• Rick Wright was special guest at all 5 performances.
  

• The show on 17th was known to have been officially filmed by 10 cameras. One of the camermen confirmed that the filming was for a future DVD.
  

• When Dave introduced High Hopes, he said that "it was from the last Pink Floyd album but maybe not 'the last' "
  

• In London, Robert Wyatt sang on Comfortably Numb on the Wed, Sir Bob Geldoph was on Thurs and Kate Bush on Friday
  

All pictures below on this page kindly provided by Simon Wimpenny. You can see more pictures of the Festivall Hall concerts, plus a whole lot more on Simon's site HERE or he can be contacted HERE . You may also wish to pay a visit to Simon's Roger Waters In The Flesh 2002 site that is jointly run by him HERE Please note all pictures are copyright Simon Wimpenny 2002.

What can I say? After reading the reviews of the other London and Paris shows, I'm fairly sure that I saw the best one. In fact, I think this was as near-perfect a concert as I'm ever going to see. I thought that, as a 33-year old man, my time for being on a high the day after a show was gone, but it's now lunchtime Friday and I'm still floating :-) I probably shouldn't say yet that it was the best concert I've ever seen (how many times do you see "X IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!!!" written by some over-excited teen on the IMDB just after they've got back from the cinema?)...except that I think it probably was :-)

I went to the Palais de Congrès with an English Floydhead workmate and my French girlfriend. She doesn't really know the Floyd's music, and being a typical French socialist doesn't like millionaires on principle (although unlike many other French socialists she hasn't yet scammed the taxpayer out of millions of francs to line her own bank account), so Dave was always going to have a hard time winning her over. The hall looked to be sold out, which I thought was quite an achievement given its size (I would guess a capacity of about 5000) and the ridiculous price of the tickets. I wasn't interested in taping the show, figuring that those people taking their own recording studios would do a better job anyway :-) But it would have been easy. The bag search was as perfunctory as it's been every time I've been to the P de C.

On our tickets it said that the support act was Nick Laird-Clowes, but at the venue the support was billed as 'Trashmonk'. Trashmonk was a bloke with an acoustic guitar, backed by an electric violinist and Sam Brown on a couple of tracks. He sang a series of really good downbeat tracks, some to a backing tape to fill out the sound. The crowd were pretty indifferent to him at first (it must be horrible being a support act!) but warmed up towards the end, basically because he was good. It was nice to see someone winning over a crowd in that way. Oh, except for the obligatory idiot who took it upon himself to scream 'Dah-veed Geelmour!' between the songs. Why is there always at least one arsehole at shows like this?

Trashmonk finished at about 9.50, by which time my girlfriend was getting annoyed. "Look at the time! I bet he's only going to sing for an hour after charging those prices, the greedy rich swine!" was the gist of what she was saying at this point :-) I told her that if he only sang one song I'd be happy. And anyway, I paid for her ticket.

At about 10.15 The Man Himself ambled on stage to huge applause and started plinking away on his accoustic guitar. I'd heard that he did the first part of 'Shine On' totally solo and I couldn't see how that would work. Not strictly true - I think he was using synth pedals to make those long, droning chords at the beginning, but apart from that it was just Dave and his guitar until DickParry appeared for the sax solo at the end. I don't think this quite worked - there's just too much in that song to strip it down to such a bare arrangement. On the other hand, Dave changed the melody of the vocal line quite a bit, making it much jazzier, which I thought worked really well. Then again, at this point the hairs on the back of my neck were absolutely standing on end. I couldn't quite believe that I was in the same room with THAT guitar and THAT voice.

After 'Shine On' the band trooped on stage, and the idiot had now changed from shouting 'Dah-veed Geelmour" to "Dah-veed Geelmour Dark Side of the Moon!" Dave ignored him except at one point where he pointed out that "oui, j'entends bien" ("yes, I can hear"). He spoke mostly in French when talking to the crowd.

Next up was 'Coming Back to Life', at which point it became apparent how tight and well-drilled the musicians were, and how clear the PA was. That shambolic performance at the RFH was a long time ago! The choir did an impeccable job of replicating those keyboard chords from the opening, and the volume in this and all the other louder songs was just right. Enjoyably and forcefully loud without going over the pain barrier. Today, my ears feel like they've been given a good workout, but they're not ringing. That's how it should be.

'Fat Old Sun' followed - again an absolutely spot-on performance, followed by 'Dominoes' with a jazzy, double-bass-led intro. Possibly the highlight of the show for me was 'High Hopes'. What a stunning arrangment! And when Dave put down the acoustic and sat down with the electric across his knee for the solo, I thought I was going to cream myself.

