On 16 May 2006, Big Screen Concerts aired a special recording of David’s BBC concert recording at London’s Mermaid Theatre on March 7th. Here’s how one fan saw it
Well, I rounded my wife and 11yr old daughter up for yesterdays showing of the David Gilmour show at the local theatre for last nites showing of the 2006-03-07 gig.
We got there with plenty of time to spare and found that we had the theatre to ourselves – hmmmm, I would have figured a few more folks might like to – go to the show, feel that warm confusion…………………..
About 5 minutes before showtime, another couple wandered in, and sat about 15 rows back. Then two more gents walked in shortly before the show, one of them wearing the same footwear shirt that I had purchased on the sidewalk outside the paramount on Easter sunday. Hmmm, looks like I gotta talk to him. Turns out he was able to catch that show live too – who-da-thunk, three spud heads from Idiot Flatts (idahofalls) were able to catch the show in Oakland. So, I made a new friend, with a promise to get him a recording of the concert. That was it, a total of 7 people in the theatre to see the DG concert.
The lights went down and the show started. The volume was way too low. The initial segment was during the taping of On An Island, and was decent, with several shots of Crosby and Nash helping with harmonies, and shots of the orchestra interspresed with our hero talking. Nothing stands out, but it was worthwhile viewing, albeit at a lower volumn than most movies.
Then, the began showing his set at the Mermaid Theatre, London 2006-03-07. Decent footage, the crowd seemed polite, but no lasers. By the third song, Take A Breath, i could not take any more of the snoring behind me, and went to the ticket desk to ask that the volume be increased. Shortly thereafter, it got louder, but not quite enough, but much more listenable. And let me tell you, the live version of TAB is way better than the CD, but the performance shown was one of the weaker ones. I can’t wait to hear and see it on the upcoming DVD of the upcoming performance.
Well, the volume helped, and I decided to yell yeeshkul and whistle between each song to help keep the snore-er behind me awake. My wife and i also sang to each song. She is pretty close to a taper, and so knows to keep quite during the real thing. The taper also keeps quiet, so as not to spoil his footwear. I even gave Richard Wright the same standing ovation that he received when introduced. Kinda nice to mis-behave a little, but I refrained from yelling GILMOUR IS GOD repeatedly like a dumb-ass.
Well, I’ve got a few other thoughts that I cant quite remember, but my daughter did enjoy the show. It was a major lapse in judgement NOT to take her to Oakland to see it live – The live performance was light-years beyond the movie, perhaps she’ll thank me later this year when I take her to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Too bad that they cut so many of his songs out of the movie, most notably would be Wish You Were Here, Castellorizon, Fat old Sun and of course Echoes, but of course these were not performed that night at all. So my impression – I dont think the concert series is gonna make it when 7 people show up for David Gilmour.
With thanks to Tim Egan