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Clamtastic! David's Summer Tour Opens.
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As highlighted
in The
Blog, David's Summer European
dates opened in the beautiful and highly
atmospheric venue of Clam Castle in Austria,
evoking mixed emotions.
The first half of the show was performed
in daylight, slowly giving way to dusk,
a perfect setting for the ebb and flow
of the On An Island songs, starting
with an introduction in German from David.
Giving way to the night, the second half
was a tour de force, the stellar musicianship
and lights made more special by the addition
of two surprise songs. |
Straight after Shine On You Crazy Diamond,
David led the band into Astronomy Domine,
penned by Roger 'Syd' Barrett and sung on the
first Pink Floyd album, The Piper At The
Gates Of Dawn, by Syd and Richard Wright.
Immediately afterwards, David performed an entirely
solo acoustic rendition of Syd's Dark Globe,
in a rendition that provoked spontaneous applause
from band and crew. "A song for and by our old
friend Syd Barrett" said David, although for
once the music did say it all.
P.U.L.S.E Eclipses Opposition With Global
Number Ones
Looks like it's not only readers of DavidGilmour.com
that rate P.U.L.S.E as 'excellent', since
it has entered the music DVD charts at Number
One in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France,
Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.
P.U.L.S.E apparently has one of the Top
3 best first week's sales in the US of any music
DVD in history.
In New Zealand, its chart-topping debut apparently
represents four times as many sales as all the
other DVD titles put together, going five
times Platinum in a single week. In Sweden,
P.U.L.S.E represented 71% of total music
DVD sales in its first week.
It's even featured separately in the album charts
– No. 1 in Germany and No. 5 in Switzerland
– while in Italy and Portugal it's also
No. 1 in the general DVD chart.
A Collection of Great Gdańsk Songs –
More Details
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More details
have come in for David's concert in Gdańsk,
Poland, with the participation of celebrated
Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner now
confirmed.
Zbigniew wrote the orchestrations for
the On An Island album, and will
be conducting a special 38-piece orchestra,
as a unique opportunity for the last date
for David's 2006 tour. Most, if not all,
of the current album should be featured
with the orchestra, but there is a chance
that some Pink Floyd material may also
get the orchestral treatment. We hope
to be able to confirm that closer to the
date. |
Ticket details for the show on August 26th
are now posted in Live
Dates; please check out Ticketpro
for prices and outlets.
The Gdańsk shipyard shows, at the invitation
of President Lech Walesa and Gdańsk Mayor Pawel
Adamowicz, mark the 26th anniversary of the
founding of the Solidarity trade union, and
should be spectacular in their own right, with
all the visual flair (and lasers) of David's
shows to date.
In thanks for the invitation, David said: "Myself
and millions of others will forever associate
Solidarity with the dramatic events of 1989
and remember the courage and determination of
its members to bring democracy to Poland. It
will be the first time that I've played a concert
in Poland and I'm looking forward to it very
much".
Nordoff-Robbins Charity Signs Talented Foursome
A custom-painted Dark Side Of The Moon
Fender Stratocaster signed by David Gilmour,
Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Roger Waters
has been sold at auction in aid of a very worthwhile
cause.
Fender Europe and Pink Floyd have supported
Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy for several years:
Fender by regularly donating guitars which are
then signed by musicians for auction.
Not surprisingly, the one-off guitar was much
sought-after and received the highest bid of
the day – a whopping £33,000.
The auction contributed a total of £210,000
to the annual Silver Clef Awards, held at the
London Hilton Ballroom in Park Lane on Sunday.
The total raised was £480,000. This will directly
benefit Nordoff-Robbins, the UK's leading independent
provider of music therapy.
For a closer look at the guitar, please see
the Fender Europe Web site.
SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND – SYD BARRETT
DIES AGED 60
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It
is with great sadness that we report that
Syd Barrett, the former lead singer, guitarist
and songwriter of Pink Floyd, has died
at the age of 60.
Syd died peacefully at his home in Cambridge
after suffering from complications related
to diabetes. There will be a private family
funeral. |
David Gilmour recently paid tribute to his old
friend Syd by including the classic songs Arnold
Layne and Dominoes in the set-list
for the On An Island tour. He will be
much missed, though his influence remains.
