David Gilmour started his Lucky and strange World Tour Friday night at Circo Massimo in Rome, Italy. The set included six songs from the new album, a guest appearance by Gilmore's daughter Roman, and three tunes from the 2015 album. Rattle that lockAnd 12 Pink Floyd classics.
Before the tour, Gilmour made headlines around the world by saying he had “no desire to revisit Pink Floyd in the 1970s”, and instead would only play songs from his era fronting the band in the 1980s and early 1990s. But as the months passed and opening night approached, his mind changed.
“One has to wake up to reality from time to time,” he said. Rolling Stone In August. “I think I'll do one or two things since then, but it seems like it's been a long time coming. I know people love them, and I love playing them. I'll do 'Wish You Were Here,' of course I will. And some of the things that started with me on the Status.
He played not only “Wish You Were Here” on opening night, but also “Breathe (In The Air),” “Time,” “Breathe (Reprise),” “Fat Old Sun,” and “The Great Gig in the Sky,” and “Comfortably Numb.” He also performed four songs (“Marooned,” “High Hopes,” “A Great Day for Freedom,” and “Coming Back to Life”) from 1994. Oath belland a single selection (“Sadness”) from 1987 Temporary lapse of reason.
The show also served as the official unveiling of his new backing group after two under-the-radar warm-up shows in Brighton, England. It features drummer Adam Betts, guitarist Ben Worsley, keyboardists Rob Gentry and Greg Velinganes, longtime guitarist Jay Pratt, and backup singers Louise Marshall, Charlie Webb, and Hattie Webb.
Roman Gilmore came out to join her father on “The Piper's Call” and a cover of the Montgolfier Brothers' 1999 song “Between Two Dots.” It's unclear exactly how long she will remain on tour. “I haven't really figured out a solution to this problem [shows] “She'll be able to do it,” the elder Gilmore said. Rolling Stone. “She's at university in London, so I don't know that she'll be able to do all that.”
Just like every David Gilmour solo concert in history, spanning his first tour outside the band in 1984, the evening concluded with “Comfortable Numb.” Just last week, heavy metal band Ice-T's Body Count released their own take on the song, with Gilmour himself on guitar. The group was shocked when news came that he wanted to re-record his most famous guitar solos for them. “It was really funny,” Ice-T said. Rolling Stone. “We were like: 'Does David need a studio?' “They were like, ‘David owns five studios.’ When the song came back to us, we were like, ‘Fuck.’ This is dope!
Gilmour has five more shows booked in Rome before he heads to London for six concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. The USA match begins on October 25 in Los Angeles at the Intuit Dome. Then he heads across town for three shows at the Hollywood Bowl. It concludes with five evenings at New York's Madison Square Garden in early November, including one show that will begin as the presidential election results begin to emerge. “I wish I had known when Election Night was before I booked those days, and I think I would have taken the day off that day,” Gilmore said. Rolling Stone. “Hey, but you Americans gotta do what you gotta do.”
Here's the full lineup for David Gilmour's show on September 27 at Circo Massimo in Rome, Italy:
5 am
Black cat
Lucky and strange
Talk to me
breathe (in the air)
time
breathing (re)
Fat old sun
Stranded
I wish you were here
Vita brevis
Between Two Dots (with Roman Gilmore)
High hopes
sadness
Piper's Call (with Roman Gilmore)
A great day for freedom
In any tongue
The big party in the sky
A boat lies waiting
Back to life
Dark and velvety nights
Scattered
comfortably numb
