With a musical and cultural legacy so huge it is almost unimaginable to quantify, singer/guitarist David Gilmour might simply relaxation on his laurels. Especially at 78, when a few of his British brothers and colleagues, together with ELO’s Jeff Lynne, are doing last greatest-hits excursions. But Gilmour, who joined psych-prog forefathers Pink Floyd two years after the band’s 1965 beginning, proved vibrant and important at his fourth Los Angeles present and the ultimate evening of a three-night stand on the Hollywood Bowl.
Anyone who has listened to an FM rock station within the final 50 years in all probability has at the very least half a dozen Pink Floyd songs burned into their reminiscence. With 1973’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and 1979’s “The Wall” having collectively offered greater than 80 million albums worldwide, the band’s evocative and provocative lyrics, movies and trippy visible accompaniment, a at occasions sharp and painful, they’re as intoxicating as Floyd’s singular sound.
A 20-song set lasting greater than two hours (with an intermission) featured sufficient Floyd classics, together with “The Great Gig within the Sky,” “Breathe (In the Air)” and an ideal encore of “Comfortably Numb “. even for an off-the-cuff fan. Not that there have been many current; Gilmour aficionados have a tendency towards the guitarist’s immediately recognizable fanaticism, tone and solos, notably the thrilling psych-blues of the long-lasting “Comfortably Numb.”
Pink Floyd’s final tour dates again to 1994; the group’s final reside efficiency in 2005 (at Live8), and the acrimony ensuing from the private, artistic and authorized battles between Gilmour and bassist/singer/songwriter Roger Waters is unlikely to ever stop.
But Gilmour does a terrific job of balancing Floyd’s materials along with his solo catalog of 5 studio albums since 1978. The songs on his 2024 “Luck and Strange LP” combine seamlessly with the older materials, thanks largely to an all-star band that features a trio. of feminine singer/instrumentalists who made “The Great Gig within the Sky” heavenly, and the strong enjoying and vitality of longtime bassist Guy Pratt. The night started with two new songs, together with the meditative title observe, earlier than launching into classics “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Fat Old Sun” from 1970’s “Atom Heart Mother,” a timeless observe sustained from Gilmour’s metal guitar. A pleasant cacophony of bells alerts “High Hopes” from 1994’s “The Division Bell” (Floyd’s second album with out Waters), Gilmour’s peaceable, emotional vocals magical and fused with sweetly surreal guitars.
While many songs have a lull high quality in components, the present itself had no lulls, even within the softer moments: With two acoustic guitars driving the heartbreaking basic “Wish You Were Here,” you possibly can hear a pin drop. With greater than 760 million streams, the track rightfully sits on the prime of the Pink Floyd canon. Ultimately, the night had few disappointments, though “There’s No Way Out of Here,” an evocative fan favourite from Gilmour’s eponymous 1978 solo debut, would have been a welcome addition.
Since the early Nineties, Gilmour’s frequent lyrical collaborator has been his spouse Polly Sampson, whose sensitivity and timeliness usually reveal a heartbreaking actuality that’s by no means burdensome. It’s notably apt on the beautiful “A Single Spark,” through which Gilmour sings, “In lately of untamed and unsure occasions I ask the empty skies / Who will hold issues transferring, who to sing Hosannas to.” Ditto for the common conflict tradition indictment “In Any Tongue,” the track’s harrowing animated accompaniment, Gilmour’s tasteful use of the tremolo bar giving the track an aura each haunting and haunting. The household’s expertise extends to daughter Romany Gilmour, whose younger, pure voice and persona have a beautiful gravity, as exemplified within the new track “Between Two Points.” Another winner from the brand new album was “Dark and Velvet Nights,” accompanied by big-screen animated art work by Latvian artist of combined heritage Julia Soboleva, whose outsider type brings a uncooked, contemporary and virtually voodoo thriller to the movie. Images.
Gilmour and Co. have created a splendidly spooky night for a chilly Halloween in Los Angeles. An evening after the town’s spectacular baseball triumph and with an Election Day looming, Gilmour’s songs and presence proved an ideal antidote to the outside, a welcome humanity shining by each observe.
