Stuart Maconie:Let
me start things off; I should say that what you just
saw was an excerpted version of the full two and a
half hour concert DVD which comprises the first DVD
of the set.
David Gilmour: Yeah.
SM:And the second DVD comprises fly-on-the-wall
documentary footage, rarities, out-takes, things of
that nature, but what you've just seen was part of
the Royal Albert Hall show, one of the Royal Albert
Hall shows. The full concert video is two and a half
hours long.
So, what we'll do in a moment is, I'll be taking questions
in a little while from your good selves. I will have
to say that there is a slight proviso that those questions
can only be taken from the Stalls, not the Circle,
because of the logistics of getting a mike up to you.
Sorry.
And we'll also be taking some questions in a moment
that have been sent in previously to David.
Can I start with a question of my own, David?
DG: Of course you can.
SM:...and that is, does the film, and what
we've seen, capture the essence of the night, for
you?
DG: Definitely. I mean, I've never sat out
front before and watched a concert, so it's fantastic
to sit and do so. Especially with those little fantastic
Marc Brickman extras – well done, Marc. [Gives
'thumbs up' sign] Not bad. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
It's really something I've looked forward to for the
last forty years, actually sitting out front and having
something like one of the concerts. I'm up there [gestures
to stage] usually. Fantastic.
SM:So it looked OK?
DG: It looked great – sounded great. The
team have done a good job. [Audience applauds]
SM:This question comes from Roger Little,
in Chelmsford in Essex. Roger says: 'David, what made
you pick up that first guitar – and not give
it back?'.
DG: Well, I would have to say it was Elvis
Presley really. 'Jailhouse Rock' really was the first
moment that made me go 'I've got to do a bit of that'.
It was fantastic. It's true that I borrowed a guitar
from my next door neighbour who'd been given one by
his mother and I never got round to giving it back.
He was not really very interested; I've still got
it, actually.
SM:Still got his guitar?
DG: [Nods]
SM:...and he's here tonight!
DG: Bill!
SM:Great. That was from Roger, in Chelmsford
in Essex. Now, here's a question [where] I believe
we may well see the questioner themselves. I will
just say that it's Jon Green, of Bath in Somerset.
Jon Green:Hello, David. How do you still
get emotional impact into your live guitar work, even
when you've played the songs hundreds of times?
SM: [Repeats the question]
DG: Well you do, most of the time, (and there
are moments when it's very very difficult), but you
just have to zone out, go into that space, relax,
and when you've got a band as good as this band, you
know they're going to be there for you in whatever
you do, they're going to be singing along with you,
so it makes it very easy.
SM:Is there ever a danger when it's a song
that you have played too much, that you can relax
too much? Is that ever a danger?
DG: Well, one has a safety net, sort of thing,
of more or less how the original solos and stuff went,
on the record. I try to avoid going too close to that,
but if that time comes along when the inspiration
is not so great, you do have something to fall back
on, and that makes you feel more confident and helps
you just go for it. Shut your eyes – get in the
zone.
SM:We're going to see the next question
and questioner as well. This is Chris Elrick, of Aberdeen,
in Scotland.
Chris Elrick:Hello, David. What three tips
or tricks would you give to somebody that was starting
out on guitar?
SM: [Repeats the question]
DG: Buy a guitar. [Audience laughs]
SM:Apparently that didn't stop you though.
DG: [Laughs]. No – or borrow a guitar;
preferably not steal one. I think: copy everyone that
you like, for a couple of years. Learn the bass parts,
the lead parts, the rhythm parts, on every song you
like, and after a while it'll start turning into your
own thing and that's when it'll start getting good.
SM:So, unashamedly copy the people you
like?
DG: Absolutely. Don't try to be too original
too quickly.
SM:Question Number Four. Ron Taylor, who
is in Lytham St. Anne's in Lancashire wanted to know:
'If you hadn't been part of Pink Floyd, which band
would you have liked to have been a member of?'.
DG: The Beatles?
SM:It's a good answer.
DG: They did well.
SM:It's a good answer; you can't argue
with it really, yeah. Were you a huge Beatles fan?
DG: I was, yeah, enormous, yeah. I learned
everything. As I said before in the previous question,
I learned the bass part, the rhythm parts, the harmonies,
the lead parts of practically everything they ever
did, up to a certain point. Then I got too busy...
SM:Nick Bell is in Leeds, in Yorkshire.
[He says]: 'If you could go back in time, which song
or guitar solo would you like to have written or played?'.
DG: There's so many, it's very hard to answer.
I think, for me, about the perfect pop song is 'Waterloo
Sunset' by The Kinks [audience applauds] and I'd love
to have written that. Absolutely great.
Guitarwise, maybe 'Albatross' by Fleetwood Mac.
SM:A question that occurred to me: how
come you don't snap an awful lot of strings?
DG: Change them regularly. Or get someone to
change them for me – some nice gentleman back
there to change them every night. Yeah, they seem
to be...they must be made of better metal than they
were in the early days.
SM:The next question – again I think
we can see the gentleman who's asked this question
– is from Brian Maher in Kilcullan, County Kildare
[Ireland].
DG: Brian May?
SM:No. Yes, Brian May says 'How do you
get that characteristic guitar sound?'. [Audience
laughs]
DG: Brian Maher, I believe it is, of Kilcullan,
of County Kildare in Ireland. Let's hear Brian's question.
Brian Maher:What do you think changed between
1987 and 2006 that made 'Echoes' work once again as
part of your live setlist? Did it just fit better
with the 'On An Island' groove or was it deeper than
that?
