by Geoff Bailie
With David Gilmour, for many years it has been: do you think he will do it again? His studio albums take time and his tours tend to be shorter. But perhaps the biggest change, it seems, is that David is more relaxed and comfortable. For me the big differences in the most recent shows, represented in the “The Luck and Strange Concerts” album, are that his refreshed band of, frankly, younger musicians, and a looser style, bring a different sound to, say, the very coordinated, video-synced latter-day Floyd shows. I should qualify that by “looser”, I don’t mean ramshackle – it’s just that it feels like the musicians are playing off each other with the right amount of spontaneity, rather than reciting the Holy Floyd catalogue, along with the other songs.
While other ex-Floyds are back catalogue reliant when it comes to live shows, The Luck and Strange shows feature all but one song from the Luck and Strange album – and I have to say that the live versions have extra zing compared to the studio album. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the album – it certainly ties with On An Island as my favourite DG solo album, and may in time trump that. Take the first vocal track, the title track – live it has a swagger and swing that the album version doesn’t. Gilmour’s vocal is more… casual and connected, and the band playing, especially that slide guitar, the glorious backing vocals and tight as rhythm section are just perfect. As an album track, A Single Spark was one that passed relatively unnoticed to me. On the stage, it’s got an extra kick, possibly a slightly faster tempo and engaged vocal. It’s an evolution if not a reinvention and it catches my ears in a way it didn’t before – and did I mention the guitar solo? It’s phenomenal!
The two stellar highs in the album tracks for me are firstly the track that closes the main set – Scattered. Reviews of the album debated its part homage/ part reflection tone, with its Dark Side heartbeat and Echoes piano notes. The piano playing in this (which I assume is Greg Phillinganes) is part jazz, part Mike Garson/ Bowie era – something quite unique in the Gilmour catalogue. As the song shifts through its moods and tempos, including a nylon-stringed Floydian nod, it’s a set up for a showcase solo. A clean mellow intro leads to some classic Gilmour playing which builds and builds in intensity to the point where you’re asking – has he any more to give? (He has!). I should mention Polly Samson’s brilliant reflective lyrics. Her ability to channel (at least what we assume are) her husband’s thoughts – or perhaps, better put, what we assume are her husband’s thoughts – are superb. And it’s that family connection that gives me my second highlight in Between Two Points sung by Romany Gilmour. A rare cover version in the Gilmour catalogue, but a live highlight and a contrast both in musical and vocal style, performed by Romany with a confidence reflective of her father’s many years of stage craft. She is given relatively free rein for this showcase – it would be great to hear more from this talent.
David rarely looks too far back into his own solo career when playing live (sorry About Face fans, no Blue Light or Murder here!) but the two main choices from Rattle That Lock, the Richard Wright tribute A Boat Lies Waiting, and the anthemic In Any Tongue fit in extremely well. The harmonies on the former are superb on top of the musical simplicity; the latter another guitar masterclass!
And finally there is some Floyd. Of course there is – the guy wrote and sang most of what is here, and everyone who attended the shows wants to hear it! I talked about looseness earlier and when playing the Floyd classics you need to tread a careful line between disrespecting the hymn book and sprinkling it with the personality of this particular band. So thankfully there are no reggae sections, or slap bass solos (even though Mr Guy Pratt from latter Floyd days is present – but we forgive him: it was the 1980s!). The Dark Side duo of Breathe (In The Air) and Time are first out, and really shine. David takes a creative approach to tackling Time with his current vocal range and tone – the verses are harmony filled, and the younger band members take the bridge/ chorus part. It’s totally appropriate ahead of a perfect rendition of the iconic guitar solo, backed by funky keys and organ, with the right amount of small, in-the-moment variations, including a high note ending. Fat Old Sun was resurrected for the On An Island tour and a lighter, jazzier (particularly in the piano parts) version shows that David can still deliver a sensitive vocal, with a lived in rougher edge to his voice. It’s a song that holds itself back before exploding into a massive guitar solo, and band shift gear effortlessly. There’s so much I could write about: a masterful Marooned; Wish You Were Here with some wonderful Hammond organ and a piano accompanying the main riff; a dark and dirty Sorrow with some filthy distorted soloing; an excellent new take on Great Gig In The Sky unlike any that have you heard before with Romany, Charley Webb, Louise Marshall and Hattie Webb bringing a truly classy performance; and the ever-triumphant Coming Back To Life.
Yes, of course it ends with Comfortably Numb. Guy Pratt handles the verse part, sounding quite uncannily like his father-in-law Richard Wright. The crowd sings along, as Ben Worsley on guitars, Adam Betts on drums, and Rob Gentry and Greg Phillinganes on keys ably back this classic. We know how it goes – the main solo goes by the book, just as it should, until the massed vocals of the crowd and the female singers cry “I…..”. The closing solo shows David truly playing in the moment, riding the wave of energy from his band and the crowd. Eyes closed, looking downward as is his style, this is no auto-pilot moment – it’s a musician performing in the truest possible sense: live without a net, and it is pure class.
Do I need another David Gilmour live album? Before I heard this, I wasn’t sure. On hearing it, I would highly recommend you check it out, particularly in visual form, filmed live at the Circus Maximus in Rome – a superb location for filming, with a charged audience. Yes, Gilmour can still deliver a show stopping performance, and here’s to many more.
Order here: https://davidgilmour.bio.to/DavidGilmourLive
CD1
1 5 A.M.
2 Black Cat
3 Luck and Strange
4 Breathe (In The Air)
5 Time
6 Fat Old Sun
7 Marooned
8 A Single Spark
9 Wish You Were Here
10 Vita Brevis
11 Between Two Points – with Romany Gilmour
12 High Hopes
CD2
1 Sorrow
2 The Piper’s Call
3 A Great Day For Freedom
4 In Any Tongue
5 The Great Gig In The Sky
6 A Boat Lies Waiting
7 Coming Back To Life
8 Dark and Velvet Nights
9 Sings
10 Scattered
11 Comfortably Numb (Encore)
