Once famous for thrilling chariot races, Circo Massimo was transformed into a stadium full of fans who had travelled from all over the world to visit the Eternal City and see David Gilmour play for six nights on the Luck and Strange Tour. Another ancient Italian location for a concert following the 2016 shows at Pompeii. I first became aware of Pink Floyd when I was at university in Coleraine, my portable CD and tape player was kept in the living room and everybody in the house played their music on it. One night I came in from the pub, pressed play, put the headphones on and lay down on the sofa expecting to hear what I'd been listening to last (Chemical Brothers Exit Planet Dust) but instead of heavy electronic beats, I was met with long, transcending guitar solos. I listened the whole way through and then I looked to see what it was. Written on the blank tape in pen was "Pink Floyd - The Division Bell". This was the brit pop/dance music/ Tarantino movie soundtrack era but the music didn't sound out of place to me as I'd grown up on Slash from Gun's N Roses rocking the guitar. A few years later in another shared house in Belfast, post university, a copy of Wish You Were Here appeared from somewhere amid talk of a 1999 New Years Eve concert at the Egyptian Pyramids and we were all going to go despite often not even having money for a bus fare home to get fed, watered and laundry done by our mothers. While in between houses one summer, I stayed with some friends for a few weeks and heard See Emily Play from the first iteration of Pink Floyd. There may have been some other stuff from Syd Barrett's time leading the band but this song was the one I listened to more than once. Daft Punk, Radiohead and Gomez ruled my airwaves at this stage. The rumours of the Pyramid Party were just that. Music evolved again making The Strokes, The White Stripes and later the Arctic Monkeys top of my pile. Music festivals were an annual event again in Ireland giving me the opportunity to see many of the best bands of the moment along with stars from the more distant past like James Brown. Live 8 in London reunited the original 4 members from the post Barrett version of the band which achieved international stardom on the back of their 1973 album Dark Side Of The Moon, recorded at Abbey Road and was not unlike the final (and my favourite) Beatles album of the same name which was made up of great songs and other bits and pieces from here and there. Watching them play these songs on TV made me want to see them play live. Gilmour, Waters, Mason and Wright would never take the stage together again. I went to London to see Prince play his residency at the O2 in 2007, a pre-cursor for artists performing in one venue and the fans travel there rather than the band touring from city to city across Europe. Waters toured with his band doing Floyd songs his way. Keyboardist Richard Wright toured with Gilmour, promoting his solo work, while weaving in classics from their previous band until Wright passed away in 2008. My brother bought the Live at Gdansk album, I borrowed it and listened to it on repeat until he asked for it back several months later. I realise this reads like I really like Pink Floyd and David Gilmour but don't like them enough to buy an album! It was probably that album which sealed the deal. I wanted to see David Gilmour live.
Time passed, a woman met and married, a child born "And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you". I was still going to at least one or two gigs a year. The Pogues, Stevie Wonder, U2, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Metallica, Alice in Chains and Elton John were all ticked off the list. I watched a Classic Albums featuring Pink Floyd and started following David Gilmour on TwiX a couple of years ago. If he decided to go on the road again, surely it would be announced there first. Earlier this year, details of a new solo album and tour dropped. I tried to get tickets for one of the shows in the Royal Albert Hall London but they sold out very quickly. Should I try and go to Rome? My wife, Emma, says I can be very impulsive. No sooner had the London window closed than I was buying us two tickets, flights and hotel for Tuesday in Rome. I was finally going to see the singer of my favourite Pink Floyd songs and one of the all time great guitarists. Shortly after that, Emma realised she couldn't go because of work commitments. I remembered that my da, Brendan, had told me recently he'd always wanted to go to Rome. He could finally see the Vatican and come to the concert with me. He jumped at the chance. Like Gerry O'Driscoll, the Abbey Road Studio doorman whose answers to various questions appear on Dark Side Of Moon, my oul boy is more of a country music man. I took very little from his music collection other than maybe Merle Haggard. My mum and him have been to see Andre Rieu in concert many times but on the way to the airport he told me of the regret that he never got to see, the recently deceased, Kris Kristofferson play live. We arrived in Rome on the Monday evening and with a very busy day ahead on Tuesday, we just went for dinner and then back to the hotel. I booked a skip-the-queue tour of the Vatican for first thing the next morning so we had the afternoon to relax before the concert. Brendan is a year older than David Gilmour and I was concerned all the walking would be too much for him but I needn't have worried. I wasn't planning on going to the Vatican but it was much more historic than I thought it would be. There were riveting stories of Michelangelo's reluctance to work for the Pope and the characters on the frescoes taken from the statues of ancient Greece he was surrounded by. Still, the Sistine Chapel was something to behold.