SM: [Repeats the question]
DG: Well, when we went out in 1987, and we
did rehearse it and perform it a few times, but for
me it didn't quite work, and I never got to the bottom
of why it didn't work. But, as I say, [with] this
band now, that I have, that have done this tour with
me, we did it in rehearsal, and it just slotted straight
into place. Some of the young kids who were on the
'87 tour have grown up a little bit, [audience laughs]
– a little bit, I emphasise...they nailed it
straight away.
SM:It must be slightly daunting... This
may be a question for the band, but you must think
this: it must be slightly daunting when someone comes
along to play something like 'Echoes', which is such
an iconic piece of music that every note of it is
embedded in the people who love its memories and psyche.
(There are lots of them here).
They [the band] must think 'f... blimey, I'm going
to have to play 'Echoes'...'
It must be a daunting experience for them. Do you
have any pity for them whatsoever?
DG: None. [Audience laughs] I have to [play
it]!
SM:Another question from Scotland. Thurso
in Caithness in Scotland is where Ian Pearson is from.
Ian's question: 'What other types of art form, such
as painting, sculpture, or theatre, do you find inspirational,
such that it influences your creativity?
SM: [Repeats the question]
DG: It's very hard to say what directly influences
you. I would have to say that it's none of those ones
that he mentioned that you could pin down. There are
books that I would think have been a more direct influence,
the covers of a couple of which are in the DVD packaging
– ones that are directly, slightly, (or maybe
a bit more) related to some of the songs on the album.
SM:But generally that's not the way you
work – they don't come from that kind of background?
DG: I think most inspiration is subconscious.
It just sort of picks itself up, clicks into your
brain, and stores itself away quietly and falls out
again some time later.
SM:Adrian Kavanagh is in Birmingham, and
his question is: 'David, do you notice the lights
and lasers onstage, and if so, do they put you off?'.
SM: [Repeats the question]
DG: Rarely. Mostly they're a bit behind me,
and I'm looking out, and what looks extraordinarily
bright to you people out there, doesn't look the same
to me. But there are moments when you just have to
shut your eyes and [closes eyes] hope for the best.
Our wonderful Lighting Director Marc Brickman, out
there, when we were in Gdańsk doing the last
show on the tour that we did, there was a moment when
there was so much smoke onstage that people were crawling
on the ground, trying to find their various pedals
and their amplifiers. We literally couldn't see one
foot in front of our faces, and it was kind of impossible.
You could say that we got a little bit put off, but
it didn't seem to affect the whole thing too much.
SM:It's something that, right from the
very earliest days of the UFO Club with the oil slides,
Pink Floyd, and then yourself, now as a solo
artist, is very much associated with. Is it a tradition
that you think 'Well I've got to carry it on now,
people are going to come to a show and they're going
to expect that stuff'?
DG: When we started the rehearsals and putting
this tour together we were aiming for something smaller,
more intimate...but like I say we did invite Marc
on board and gradually more stuff got introduced.
It does help the vibe and the atmosphere – it's
great, fantastic.
SM:Chris Kelly is in Belfast in Northern
Ireland: 'Your note-bending is one of your distinctive
trademark sounds. What inspired you to experiment
with this method of playing?'.
SM: [Repeats the question]
DG: All those blues guys who bend notes, and
it's maybe just sometimes bending them a little further.
I've no memory whatsoever of where it came from, who
I nicked it from, exactly where it came from...I don't
know. It's just one of those things that sort of developed
into what I do.
SM:But it is very much a characteristic
of your guitar playing now, isn't it?
DG: If you say so. [Laughs]
SM:I think people will probably agree with
me here.
DG: I thought they all did it!
SM:Well, yeah, but you do it to a...it's
integral to the way you play, isn't it?
DG: I guess. [Laughs]
SM:A question from Berlin now, and Heike
Kriebel is from Berlin in Germany: 'Can you tell us
a little about your favourite electric guitar and
about the release of the new David Gilmour Signature
Stratocaster?'.
DG: Well, Fender are very nicely putting out
a 'Black Stratocaster', which is very very similar
to my one, which is sitting right here. They've done
a great job, I have to say.
The guitar itself I bought in 1970 in Manny's in New
York, and I've changed the pickups and the necks,
and I've gouged holes in it and changed the tremelo
unit and put it back...put humbucker pickups in it
– I've done everything to it. It's been like
a workbench, but it still seems to be my favourite.
SM:Peter Martin is in Larkfield in Kent.
'David, your music is so powerful it can literally
change the way I feel. What music that you listen
to has the same effect on you?'
SM: [Repeats the question]
DG: God, I don't know – all sorts of stuff
throughout the years. Lots of my favourite artists
have done that for me, but it's very hard to pin that
down.
SM:Would it be remotely similar to what
you do, or would we be surprised?
DG: I guess you'd be surprised. I don't know
what there is that's similar to what we do. There
are lots of things that other people bracket in with
what we or I do, but I don't quite recognise it. I
mean, I'm much more likely to be inspired and moved
by something by Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen or a number
of other people than the ones that people think are
like us.
SM:Mat Lawrence is in Wokingham in Berkshire.
'Hi David. My question to you is: when you're away
on tour, what three things do you miss from home?'
SM: [Repeats the question]
DG: I don't know about three things. When you're
on tour, you're in a cocoon, you're travelling around
and you can't escape this little cocoon of all the
people that is moving from one place to the other
every single day, and getting home and [to] just have
that all fall away and the feeling of space and fields
and countryside is the thing.
I can't do three – it's one general overall thing.
SM:You're not one of those people who,
on a world tour, has to send home for your Colman's
Mustard or the Daily Telegraph crossword, or something
like that?
DG: Well, we take PG Tips teabags with us...
SM:I'd thought there'd be something.
DG: You can't get teabags that are any good
in America. So...maybe Marmite.
SM:Marmite, that's another one.
So, basically, PG Tips, Marmite, and the English countryside.
