David Gilmour, 27 May 2006, Glasgow Scotland

David Gilmour brought his tour to the Armadillo (officially the Clyde Auditorium) in Glasgow for his only Scottish gig. Tickets had inevitably sold out almost instantly, but thanks to the official David Gilmour website, our seats were in the second row from the front, centre stage.

As Gilmour took the stage and briefly fumbled with his guitar, it seemed that one of the large throng of balding 50 somethings had errantly managed to walk through a stage door while seeking his seat in the darkness. His five supporting musicians took their positions behind him though, and the opening notes of "Breathe" soon dispelled any such doubts.

With no support act, Gilmour was on stage shortly after 7:30 p.m, and remained there for the next three hours, except for a short interval between sets. After running through "Breathe" and "Time" from "Dark side of the moon" the remainder of the first half was taken up by David's new solo album "On an island" performed in full. The set was politely, even enthusiastically received by the audience, and came complete with a couple of surprises. David Crosby, who appears as guest on the album, took the stage as a harmony vocalist on several songs, returning again in the second half. Graham Nash was apparently also scheduled to appear, but was detained by a "family emergency" (hopefully quickly resolved). All seven performers now on stage had mikes, and at some points we had seven part harmonies. In some ways this was a pity, as it meant that Crosby's golden tones were rather lost in the mix.

At one stage, Gilmour moved from his trusty guitars to sax, which he played note perfectly. The next sax solo however was left to the legendary Dick Parry.

David Gilmour is not the world's best communicator, his brief exchanges with the audience being friendly but far from wordy. It was during the band introductions though that his shortage of skills in that area were exposed, when he overlooked Richard Wright's introduction. The audience were quick to remind him though, and true to character Wright took it in good humour, being rewarded with one of the biggest ovations of the evening.

Mention must be made at this stage of the light show, which was truly awesome. With lasers and reflected beams aplenty, this was a Pink Floyd show in all but name. The lengthy stroboscopic session towards the end of the first session though, must have bordered on the permissible.

After the interval, Gilmour took us on a magical journey of Pink Floyd classics. Beginning with the first half of "Shine on you crazy diamond", Gilmour had a few favourites and a few more surprises up his sleeve. The more obscure "Wot's.. uh the deal" came next, a track which took on a whole new character in a live environment, complete with a superb guitar section. Next up was "Fat old sun" which was once again transformed by a lengthy lead guitar solo.

"The division bell" contributed two more predictable tracks, "Coming back to life" and the wonderful "High hopes" which incorporated a lovely acoustic closing section. The highlight of the entire evening though was undoubtedly the full rendition of "Echoes". The piece sounded as fresh and inspired last night as it did 35 years ago. While listening, I couldn't help but think back to the performance on the "Pompeii" film, and to David's face being all but obscured by his long lank hair. This time there was no risk of his hair troubling him at all, as he and Richard Wright sang the harmonised vocal sections exactly as they has all those years before. Once again, the laser and light show during the track was sublime, with dry ice enveloping the stalls of the auditorium.

Before we knew it, the band had left the stage to the ethereal looping ending to "Echoes", and we were seeking the inevitable encore. "Wish you were here" announced the bands return, before they launched into a stonking version of "Arnold Layne" with Richard taking lead vocal. The opening bars of "Comfortably numb" heralded the last song of the evening, and all too soon three hours had slipped past in the blink of an eye.

David Gilmour may not receive any "Best communicator" awards, but he is the consummate performer. There are few bands, let alone individuals who could even dream of putting on a show of this scale and quality. This was not simply a gig, it was an experience to be treasured. As a friend said afterwards, it is unlikely the current or future generations will produce prog artists of Gilmour's stature ever again, we were truly privileged to have been there when it happened.