The following is an extract from UK trade paper
Music Week's daily news page:
Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett has died
at his Cambridgeshire home from what is believed
to be complications from diabetes. The 60-year-old,
who suffered a breakdown in the Sixties following
his use of LSD, had been a virtual recluse for
more than three decades after completely withdrawing
from the public spotlight in the early Seventies.
He passed away last Friday, although news of
his death has today only been announced.
Pink Floyd issued a statement saying, "The
band are naturally very upset and sad to learn
of Syd Barrett's death. Syd was the guiding
light of the early band line-up and leaves a
legacy which continues to inspire".
Barrett penned their first two hit singles,
Arnold Layne (which reached number 20
in the UK) and See Emily Play (a UK number
six), while their first album The Piper At
The Gates Of Dawn followed later in 1967.
However, their third single Apples And Oranges
reflected Barrett's worsening mental state.
David Gilmour joined the line-up in February
1968, giving rise to suggestions [that] Barrett
would follow the example of Brian Wilson and
stop touring with the band to concentrate on
his songwriting. Instead, his departure from
the band was announced the following April.
The last Floyd album he appeared on was their
second set, A Saucerful Of Secrets, released
in July 1968.
Work then started on his first solo album, The
Madcap Laughs, which made it to number 40
in the UK chart in February 1970. A second album,
Barrett, followed, but an attempt to return
to recording in 1974 ended in failure.
Despite being a recluse since the mid-Seventies,
Barrett remained an inspirational figure to
many musicians. His legacy was felt in recent
solo gigs this year by David Gilmour who in
one concert at London's Royal Albert Hall performed
Barrett's Arnold Layne with David Bowie
during the encore.
David's Solo Albums 'Deafinitely' Now August
14th/15th
With many apologies for a further delay, we
have now settled on a final date for
the reissued, remastered, CDs of David's solo
albums David Gilmour (containing Deafinitely)
and About Face. The albums are released
via EMI in Europe on August 14th and Sony BMG
in at least the US, Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand on August 15th.
The CDs have been remastered by Doug Sax of
the Mastering Lab and Pink Floyd audio associate
James Guthrie respectively, whose dedication
to quality extends beyond the mastering to the
actual CD pressings. They have been working
closely with Sony and EMI to ensure that the
actual CD pressings are the best that mass pressing
equipment can produce, and the approval process
has taken up a little time, hence the delay.
Tickets On Sale For Gdańsk, August 26.
Tickets for what is likely to be David's last
concert of 2006 went on sale today. As previously
announced, the show is on Saturday 26th August,
at a large venue by the docks in Gdańsk, Poland,
previously host to large-scale events by performers
such as Jean Michel Jarre.
The David Gilmour performance will be the full
two-hour-plus version (no opening act), as seen
at the Royal Albert Hall, with the full complement
of Marc Brickman's lighting – including
lasers. For the first time, David's live show
will include an orchestra, with renowned
Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner conducting
his arrangements from the On An Island
album – which is a Platinum record in Poland
– so there should be plenty of excitement.
Ticket prices are in Euros: 20:00/27:50/40:00
and a small quantity at 112:50. We hope to be
able to provide more information shortly. David's
Gdańsk performance is by kind invitation of
Lech Walesa, President of Solidarity, and Pawel
Adamowicz, Mayor of Gdańsk.
P.U.L.S.E Premiere
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Nevermind
Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom...David,
Richard and Nick were in Leicester Square
yesterday to see a certain Pink Floyd
concert premiered.
London's Vue cinema proved to be the ideal
location to treat the visual and aural
senses of the lucky audience, made up
of press, band friends and family, plus
several famous faces. |
Also present were three lucky fans who went
along courtesy of DavidGilmour.com, and you
can read their feedback on The
Blog.
The first part of the evening consisted of a special
75-minute edit of the concert, which included a complete
performance of the band's classic album The Dark
Side Of The Moon – the first time the album
has been recorded in its entirety.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Learning
To Fly and High Hopes were also included
in the edit, the first of these interspersed
with never-before-seen footage of the band relaxing
before the show and during the recording of
The Division Bell aboard David's Astoria
houseboat-studio.
There then followed a relaxed and humorous Q&A
session with the audience. David, looking tanned
and flanked by Richard to his right and Nick
to his left, led the band in providing witty
quips to some of the inevitable questions.
A great night and a great DVD by the looks of
it.
P.U.L.S.E is released next week. See the
Calendar for dates. |
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