Name is Rob Peets, I used to run a
popular Pink Floyd Fan site called "Set The Controls" from about 1995
until around 2002. Needless to say that in that time I would get plenty
of email from fans asking about Pink Floyd and especially if and when
they would reform. Of course I could never answer that question, but I
always figured there was a chance, no matter how remote, that the guys
could bury the hatchet and get on with it.
When I saw Waters "In the Flesh"
tour I had my first real feeling of Roger being comfortable with his
past and feeling at least somewhat at ease with all that had happened
between him and his old band mates. Then there was the news of Rick
Wright visiting Roger backstage at one of the "In the Flesh" shows and
the report of the incident sounding pretty damn civilized. And then
there was that odd chance meeting, which Nick Mason writes about in his
book, when Roger and Nick met while on vacation. This opened a dialog
between the two which hasn't stopped... at the end of the book Mason
says something along the lines of, If we were ever to reform it would
be for something that has meaning like Live Aid.
So, remembering what Nick wrote,
several weeks ago I say to my girlfriend, "you know... this Live 8
thing could be the deal that brings Floyd back together." A week later
the headlines, "Pink Floyd to Reform for Live 8!". Obviously this is a
dream come true for all of us... we've been waiting for years, about 21
in total, to hear those words. To sum up my feelings when I read that
headline at the time, it could only be this... "YES!"
The day before the show I said to
a friend, this could go two ways... they have the four of them along
with several support musicians like Jon Carin, Snowy White, basically
any of the folks involved in recent Floyd/Waters related tours. Or, it
could just be the four of them. Personally, I hoped for the foursome
with maybe Snowy White...
So when, the following day, I saw
the four of them with Tim Renwick filling in the blanks, I was blown
away... and moved to tears that they were so tight! It was as if they
hadn't split up, it was the show I've always wanted to see, it was
Waters playing bass in the same spot with his same exaggerated gestures
and Gilmour singing his heart out and playing his guitar with ease.
Nick Mason really seemed to be in great form and played most of the parts the way they were
originally played, and of course Rick Wright was perfection as always. What a dream come true, for all of us.
When Waters said during the start
of Wish You Were Here "we're doing this for everyone who's not here" I
really took that as a personal message, it made me smile and feel
completely satisfied that this was well worth the wait. I guess all we
can do now is sit back and wait, we've done it before... but now the
impossible has happened, the deed is done. Let's see what happens after
Roger and David chat a bit more, after Nick and Roger have a few more
dinners together... and who knows maybe we'll all be able to live the
dream of seeing our favorite band live.
Rob Peets, ex-webmaster Pink Floyd - Set The Controls
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