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Pink Floyd at Live 8
July 2nd, 2005 |
Dispatch from across the pond: Pink Floyd Reunite!
There is nothing comparable to
experiencing Pink Floyd live in concert. For fans here in the United
States, MTV/VH1's 8 hour Live 8 coverage was our only way to watch the
most anticipated musical reunion of the last quarter century. After
enduring six long hours of seemingly endless VJ chat and mind-numbing
commercials, we got mostly a random selection of live and tape-delayed
songs retrieved from artists playing in Philadelphia, London, Berlin,
and Tokyo.
While some of Live 8's music was
badly edited and un-remarkable, most of the artists rose to the
occasion and delivered exceptional performances. After a bombastic set
from The Who (they played the CSI theme songs - a popular tv show here
in the states), the Floyd took to the stage a little after 6pm EST on
MTV America. Awestruck, I watched the four original members play
wonderfully for a total of 21min 35sec, that is until the MTV
corporation felt the need to sever the Floyd's set right during its
emotional climax - more on that later.
During the preceding days, I read
many reports of the Floyd's rehearsals going very well with a set list
that changed throughout the days leading up to Saturday night's Live 8
performance. This news conflicted with Nick's published comments during
the week that the band needed to start rehearsing quite soon!
On Friday evening, a gathering of
lucky Floyd fans climbed trees surrounding Hyde Park during final
rehearsals to get a closer look, and hear the Floyd pound out their
classics. My anticipation for the Floyd's reunion was now peaking - it
had been a long, long time since they last created music onstage
together, twenty-four years to be exact. As the years drifted by from
that golden age, the promise of another live performance from the
fantastic four grew increasingly remote.
Saturday night 2 July 2005 will
forever be treasured by Pink Floyd fans the world over. By the first
notes of Breathe I knew this was a defining moment for all whom
understand and appreciate what Pink Floyd have contributed to mankind
in the preceding four decades. It was quite surreal seeing Dave, Nick,
Rick and Roger playing together again, and from their expressions,
especially Roger, genuinely enjoying themselves!
The Floyd were a force of nature
again, playing with renewed vigor and prowess. Dave, ever the
consummate musician sang the bulk of the lyrics and delivered his
trademark guitar solos. The camera however spent way too little time on
Rick, yet his playing was sharp and melodic. And let us all be thankful
that the Floyd had only one drummer tonight. From the camera view
provided by overhead shots you would be forgiven from thinking this was
Live at Pompeii - Nick played true to form, cracking the drums like
some of those younger guys earlier in the day.
Yet we all had eyes on Roger and
there was much to watch. In just a short set Roger became the voice of
the band, addressing the audience in such a sincere way I had to replay
the video to confirm all that I had heard - it was indeed an emotional
experience. The electricity onstage between the Floyd was palatable;
Roger singing the words to Breathe away from the mic, Dave grimacing
during his solo for Money, Roger getting emotional for WYWH, and both
waving their arms in the air during Comfortably Numb.
I thought the choice of lighting
and images used during their performance was both tasteful and
striking. The most poignant image occurred at the close of their set,
perfectly fitting for the Live 8 event. Across white bricks behind the
Floyd, the word "Poverty" in red script appeared, gradually turning
into "Make Poverty History," as if Gerald Scarfe was writing it in with
a massive red pen. Nice touch guys!
For everything good, there is
often the bad, and in this case the very bad. How the Floyd's
performance was broadcast on MTV America was all well and good until
Comfortably Numb reached its emotional crescendo during the final
guitar solo. Then it happened - babbling VJ commentary by two amateur
MTV correspondents. Then we were teased with a few moments more of the
Floyd onstage before MTV cut away completely for a series of
commercials!
This single irresponsible act of
commercial greed shows a total lack of respect for Pink Floyd as
musicians and was extremely upsetting to the millions of fans watching
the concert. What MTV did was to demonstrate how much more important
the corporations buying advertising time are to them than anything else
- it was greed pure and simple. In this case, both MTV and the
advertisers are equally guilty having blatantly betrayed the Live 8
cause by being bottom feeders for the explicit purpose of making money.
Money is indeed the root of all evil.
Live 8 was a hopeful day marked
by many emotional moments forever etched in the minds of millions.
Primarily, the Floyd agreed to play Live 8 with the conviction that the
issues of African poverty and debt relief were infinitely larger than
themselves. Granted the global issues at hand are very complex and will
not be solved any time soon. The ultimate solution hangs in the balance
with the governing power at the G8 Economic Summit in Gleneagles,
Scotland.
But I think by making everyone
stop and listen, we will ask the right questions and learn a whole lot
more about the world we live in. Thank You Bob Geldof for bringing us
Live 8, and most of all for your role in reuniting Pink Floyd! You
certainly deserve a Nobel Peace Prize!
The Floyd's Live 8 performance
was a wonderful gift to their fans for remaining so loyal for so very
long. Additionally, the concert introduced the Floyd's music to a brand
new gathering, many now fans after witnessing that the old school of
Rock, in their case, remains the most relevant and vital.
For the Floyd, I would like to
think that this coming together to play magnificent music again will
have inspired the group to do something creative, maybe to exchange
ideas, concepts, and music with each other with the good chance it
could become another grand chapter in their long musical legacy. Thank
You Dave, Nick, Rick and Roger for putting aside your differences for
one fine evening and playing an awesome show! Long Live Pink Floyd!
Addendum Saturday 9 July 2005:
This time MTV got it right. Still
bruised and bloody from a deserved week of public stoning and whipping,
MTV and VH1 packaged up and rebroadcast 5 hours each of artists that
sort of fit their respective musical demographic. Finally, no
commercials and chat, just the music as it was meant to be.
Both networks collectively aired
the entire sets of U2, Coldplay, McCartney, and Pink Floyd, among
others. Pink Floyd fans finally got to see their entire Live 8
performance - from the first fleeting moments of Breathe to the
incendiary conclusion of Comfortably Numb. The only blemish of the
re-airing was muting that naughty word from Money.
No one will forget this momentous
concert, or the expressions of the group as they embraced and waved
goodnight to a rapturous audience. Kudos go also to Dick Parry, Tim
Renwick, Jon Carin and C. Numb's backup singer, Carol Kenyon. And by
the way, who is the lucky person or persons who caught Nick's
drumsticks? Lastly, for all you Floyd trainspotters out there, this
full set ran 23m 15sec. I say the nearly two minutes more was worth
every precious second. Absolute bliss.
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