Nick Mason drew a large crowd on Thursday evening (May 30th), at the RockArchive (RA) store on Monmouth Street in London, for the prearranged signing session we told you about last month. Jill Furmanovsky's new shop, after popping-up in April this year, burst-out this week as Pink Floyd fans flocked to see Nick.
Monmouth Street itself had organized a local shopping-night, making London's rush hour streets more busy than usual, but amongst that there was a clear buzz of excitement outside RA, with a queue forming outside the store on the pedestrianized road.
Many Floyd fans appeared – one even arrived in the morning and queued all day (Wimbledon-style) – for the opportunity to meet Nick and get memorabilia signed. Earlier Tweets about Nick's appearance bolstered numbers, and security were on hand to coordinate visitors.
It was overcast but dry and warm, and waiting the 20 minutes outside to enter the blue fronted shop only served to heighten the anticipation: through the large glass window shop-front one could see the eye-catching picture covered walls, the RA team busy dealing with the influx, and Nick in the corner at the far end...
He was seated at a table, below photographs of some of music's greats (The Stones, Elvis, Bowie, and of course the Floyd). He happily chatted, greeting the steady stream of fans, and signed for an hour between 5pm and 6pm – in particular he signed a special edition exclusive print of himself at the drums in 1974, taken by Jill herself.
Thanks to the RA team – and of course Nick – for making this all possible. Our thanks too, to Jill for the pictures of Nick with the RA team, and the queue outside the gallery. RA tells me there were over 200 visitors that evening, and such is the interest they hope to remain open through the summer months; more time to visit and see their fantastic photographs.
If you can't wait, then you can see the Pink Floyd photos on Rockarchive online.
Jill's pictures are copyright and used here with her kind permission. No unauthorised reproduction.
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