m a bit anal about (the editing process),” Gilmour said with a laugh. I keep my hand in on everything and nothing gets in there that I haven’t approved personally.”

Along with phenomenal concert footage, Remember That Night also includes a rare version of Floyd epic “Echoes,” as well as a slew of bonus tracks including former frontman Syd Barrett classics “Dark Globe” and “Astronomy Domine.”

Although Gilmour gave no mention of further touring, he continued to talk passionately about his medium and what he has to offer in the way of future projects.

“I like to work pretty much on my own. I’m very key on that,” Gilmour said. “I don’t think I want to go back to working and writing in that Pink Floyd framework again. I’ve been there and done that and it was a wonderful part of my life. But at some point you have to move on and do something different.”