Gilmour Premiere Review
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Written by Planet Rock's own Liz Barnes
David Gilmour treated fans to an exclusive live performance in London last night.
The Pink Floyd guitarist took centre stage with his band at the premiere of his new DVD, 'Remember That Night', at the Odeon in London's Leicester Square. Gilmour recorded the DVD at the Royal Albert Hall, during the 2006 tour of his 'On An Island' album. With over five and half hours of material, the two-disc set is a comprehensive look at Gilmour's latest outing as a solo artist and keeper of the Pink Floyd legend.
Dressed in his regulatory black shirt and trousers, Gilmour cuts an imposing figure these days, even when only lit with a solitary spotlight. After playing an effortless solo of 'Castelorizon', he shrank into the wings and allowed his screen-self to take over, amidst the grandiose setting of the Albert Hall. Shot, lit and exquisitely edited as one would come to expect from one of rock's best known perfectionists, the film is flawless. Whether or not it would win over new fans is a different question all together but judging by the amount of well-worn Floyd/Gilmour T-shirts in the crowd, that isn't a burning issue. With Rick Wright at home on keys, Gilmour is still the same as he always was; unassuming, dependable and capable of reducing grown men to screaming banshees with one flick of a whammy bar. Planet Rock's (and Roxy Music's) Phil Manzanera beefs up the guitar and Guy Pratt puts his stamp on the rhythm section. To complete the set, David Crosby and Graham Nash provide the backing vocals, proving you can never be too big to sound marvellous if you've got the material to prove it. After the screening is over, there's a Q and A with the man himself in which we learn he misses the countryside when he's on tour and would quite like to cover the Gnarls Barkley track, 'Crazy'. A revelation!
What the lucky few really want to see is Gilmour play and play he does. However, a thorough and instrumental jam (with full band) and he's gone. Tonight clearly wasn't a night for overblown encores; a relief for the critics if not for those who'd waited years to see Gilmour "in the flesh", so to speak.