Capacity: 20,000

Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: 1901 West Madison, Chicago, IL 60612. MAP

Website: http://www.unitedcenter.com

COMMENTS

David's 2016 tour of North America continues with this concert in Chicago, the first of a pair at a venue which Roger Waters has presented some of his recent shows at. The venue will again reverberate to the sound of fine music...

Tickets went on sale Monday, July 27th at 10am CST, through this link: Ticketmaster.com although please be aware that demand is incredibly high so you might need to be patient and keep retrying, as they seem to be adding tickets for sale progressively. We also understand that there are a limited number of VIP packages available for this venue.

As an additional incentive, purchasers of tickets online who are resident in North America will be emailed a code, redeemable on the CD of David's new album, Rattle That Lock. This is subject to terms and conditions, which should be available to you from the ticketing website. 

Our thanks to M Shane Borders for sending in the ticket scan to the right. If you wish to see it in further detail, just click on the thumbnail...

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Do not read on if you don't want surprises to be spoilt, regarding what the band played!

Having thrilled the fans in Toronto, David and his team have returned south of the border, to play the first of three nights in the Windy City. The United Center is one of the larger venues, a sports arena and one of two venues David is using in the city. After tonight’s show, the production heads to the much smaller Auditorium Theater, before returning to the United Center!

Initial reports are that the band put on another stellar show, with the recently revised set seemingly ‘the one’ currently. Will there be any further changes as time goes on? We’ll have to wait and see…

We'd love to know in more detail how the concert went. Did you go? Let us know what YOU thought!

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Greg Claudon

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, M Shane Borders

My wife and I attended David's first concert in Chicago since 2006. We also saw his performance in the aforementioned year at Rosemont Theater in support of On An Island, and that experience is one of my top three concert going experiences ever. I've seen David present Delicate Sound of Thunder in 1987 in Cleveland OH, and The Division Bell in 1994 in Atlanta GA, both amazing concerts (even with the power going out during or before Welcome To The Machine in 1987), and have seen Roger Waters return, In the Flesh in 2000, Nashville TN, Dark Side of The Moon Indianapolis, IN, 2006 and two rounds of The Wall: St Louis, MO 2010 and 2012- Indianapolis, IN.

I will say that my experience at the United Center in 2016 was by far the only one in which I felt in any way disturbed by audience behaviour or concerned by lacklustre execution from either of the two driving forces (excluding Syd here) behind the artistic movement that is Pink Floyd.

I love David Gilmour. Well, no, I LOVE David Gilmour, as do most of us who frequent this website. So it is painful to admit that the man produced some very rough moments in the first set of RTL 4/4/2016. And I fully understand that he has been trying to find new places to go during his solos in some of the material from PF canon. I get it, understand and support it. But there were times, in the break down during the guitar solo in Money, the lap steel section of High Hopes where he simply seemed lost, bewildered even. Playing lacklustre phrases out of key, out of time and below his capability by a country mile.

It's also somewhat disconcerting to realize that David's finally reached the age where his stellar vocal abilities are beginning to shut down. I suppose we've been lucky in that he's been so strong for so long, kind of a universal constant that it seems nearly impossible that this great man of music could fall victim to the mechanical rigors of advanced age. But he has. And it is easy to see that he knows it when it happens, even during the performance of Rattle That Lock on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. Strangely tho, most of these occurrences happened in the first set of the 4/4/16 show, and few during material from the new album.

So let's talk about the highlights. All the new material in the first set came off wonderfully, especially A Boat Lies Waiting, which was just devastating. What an amazing song! So deep and personal and yet universal... inevitable even. A moment when all hands on deck meant all hearts intertwined... all the vocalists, meaning everyone in the band locked in as David walked up to the mic, sans guitar, and lead the way thru that indispensable melody. To me, if Gilmour and Samson do nothing else musically, they will have achieved something monumental, transcendental even with this song. And I love the placement of What Do You Want From Me before this (a very meaty and focused rendition this night) and The Blue afterward. Wow... talk about seamless transitions. But The Blue tarries on a little long. WDYWFW was especially poignant tho given the shittiness of the crowd (in our section) that night. And David's voice hung in there for it; his solo was spectacular.

Money was less than spectacular, basically because DG seemed to be disinterested. The breakdown was unfocused, disheveled, sputtering, and in some ways amateurish. How is that possible? Well, one has to suspect that Gilmour decided to let it all hang out for this and unfortunately what came forward were his entrails. Fortunately, once the song resolves and the breakdown is sacked, his better self came to life and rocked assuredly to final verse. One other thing: David is past his prime as vocalist on this song. And for any of us who have attempted to cover his vocals circa 1972/3 what a moment to bow before the man for all his years slaughtering the intent of this song (as demoed by RW) for all these... decades! So it was particularly wonderful to roll into Us and Them, another paean to Richard, so immense and self assured. I felt that it would have been wonderful to skip Money altogether, cut the solo form The Blue short and combine ABLW/TB/UAT as one long suite of awesomeness.

In Any Tongue is a brilliant piece of music that has been been made more so by the fact that DG can't do live the high vocal he originally recorded and (unlike Roger who uses prerecorded versions of his younger, studio bound self, since at least 1984 but probably during the original Wall shows) therefore delegates that responsibility to his much younger and stronger backing vocalists who emote so vividly, authoritatively so as to bring us all to our feet in respect and admiration...Our experience was no exception....