'Je crois entendre encore' followed, and then 'Smile', which Dave introduced as "une chanson que j'ai écrit avec ma femme Polly" ("a song I wrote with my wife Polly"). I heard this described as nondescript. I thought it was a beautiful return to that pastoral style ('Fat Old Sun', 'A Pillow of Winds') that they used so much in the late 60s and early 70s.

Of course there was pandemonium when Dave introduced Reeshard Wright for a performance of 'Breakthrough', which I loved. I bought _Broken China_ but never really played it. I need to give this album another chance after hearing this superb version.

I'm not sure if the next bit was scripted or not. Dave announced that he was going to "faire un peepee" and disappeared, so Rick sat down at the grand piano with Michael Kamen and they started to play a little duet. This was one bit that I wanted to be over quickly. Now I think Rick is the best in the world at playing keyboards...for Pink Floyd. But as soon as he moves out of that slot, especially when he's playing piano with a *genuine* piano player, his limitations are glaringly obvious. He hit quite a few wrong notes and eventually gave up and made a show of looking for Dave, wanting him to come back to the stage. This got quite a few laughs, but it was a poignant commentary on Pink Floyd: Rick (and Nick) really are lost without their Uncle Dave to look after them.

To the relief of everyone, Uncle Dave was soon back to run through 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Comfortably Numb'. Durga McBroom sang with Dave on the latter, and when she came to the front of the stage, someone shouted "Do you want to marry me?" "Me? No thanks," replied Dave. It was the only bit of banter in the show. French audiences are quite a bit more reserved than English.

Next was 'The Dimming of the Day' and then the awesome arrangment of the second half of 'Shine On', at the end of which the band left the stage one by one as the music was winding down. The crowd was pretty up by this point and gave it some enthusiastic cheering for a few minutes, after which the band returned with a scorching 'A Great Day for Freedom' and 'Hushabye Mountain' to bring things to a gentle close. It was almost as if Dave was saying "yes, it's fun to do a bit of that loud stuff, but this is where I'm at now."

Fine by me. Like, I suppose, everybody on echoes, I was a bit sad when it became obvious that Pink Floyd was finished. But Dave has moved on, and good luck to him. This sort of show is more appropriate for an ageing country gent than setting off lasers and flying big rubber pigs while deafening 80,000 people in a football stadium. If he does it again, I'll be there.

And my girlfriend? She quite enjoyed it. But she still doesn't like rich people :-)

With thanks to Glynn Naughton

I've just returned from Paris and David Gilmour's first Gig at the Palais des Congrès. It was also the first time I saw anyone of Pink Floyd live. But not the last time, thats for sure.The concert was not sold out, there were many empty seats in the front blocks -pretty expensive empty seats- but the cheaper seats were all filled with happy people,one of them being myself, sitting next to a guy with an MD recorder, which somehow gave meafeeling of being in the right place:-)

The support started at 9.00. I forgot the name again, but I thought they weren't too good, although some songs had their moments. They finished at about 9.40, and some minutes later, David walked on stage. As there were no big changes in the setlist, I won't do a review of every song except for the Highlights (at least to me):

Shine on pt.1

Wow.The crowd goes mad every time Dave strums another chord in the opening sequence. I'd thought they wouldn't recognise the song until Syd's Theme begins. Again, a beautiful, quiet version of the song, with a fine Blues-feeling, although he mixed up the text in the 2nd chorus. I think the saxophone player was not Dick Parry, but I couldn't understand David when he introduced him to the audience- -he did most of the announcements in french, btw-and I was too far away to recognise him. Does anyone know who it was?

After Fat Old Sun he played Coming back to Life. He seemed to have problems singing it, his voice didn't sound as clear as it should have, but that didn't last for long.

High Hopes

There was nothing "new" to this version, but I was surprised that this song worked that great with the acoustic arrangement. The cello and Michael Kamen's (clarinet?) are less pompous than the original full strings section and sound equally well. The choir sang the reprise afterwards.

Breakthrough

That was the ultimate Highlight to me. Simply because I'd never thought that Rick would come along to Paris. The crowd was equally happy. When I heard that Rick would sing it,I was a bit sceptical at first: he doesn' thave the best voice for lead vocals, and I was afraid that it could have become worse with time. And I was proven completely wrong. IMO that version was far better than the album version, and Rick sang it VERY good. His voice sounded much better than on the original, more relaxed in some way. Maybe he's been practising in front of the mirror:-)

This was followed by Wish You Were Here

I'm glad the crowd stopped clapping during the very first solo;-)You could hear many people sing along, but very quietly, and it was just beautiful. What else can you say about this song?

