It seemed Waters was sincerely
enjoying his re-union and you could almost sense that he'd been waiting
for such an event, and excuse to re-join, to come along, without the
invitation coming from Gilmour. Waters couldn't contain himself; he had
to let his emotions be known to his band mates in front of a vast
audience; he had to make his stance official. He was up for it.
Gilmour though, seemed reluctant
- but perhaps that's Gilmour. He didn't feel the need to make any matey
speech or mid-song smiles to Waters and sunk back into his 70's,
not-having-to-do-the-talking, role. There seemed an element of concern
in what he knew he had to do, and resignation in relinquishing the
controls of his band to Waters.
It was excellent too, to be able
to clearly see Wright without him being obscured by banks of keyboards
or poor lighting (a fate that, ironically, affected Jon Carin). And
Mason too playing solo drums with PF for the first time since probably
1977. They sounded excellent as did the complete audio.
Many of the artists on the day
casually left the stage but, oh what a lump-in-the-throat moment it was
as Waters eagerly beckoned to Gilmour to gather for a final bow. They
all seemed genuinely pleased.
Personally though, for all the Waters vs. Gilmour stuff, if Wright
hadn't shown up, it would not have been the same. There've been quotes
from both Waters and Gilmour, and Mason, as usual, fending off the
press with such tremendous comments on the rehearsals as "....well, we
know all the words.....", but little, if anything I've seen, has given
us any insight into the thoughts of the most hard done by PF member,
and with the greatest reason for grudge bearing against Waters.
I was also struck with the
fantastically detailed picture clarity of the BBC broadcast. The
close-up shots were stunning with individual nasal hairs clearly
visible on some Gilmour close-ups! The BBC director too did his
homework with a symbolic distant night shot of Battersea Power Station
on the horizon. It was excellent too for the band to get their own back
drop footage projected.
A well thought out set list too.
World crowd-pleaser Another Brick In The Wall [Pt.2] deliberately not
included, I guess. Breathe/Breathe [Reprise] was a surprise, yet
stunning opener. Not having previously sought out the set list, I was
expecting perhaps In The Flesh? for maximum show-stealing impact. An
unbelievably fantastic, uninterrupted, 25 minutes of live television.
The band sounded tight and excellent, and did indeed, know all the words...
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