High Hopes was both a low light and the opposite. The song, all the way thru to the end was performed brilliantly by David and the band until the lap steel solo in the outro... DG seemed to be searching for something that to my ears clearly wasn't there.. So much as to conclude with a rather baffling loss of key and focus. My overall picture at this point (not including the severe enmity I was feeling toward the concertgoers in my immediate vicinity) was that of a man who was in obvious decline and that I needed to face the reality that he would not be around for much longer... ouch. Cue second set...

Second Set: woof! Uhhh, yeah so it turns out that David has plenty of gas left in the tank so long as he chooses to acknowledge it and own up he DID.

Astronomy Domine was wild and vigorous and set the stage for the awesomeness to come.

Shine On... well it was serviceable.. Gilmour noodled around a bit but laid in the transitional arpeggiation with some serious vigour.. enthusiasm even!

Fat Old Sun... Oh my jesus and all the painted apostles.... So this rendition ripped us all to shreds, even the non-English speakers behind us who were having a tremendous time trying to contact Raul all. night. LONG. at full outside voice volume, raining down on our middle aged heads. Still, DG and cohorts levied a sanction upon my disbelief and lo, I was humbled.

Coming Back to life was a welcome transition and DG played wonderfully throughout and this led somehow strangely, wonderfully into one of the serious highlights of the night...

The Girl In The Yellow Dress... see now. I have not been a big fan of this song's inclusion on the album. Seems kinda forced and arbitrary.... But live.. in this show.. at this time... wow, what a highlight... the band locked into listening mode... the crowd became subdued... the sax player earned his salary and a few cetavos more by exuding tunefulness and cool.. and dammit, our Gilmour was loose and in the pocket throughout... the band eschewed anything hippy-dippy and laid in an earthly groove that felt inescapable and true... really great stuff.

Today rocked so hard! David's voice was up to the task, though barely, but the Tele was groovin', the band was thumping and the vocalists were seriously on point. I think this is one of his best tunes in a Cluster One of years, and one that will be played endlessly by cover bands of all stripes well into perpetuity. But honestly, the greatest moment for me was....

Sorrow. Wow. What a performance. David's voice at this stage of the game loves the low tones of this song and his focus is laser-like when it comes to the massive, sprawling, god-like guitar solo. He seemed eager to get into this tune, transitionally and it is no mystery why... Hard to recall sometimes how much work he put into reviving Pink Floyd, how much bullshit he had to wade thru, how many naysayers needed to be cut down... my take is that of all his PF compositions, this one best represents who he feels he really is... What a helluva performance!

And then... Run Like Hell. Oof! Ouch! What a beating we all took. The band, all brandishing sunglasses, muscularity and fun delivered a scorching version a song that never gets old when played with confidence and a certain amount of menace... loved being ripped to shreds by Guy Pratt and DG on vocals again.. first time since 94, and the light show... wow... if the crowd didn't want more (which they totally did, in spades) they'd at least be beaten and burned so badly that they'd never forget THIS experience... what a fantastic end to a truly astounding second set.

Encore: Time and Comfortably Numb.

Wanna say this about the crowd: Shit! What a load of entitled a-holes. At least, in our section. iPhones suck. Not giving a shit sucks.

Though we really loved the fact that Polly's last 2 novels and Guy's memoir were both available at merch booths (grabbed Guy's book, signed, super fun read so far).

CONCERT COMMENTS and PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Bryan Ferrell

I'm from Kentucky. David and Pink Floyd have been my all-time heroes since around 1987. I've seen Pink Floyd in 1988 at RFK Stadium in D.C. and in Raleigh, N.C. in 1994.

I would like to share a few thoughts based on the two reviews that were posted. I am as frustrated as S Williams in regards to the brutal, almost note for note, review given by M Shane Borders. I walked into the United Center that evening happy and feeling very fortunate to see my favorite musician for probably the last time. I walked out feeling the same and much more. There were a few hiccups sure, but David is 70 years old! His voice was absolutely amazing all night and by the second set he was on it and owned it!

David and Pink Floyd have given us some of the greatest music ever recorded and played live. True Pink Floyd fans are simply ENJOYING this tour. Our chances of seeing any surviving members live are sadly getting fewer and fewer.

Let's just celebrate the ol' boys! Criticism should not even be a thought this far down the line.

Please enjoy these pics from April 4th. David's voice was at its best! It was a wonderful evening. As I always say, "Love me some Uncle Dave!"

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, S Williams

I read the review by "M Shane Borders" and am disgusted by his interpretation of how David performed. We were there and Gilmour's voice was "spot on"! I'd heard his performance on Jimmy Kimmel's show several nights prior and he did sound pretty bad and I thought, "maybe he had lost it", but I was pleasantly surprised by how well he sounded that night.

Borders' comment on how David "simply seemed lost, bewildered even. Playing lacklustre phrases out of key, out of time and below his capability by a country mile." is absurd!!! He was never out of key or out of time! Obviously Borders doesn't know that on a good night, when David is feeling especially in tune, that he will feel the urge to improvise on a solo. So Borders thought he was lost???

Ridiculous! It's called creativity. David played and sang strong and it looked like he was having a good time doing it, too. The thing that bothered me about the crowd is that they kept standing and sticking their hands out with their phones blocking the show from the people behind them! Very inconsiderate! How can you see if everyone stands? The stadium is designed well enough that if everyone just sat down, everyone would be able to see. Those tickets cost us a lot of money and I hardly ever got the chance to use the seat I paid for.

Overall, David and the music were superb! I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Thomas Williams

YOUR HELP NEEDED! We want to cover David's concerts the best we can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. We'd love to see ANY pictures, tickets scans, reviews, newspaper reports, and anything else you come across for this show - we look forward to hearing from you!