Dominoes

"What the f*** ist that???" That's what I thought during the cool intro on Doublebass,and then David was kind enough to start singing so I could recognise it. I like that versionalot. A straight Blues version with a very nice intro.

Shine On pt.2

Again, I just couldn't believe the acoustic arrangement would work so fine until I heard it. Doublebass and guitar provide the OotD-like bassline while David playsthe slideguitar. And again, the cello works very good with the song.

These were just a few notes based on nothing but my memory. After the concert, at about midnight, me and a buddy of mine who was with me went around the hall to see if we could get an autograph when David leaves. We went down to the parking lots where some other fans were already waiting. I could only think that I was behaving pretty childish, just like a 16-year old fanboy, which I'm not. I'm a 20-year old fanboy, so dammit, I've gone so far, so I won't leave before I've seen someone from the band.After a while some nice security people politely told us to piss off. So we waited outside. Somehow we managed to miss Gilmour's Limousine when it left between 1.00 and 2.00, but it was followed by Michael Kamen's Limousine.By then, only three of the fans were left: The two of us and a guy from Paris, who immediately jumped to the Limousine and Michael Kamen opened the window to talk a bit. He was very nice and gave us our autographs, talking about his projects and telling us to watch the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games, for which he has written the music.That was definitely worth the waiting. Then Rick's Limousine followed, but he didn't stop. He looked pretty tired and didn't seem to be in the mood for an After-midnight-chatter, so I think I'll forgive him;-)

So we happily went to the hotel with our Autographs from Michael Kamen. And we only had to spend 2 hours in the nasty cold wind and rain of Paris! But it was definitely worth it.

And now, while I'm writing this, the second show in Paris hast just finished, and in about 1 1/2 hours, David Gilmour will leave the building, followed by Michael Kamen and Richard Wright.

Damn, I should have bought tickets for the second night, :-(

With thanks to Gerald Haffke

I'm not sure who the support act was. For most of their spot it consisted of an earnest looking young gentleman playing an acoustic guitar, and singing along with a karaoke machine. He was joined for a few numbers by another young gentleman playing what appeared to be an electric violin. It was all pleasant enough stuff, without being especially memorable.

We then had a half hour break whilst lots of people in black tee-shirts strolled around the stage rearranging various bits and pieces.

Next a gentleman wearing a leather jacket, and distinguished by some rather ambitious dreadlocks came out and made a series of announcements - mainly along the lines of 'no recording, no pictures'. There was an expectant hum in the air - possibly emanating from the several hundred recording and image capturing devices crammed into such a small area:-) The show was professionally recorded and filmed, I counted five cameras (two back in the audience, two at the foot of the stage and one roving around on stage).

And then...there he was. The man himself strolled casually out to thunderous applause and cheering. He fiddled about a bit with one of his acoustic guitars and then launched into a flurry of blues licks which led into...

1. Shine on You Crazy Diamond Pt 1-5

I loved this, although I couldn't quite believe he played virtually the whole thing solo (perhaps he didn't, my brains going:-). My one disappointment was his voice. I can see why DG said he won't be taking Pink Floyd on the road again, I don't think his voice would stand the strain. He's still got the tone, but he's having trouble hitting the high notes.

2. Fat Old Sun

This was wonderful. One of my favourite Pink Floyd pieces, and a lovely mellow performance capturing all of the magic of the album version. Excellent slide playing from the second guitarist. A pity DG chose to omit the guitar solo at the end, although they might have had trouble fading into church bells:-)

3. Coming Back to Life

This thumped along nicely, although I was beginning to get a feeling that the beat needed livening up a bit. DG said at one point (in response to some loud heckling) that he was "trying for sensitive here", I couldn't help feeling that a bit of a spark was getting lost in the process.

4. Dominoes

Nice to hear someone with a bit of authority covering one of Syd's numbers. Not unsurprisingly the backing was note perfect to the original. A pleasant run through, although again I was getting the feeling that they needed to take the handbrake off a bit.

5. High Hopes

Magic performance, the opening bell tones greeted with much cheering from the audience. A strong number anyway, but it really seemed to benefit from the 'unplugged' style arrangement. The cello player was much more to the fore for this number, and it all sounded heavenly.

