Last night, London's Odeon Leicester Square was the scene of the cinematic HD premiere of David Gilmour's forthcoming 2DVD set, "Remember That Night - Live At The Royal Albert Hall", which is released in Europe on September 17th.

Playing to a packed house, and broadcast live via satellite to almost 50 cinemas across the UK and Europe, it was a stunning event that wowed the audience - and brought a few surprises, too!

We've got a full report for you on the event, along with links so that you can watch David's opening song, and also the Q&A session, in full, courtesy of the BBC's Radio 2 website.

To stop certain details being revealed to our friends in North America who will be enjoying the September 15th event, we have hidden certain text. Simply use your mouse to highlight all sections between the square brackets below. It's not fair to spoil things for those who don't want to know ahead of the event!

Arriving at the venue, one could not fail to notice the very large billboard-style posters adorning the venue (see above, and below). Very impressive, a nice touch, although I did overhear one somewhat confused passer-by speculating on who it was ("Is that Sting?") despite the massive letters spelling out the identity of the musician!

The Odeon's main screen is in a large auditorium, with two floors seating almost 1700. The upstairs balcony was where the band, their families and friends were sat, and it was great to see them enjoying the footage as much as the fans. Other than David's full touring band (including Dick Parry) other notables that attended the evening included Nick Laird-Clowes, Gary Wallis, Claudia Fontaine, Gerald Scarfe, and, in the midst of the Led Zeppelin reunion show rumours, Robert Plant.

 Following the screening of the Breaking Bread, Drinking Wine documentary from disc 2 of the DVD package, David, alone on the stage, performed the perfect opener for the evening, [Castellorizon], which as it came to its conclusion, saw the concert footage fade up on the screen and seamlessly segue into the first track.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH DAVID GILMOUR PERFORM THE OPENING TRACK

The 85-minute selection ran as follows: [On An Island / This Heaven / The Blue / Take A Breath / Shine On You Crazy Diamond / Time / Breathe (Reprise) / Arnold Layne (with David Bowie) / High Hopes / Wish You Were Here / Echoes.] An interesting balance of songs, and with the tracks being out of the expected order, it kept the audience on their toes!

Aurally the presentation was stunning - the use of surround sound was sensitive and intelligent: the majority of the side and rear speaker action seemed to be devoted to audience applause and cheering, putting the listener right in the middle of the concert experience.

Instrumentation was clear and powerful, vocals were precise, and whilst not as loud as the original concert, the speakers in the Odeon did an admirable job of it.

Visually, the footage was excellent. Well-lit scenes were sharp, colourful with eye-catching detail and clarity. I was pleased to see that dark, dim scenes were left exactly as that - keeping all the atmosphere of the original shows. Sure, such scenes displayed varying amounts of grain but I'd much rather that, than boosted light levels that can make for bland footage.

One of the most impressive points of the evening came during the final track. [As the dry ice appeared on screen, so the stage beneath the screen itself started enveloping the front rows with the same. Then, varilites and lasers joined in the fun to make Echoes a fully immersive, 3D sensation. No part of the cinema seemed immune to the beams of light, which were synchronized perfectly with the the on screen action. All courtesy of lighting designer Marc Brickman, who must have enjoyed kitting out the cinema for such a stunning experience.]

A collage of photos from throughout the tour then followed - presumably also taken from the second disc - which enabled the stage to be made ready for the 30 minute Q&A session that followed.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH DAVID'S Q&A SESSION IN FULL

The amps and guitar set up next to David's Q&A chair gave a clue to one final surprise. Picking up his guitar, he calmly launched into a stunning, ten-minute rendition of [Island Jam] which quickly saw drums, keyboards, and other amps all wheeled on stage, and then the whole of the band appeared on stage to augment David's guitar.

A great way to end an unforgettable evening, which clearly exceeded most (if not all) the audience members expectations, judging by the reactions in the foyer afterwards. David's website hinted that the evening would prove good value for money - and they certainly achieved this.

Our congratulations to all those behind the creation of the DVD, and of the launch event. Clearly, a huge amount of work has gone into both entities, and it has paid off handsomely.

ORDERING INFORMATION

If you are still to order your copy of the DVD, you can do so using the following links: Amazon US/International, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, or Amazon France.

As a reminder, any purchases made at Amazon after entering their site using our links, help with the running costs of Brain Damage, and we really appreciate it!