This page collects together some of the comments Brain Damage has received from its visitors, about the band's Live 8 reunion on 2nd July, 2005, at London's Hyde Park. Our thanks to everyone who wrote in with their views; we only wish we could post them all! All pictures taken by Andy Whitworth.

A prayer answered. Pink Floyd reunited for a great cause. I am so glad I was able to see it, experience it and revel in it.
--  Michael A. Vogt

I'm still reeling from the Floyd's reunion on Saturday... absolutely great... words fail me. They were the highlight of the event for me; especially having followed the Floyd since Arnold Layne. If only they'd get together again for a teeny weeny tour... Thanks to Roger, Dave, Nick and Rick...
--  Speechless from SYDenham!

What can I say, to see Pink Floyd back on stage was just fantastic. The song selection was great, and as ever, they are still on a completely different level to any other band in the world. No one can touch them as far as I am concerned. It brought back great memories of the only time that I was lucky enough to see them on the Division Bell tour at Earls Court. (Still the best concert I have ever seen.) What was just as important was that as they left the stage the legendary Pink Floyd reputation was not tarnished in any way. They showed the younger bands how things should be done. I hope that its not the last we see or hear of Pink Floyd (either with or without Roger) - but it if was, it would be a great way to go out. But as ever I will remain optimistic.
--  Dave Govier

Pink Floyd were the stars of Live8 and I hope the Pink Floyd brand doesn’t die there. Where I was on Saturday night stopped to watch their performance even young 17 year olds who only knew the name. They get better and more professional as they age – Pink Floyd that is. I hope that they find the energy, desire and humility so that they can all do one more tour even if they don’t need the money. They are the masters of their craft and put 90% of the rest of their fellow musicians to shame. If you have the where-with-all please pass this on to their representatives. I have promised myself that no matter where I live in the world I and my family will travel to see them perform one more time in my life no matter where that is.
--  Michael Sharp

An amusing postscript to last Saturday's emotional reunion of the Band. I had always said that if I could witness what I witnessed last Saturday, I could die a happy man! After finally switching off the TV and still feeling very emotional, I went into the conservatory to close the windows. A voice from nowhere said "Did you enjoy that?" My God! I thought, He's taken me at my word! Turned out it was only the bloke next door having a last fag before he went to bed. Phew!
 
What really made the Floyd's performance for me was the little things; Dick Parry, The Banner saying "Pigs have Flown...", the expressions on the faces of the fans (mostly young fans I noticed) and the long shot of Battersea Power Station. But above all of course...when they went into Comfortably Numb... then the emotions really boiled over. I am really concerned now that David Gilmour may take this opportunity to declare the band finished.
--  Paul

Seeing Pink Floyd on Saturday night was like reliving all the best dreams you've ever had.
--  Martin Bulpitt

Just wanted to share my experience from the reunion in Hyde Park.
 
Me and a couple of my band mates (The Pink Floyd Experience, Norwegian Tribute), went over from Norway with no hope of catching anything at all. We just had to be in the same city as the reunion :-)
 
To our amazement and disbelief, we saw that the barricades were lined up with the park's fences. I think that's paranoia. They could have let people with no ticket a little closer. It was also annoying that they had put up large plates to cover the fence completely around the stage. We walked around the park and all you could hear from Park Lane was drunk people and the traffic. All this seemed a bit stupid when you could see posters all over the place saying "we don't want your money, we want you".
 
Anyway, we found ourselves a nice spot just behind the screens facing Kensington Park, where the sound was very good.
 
About midway into Robbie Williams' set, we saw that people were moving in both directions inside the park. And we rushed to the main "screens" enterance and asked the guards if we could get inside and see Pink Floyd.
 
"Sure!" I couldn't believe my ears! They didn't actually open the park, but they didn't stop people wanting to get in. Still nobody seemed to notice, so most people were still standing outside when we got inside. We ran our hearts out and reached the enterance to the main area just as Money started. To our amazement we soon realized that we had come through the enterance closest to the stage! We were standing about 50 meters from the screen covering the right speaker-tower.
 
I think Floyd sounded awesome. I instantly felt that this was right back in the late 70's and it was obvious that it was their intention to sound as good as possible. The songs were sounding very powerful, yet very stripped down. This wasn't Gilmour's Floyd or Waters solo, this was the genuine Pink Floyd sounding as good as ever and I could see that most fans in the audience was blown away by their performance. I don't think that anyone had expected that they would sound this good! I have to admit that I feared that this could have ended up sounding like Dire Straits or something...
 
It was also a blast seeing Gilmour playing slide on Breathe and using his old black Strat throughout the concert, which was a great bonus for me. Still, even if everything musically went past my expectations, what warmed my heart the most was to see that they really enjoyed themselves. This perforance was as big to them as it was for us standing in the crowd. Even Wright had to stand up while playing Hammond on Comfortably Numb! And the pictures of Waters and Gilmour hugging was just incredibly moving...
 
Even if this is the last we see and hear from them, it was a graceful and worthy goodbye. Let's just hope that this is just the seed....
 
We came all the way from Norway with no intentions at all, and got to see more than anyone could have expected. We had the time of our lives....
--  Bjorn Riis, Norway

I am not ashamed to say this but a tear trickled down my face when the opening chords of Breathe echoed across the park. I had never thought I would ever see the four together again but it's happened and the reality will take a long time to sink in. I wanted to rush out in the street and bang on my neighbours doors just to make sure they were watching. The mood , the set and I have seen the Floyd many many times over the years and this was their finest hour and to pull this off with the whole world watching was sensational.
 