6. High Hopes (choir only)

DG commented that he'd loved listening to the choir singing alone during rehearsals, so here they got the chance to do it for an audience. They sounded wonderful, and got a good reaction from the audience afterwards.

7. Je crois entendre encore

We've actually got a recording of this by Nicoli Gedda (I think that's his name anyway), so I knew that it was, as DG himself announced, "a bit difficult". His voice seemed to have warmed up a bit by this point and he gave a very creditible performance helped by an excellent arrangement.

8. Smile

Presumably this is some sort of ode to his wife or one of his children. DG can do no wrong as far as I am concerned, but although pleasant enough, this isn't one of his strongest compositions.

9. Breakthrough

DG announced that he was going to do a number from Richard Wright's last solo album, and then introduced the man himself. RW almost bounced on to the stage, and seemed to be in a very chirpy mood. I have to say that this was one of the high spots of the show for me. RW was clearly enjoying himself leading the band, Dick Parry blew his socks off with the sax playing, and DG pulled out an absolute belter of a guitar solo. This one had me standing up cheering at the end, brilliant stuff. Great to hear RW singing and playing up front for once.

10. WYWH

RW strolled across to the grand piano for this one. Another great performance, possibly the most 'Pink Floyd' of the lot tonight. DG didn't have to sing too loudly as the audience were keen to do the work for him:-)

11. Comfortably Numb

Now, I have a great deal of respect for Kate Bush - She's a truly fine songwriter, and has produced some real classic performances in her time. Unfortunately I felt this was not one of them. I may have been distracted by what seemed a disturbing resemblance to Deliah Smith with long hair, but her voice did not come over at all well from where I was sitting. Her vocals seemed to get lost in the mix, which was a tad disappointing. Her dueting with DG during 'his' bits worked nicely though. The other slight disappointment was the guitar solo - no problems with the notes or sound (all superb classic DG stuff), but I was expecting the lead guitar to leap out of the stage and hit me, and it didn't. For whatever reason (the desire to maintain the acoustic ambience?) the sound level was a bit low-key and it felt slightly anti-climatic.

12. Dimming of the Day

A workmanlike performance of a fine song. No great fireworks or anything, but a good choice of cover.

13. Shine On You Crazy Diamond Pt 6-9

This really thundered along, and the handbrake finally came off good and proper. A storming finish, the full band performance really rousing the audience.

We really had to work for an encore. I was beginning to think we weren't going to get anything else (my hands were getting sore), but eventually they all ambled back out to a huge cheer, and settled down for...

Encore

14. A Great Day For Freedom

Worked much better than the album version for me.

15. Hushabye Mountain

A mellow finish:-)

Looking back I think this was one of those events for 'being at' more than anything else (and it was a great experience, especially as I hadn't expected to be there). It was good to have a chance to see DG and RW playing, and the individual songs were (by and large) excellent, but I couldn't help being left with the feeling that it was all slightly too restrained somehow.

There was a lot of banter with the audience all of the way through - including some very loud people who seemed determined to make their presence felt a couple of times - DG actually told one of them to "shut up" at one point, which got a lot of cheering and applause from the rest of the audience. At one point a woman called out DG's name "Yes?" he said..."You're the father!" she shouted back, to a clearly baffled DG, but it got a laugh from the stalls:-) One thing that did get on my wick was a fairly substantial number of people who appeared to have paid for 'getting up and walking around' places, rather than the more conventional seats. It beats me why someone would pay £45 to go to a relatively short show, and then spend lengthy periods of time wandering out to the bar and back in again during the performance. That and the mobile phone fraternity - we had three in front of us, all busy ringing their mates in the middle of numbers, and talking to each other in animated tones during the quiet bits. However, the 'Total and Utter Complete Prize Pillock of the Show' award has to go to the woman sat directly in front of me who insisted on standing up to take flash photographs every five minutes or so throughout the entire performance. It was a quietly satisfying moment when her camera appeared to explode near the end:-)

On the star spotting front: Storm Thorgeson was wandering around all over the place, David Badiel (UK comedian) was there (wearing a rather incongruous parka), Jools Holland was in attendance, and Anita's friend Ann was convinced that she'd seen Tom Stoppard...I topped all of that lot by spotting the very famous Ian Russell gracing the RFH with his presence too:-)

Legend of the evening was that Kate Bush had taken over Richard Wright's dressing room, forcing our easy-going hero to take up residence in the backstage toilets:-) I didn't hang around the stage door, but was told that DG "wasn't into signing stuff" that night for some reason.

All jolly good fun. We eventually got home at 4am. A great evening:-)
With thanks to David Parker