I attended both of Dave Gilmour's NYC shows this week. Really special shows... I still get chills just thinking about them. Thank God, I get to see him again two nights next week in Chicago.
Anyway.. The show starts off as it did in Europe, the first half is his new album "On an Island" in its entirity. Unlike Europe however, he didn't go in order... because he had Graham Nash and David Crosby here as guests who came out and sang on Blue and On an Island... Sounded really awesome.
After a few songs, he introduced the band.. and Rick Wright got a standing ovation both nights, which was very touching.. Because Dave's new album is compelingly mellow, the first half of the show drags a bit, but there are some beautiful moments and the lighting guys did a great job for lack of "Mr Screen" and massive lasers. They gave a 20 minute break and then came back with....
SOYCD, done with a somewhat mournful version and with C&N on backing vocals I have to say I loved it extremely.. Dave starts off with a bluesy version of the intro.. into those 4 chords that made the whole house stand up. On the first night Dave played Dominoes and Fat Old Sun... on the second night he played Wots the Deal and my favorite "Coming Back to Life".. which had me in tears.. that beginning solo is just lovely...
It was really nice to hear Rick sing "Wearing the Inside Out".. again. And when "Breathe" started.. it once again had the house to their feet. "Time" was excellent.. and Dave did a solo that had most my area in tears... We sat with lots of the guys from Brain Damage. Dave did a lot of pedal guitar playing for these shows. At the end of "High Hopes".. he did a pedal guitar solo, then went right into a really nice acoustic solo that made this version my favorite. Can't wait till the dvd comes out.
Then he ended the show with the absolutely stunning version of "Echoes". The band did such an excellent job with this... down to the lighting and sound mix... another tearing episode...
He came back with an encore of Wish You Were Here... then C&N came out and they all did "Cost of Freedom"... someone yelled out for "Wooden Ships"... and David laughed and remarked about it. Then he ended the show with Comfortably Numb with Rick Wright singing Roger's part. Had a chuckle about that. Excellent tho... that second night, he brought the house down.
I have some pictures that I'll try to post later. I'm hoping my seats get better as we go along... 2 more shows in Chicago.. and then 2 more for me in London in May. I should be able to get a couple of good pics...