The BBC coverage over here was great including long shots of Battersea Power Staion pulling back slowly to the stage which makes me feel the director was Floyd Friendly but I saw only one fleeting glimpse of Rick whch was a tragedy.
 
Speaking on British Radio before the gig Nick Mason said rehearsel had been fun although they were all a bit rusty but he did not rule out any more appearences.
 
The hug at the end said it all. Floyd fans all over the world felt the hairs stand up on the back of their necks as the four embraced. We wait.
--  OIC 54 Blue Canvey

When I heard the news about Floyd reforming for Live8, it was a bitter sweet moment for me, having been a huge fan since the age of 13 (I'm now 25), I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to watch this historic event (and the Live8 concert) from the discomfort of my own living room. So when I went to visit my Dad and step mum on the Wednesday after the reunion was announced, only to be told that my step mum had won tickets and would i like to go? err let me think about that one... I almost wet myself!
 
So the big day came, Saturday 2nd July 2005, a day I will never forget for the rest of my life. My girlfriend and I set out from Leicester at 5 am. Eventually arriving in Hyde Park at around 8.30am, we were surprised to find ourselves near the front of the queue for the main enclosure!!!
 
As the gates opened the masses sprinted to find the best spot, I grabbed my girlfriend's hand and dragged her as fast as i could to a spot just behind the barrier separating the normal people from the Pimms sipping hangers on up front. We had a great view smack bang in the middle of the stage.. This, i thought, is the spot where my dream will come true!!
 
The concert itself was amazing, even though i wasn't a huge fan of some of the acts, everyone gave a sterling performance (everyone except for Mariah Carey, who didn't leave the warmth and security of her own arsehole for long enough to make anyone believe that she actually cared about the reason we were all there)!!
 
As the day went on, the realization of the day began to hit home, with emotional films played over the big screens about the plight of the poverty stricken nations we were there to support. As the time drew nearer for the Floyd to play the butterflies started to kick in and after an immense performance by The Who, the time had come (eventually)!
 
As the dry ice filtered across the stage and the heartbeats started pounding from the speakers I knew this was it. I had found myself a position where, if i looked straight ahead i could see the full stage from left to right, chants of Floyd! Floyd! seemed to spring up from everywhere and as the band took to the stage I was no longer on this planet!
 
With the familiar screams into the first chord of Breathe I was immersed in a moment so special I could barely believe what i was seeing!! Was that really Roger Waters standing just 10 feet away from David Gilmour, looking as if he was having the time of his life!!! It had to be but as i sang the lyrics as loud as my throat would allow, i was still in a state of shock.
 
Money was next and absolutely rocked from start to finish, Gilmours' solos sounding as fresh that night as they did on the original recording 7 years before I was even born!!! With Wish You Were Here came the moment I lost all control over my emotions, as Roger Waters turned to his band mates and said about the emotion he felt and then Syd, well, I was gone!
 
Wish You Were Here was a beautiful moment as many of the 150,000 strong crowd sung along with David and Roger (who seemed to be leaking emotion as he sung the second verse)!
 
I knew what was next, Comfortably Numb started with such power and as the wall came across the big screens behind the band they showed that they eclipse (sorry for the pun) any other act on the face of this planet! The solo's, the drums, the keyboards, everything was perfect. At the end of their performance I felt physically exhausted, this had been one of the greatest moments of my life, of course I wanted more but with the sheer power of the performance they left me feeling like they had been playing for hours!
 
With such a great band, a great concert and a great cause this had been the most historic day of our generation. I was proud to have been a part of it all, and the fact that the Floyd were the best part of the show, well, I could've told anyone that at 9 o'clock that morning!! All I can say now is that the world deserves more from the greatest band to ever walk the earth!
 
Thank you Bob Geldof, Thank you Pink Floyd, for a night I will never forget. Make Poverty History!
--  Greg Shute

No doubt! This was the happiest day of my life, I just cannot believe it yet. I was hearing the live radio transmissions, and after the great The Who´s concert, started Breathe, with the four guys I really love, each one as my father, and my wife and sons were around (all of them know about my fascination with Floyd), and I was very happy with tears in my eyes. It was great to see the original Pink Floyd again whith Roger at the bass, and singing together whith David. Well, my best regards for all of you and I hope you are so happy as me.
--  Fernando Menzi, City of Cordoba, Argentina.

I couldn't agree more with your initial comments. I watched the show on television in Belgium, so it was all an hour later than in London. But who cares?
 
From the moment I heard the faint pulse of 'Breathe' begin I was transfixed; when Roger introduced 'Wish you were here' through to the end when the four linked arms, I was amazed to discover tears streaming down my face. Funny looks from my wife, but the emotion of it all was overwhelming.
 
Music generally can quite often be the most powerful tool for stimulating memories, but Saturday night was exceptional. Fifty years old, sitting in my lounge, I was immediately transported straight back to my sixth-form common room, to college, to Knebworth...
 
As for so many others, the music of Pink Floyd has been the backing track to my life.
 
But one of the greatest moments? I don't recall when or in which song, but it was when Waters and Gilmour looked across to one another and the exchange of smiles was magical. That underlying love of making music together obviously transformed everything else. Surely it couldn't have been just for three songs on one night?
--  Trevor Vincent