From one genius to another. David Gilmour took the stage with his band shortly after 9pm at the Circo Massimo, just down the road from the Coliseum. The ancient venue was modernised by rows of seats in front of the stage with raised stands at the side and rear. Short instrumental songs 5am and Black Cat opened the show as David eased himself into a night of soaring guitar solos. There was some talk online about the singing and the guitar playing not being up to scratch. All I can say was that I thought he was sensational. I was a big fan of the Talking Sopranos podcasts during lockdown and every week fans were asking when Tony Sirico, who played the much loved character Paulie Walnuts, was going to appear. He never did appear, citing that he'd retired. The Sopranos had ended about 25 years before the podcast and Tony Sirico was already approaching his later years back then. I think the fans thought they were going to see the exact same man they remembered from the TV show in the 00's not the older man he had become. Similarly, some fans were expecting David Gilmour to sound and play exactly like he did in 1973 or 1994 or 2006 or 2016. He didn't sound or play the same in 94 as he did in 73 so how would he sound the same as that in 2024? The bluesy Luck and Strange, the title song from the new LP, featured the first singing of the night and he sounded great. The album was produced by Charlie Andrew who impressed working with Alt-J (who I saw play a brilliant gig in Belfast in 2022). Then there was the first treat for the Pink Floyd fans - Breathe and Time which includes the Breathe Reprise. Animation poured from the circular Mr. Screen behind the band. Fat Old Sun swiftly followed and the first epic solo of the night, then the instrumental Marooned, which took me back to the first time I ever listened to David Gilmour's Pink Floyd. I told dad it was from The Division Bell and he knew that was part of the ceremony of the British Parliament. Wish You Were Here was a lump in the throat moment for me as I thought about my mother in law who passed away a couple of years ago. I joined in singing along to one of my favourite songs of all time. I bought the new album, Luck and Strange, co-written by Polly Samson, David's wife and featuring Romany Gilmour, their daughter, who sings Between Two Points on the album and this was a highlight of the concert as father and daughter sang and played together beautifully. High Hopes featured big inflatable balls released into the crowd accompanied by a film that brought to mind early Floyd. The crowd got time to reflect on the first half of the show during a 20 minute interval before Sorrow launched everyone back into it again. I've been listening to the songs from the setlist since the warm up shows in Brighton and this song has become one of my favourites. Like a main course in a Michelin starred restaurant, there is so much going on. I can hear where Beck maybe got inspiration for Novocane, X Files comes to mind, the whaling guitars at the beginning and end remind me of when Marty McFly dressed up as "Darth Vader" and appeared to his father George, telling him to take his mother Lorraine to the prom. Also when the aliens start talking in the 2016 film Arrival. That's before you even get to the bassline. Absolutely incredible sensory explosion. It wasn't just me. Brendan said the guitar solos were sending shivers up his spine. He was hearing everything other than Between Two Points for the first time! David was joined by Romany again for Piper's Call, "The promise of eternal youth, the spoils of fame, a carpe diem attitude" - another one of my highlights. A Great Day For Freedom, In Any Tongue and The Great Gig in the Sky rolled in, one after the other. The latter was famously written by Rick Wright with David and Polly's tribute to him, A Boat Lies Waiting coming next ahead of Coming Back to Life. The set ended with three songs from the new album - the funky Dark and Velvet Nights, Scattered and Sings which hadn't been played before on the tour and features a recording of David and Polly's son, when he was very young, telling his dad to "Sing Daddy Sing". I'd a similar but different experience with my own son when he would tell me to stop singing! Scattered featured the pulsing heart beat and the start of the Pink Floyd lazer show - a tribute to the pyramid album cover on Dark Side Of The Moon. The band bid us good night and went off stage but everybody knew they'd be back for one more. That one more was Comfortably Numb. Three nights earlier during this song, David's guitar strap snapped with the big solo fast approaching but he did not panic and just summoned his trusty guitar tech, Phil Taylor, on with a replacement, swapped guitars and without missing a beat, tore into the solo. We didn't have any such drama on our night but I did love seeing Romany headbanging as the song reached its climax. The perfect ending to a perfect show filled with family love. "Take my arm and walk with me, once more, down this dusty old path", we walked the last of 6 miles that day out of Circo Massimo in search of a chariot to take us home, home again.
Comments
Post a Comment