Thursday 6th
September 2007: The HD Cinematic World Premiere
of Remember That Night – Live At The Royal
Albert Hall was broadcast from the Odeon Leicester
Square, London. As heralded, the evening was hosted by
BBC Radio 2's Stuart Maconie, who introduced David to
a capacity crowd for the benefit of the attendees across
UK and Continental film theatres.
In
a technically-challenging presentation,
the 85-minute cinema version of Remember
That Night was played from a High Definition
Master and uplinked by satellite live in 5.1
surround sound to cinemas around Britain, Sweden,
the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Austria.
As well as the task of maintaining a steady high-quality
satellite 6-channel feed, the event's producers had
to integrate the other elements: live performance;
radio feed; and playout of video questions submitted
in advance by fans.
After a brief rundown of the schedule from Stuart
Maconie, David performed a live version of Castellorizon
on electric guitar, which segued seamlessly into the
Royal Albert Hall performance of On An Island
from the Remember That Night DVD. The full
listing of the cinema version was: On An Island;
This Heaven; The Blue; Take A Breath;
Shine On You Crazy Diamond; Time/Breathe
(Reprise); Arnold Layne featuring David
Bowie; High Hopes; Wish You Were Here;
and, of course, the centrepiece of Echoes,
made unforgettable by the addition, inside the theatre,
of a special one-off Marc Brickman installation of
smoke, lasers and spotlights that left the audience
amazed.
To view Castellorizon,
select your preferred format and connection
speed.
The official part of the evening was completed
by a lengthy Q&A session, in which David
answered a mixture of pre-selected and ad hoc
questions with his customary consideration and
good humour. (Incredibly, there was only one
question on the lines of "when will you
play my home town..?")
Click here
for a transcript of the Odeon Q&A, featuring many
off-the-cuff remarks, quips and revelations.
To view the
Odeon Q&A, select your preferred
format and connection speed.
Then, to the astonishment of those collecting up their
belongings, David casually picked up his Les Paul,
and there appeared on stage a drumkit, keyboards and
various amps. With no preamble, David launched into
Island Jam (a new version of which is contained
on Disc 2 of Remember That Night), and in very
short order, he was joined by the complete 2006 tour
band: Steve DiStanislao on drums; Guy Pratt on bass;
Jon Carin (playing guitar); Dick Parry on sax; Phil
Manzanera on guitar; and the incomparable Richard
Wright on keyboards.
All credit is due to David's hardworking crew for
an astonishingly fast set-up, because the band hit
the ground running, all the more exciting because
of the unexpected surprise. The standing ovation at
the (final) end of one incredible night said it all
– a remarkable evening from a remarkable team
led by a remarkable talent.
