David Gilmour and David Crosby Perform Together at The Hollywood Bowl
One could call it a meeting of the two Davids, or a jam session with two rock gods. David Gilmour, the guitarist for Pink Floyd, performed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles Thursday night, and was joined by David Crosby for portions of the show.
According to JamBase, this concert was the start of Gilmour’s first U.S. tour in over a decade. Crosby joined in throughout the first and second sets on such numbers as “A Boat Lies Waiting,” “The Blue” and the Pink Floyd classic “Comfortably Numb.”
Gilmour also performed his most well known Pink Floyd songs including “Money,” “Us and Them,” and “Wish You Were Here,” as well as songs off his recent solo effort Rattle That Lock.
“David Crosby may have burned bridges with Graham Nash and Neil Young, but he still has a friend in David Gilmour,” said Alex Young, a writer for Consequence of Sound.
Indeed. David Crosby, along with Graham Nash had contributed to David Gilmour’s album On An Island, released in 2006. Crosby and Nash also recorded with Gilmour for Rattle That Lock in 2015, before having a recent falling out.
David Gilmour has received positive reviews for Thursday night’s show by such critics as Peter Larsen of The Orange County Register, who called the show “a visual feast.” He described how the song “Wish You Were Here” was only enhanced once it was heard live.
“Why he doesn’t play more often is a mystery kept by the 70-year-old Brit,” said Larsen, who described David Crosby’s appearance as “another late-in-the-show high point.”
Larsen continued, “It’s absolutely not from any decline in his formidable talent on the guitar or at the microphone: For 20 songs across three hours on Thursday, Gilmour played and sounded fantastic and fresh.”
Mikael Wood of The Los Angeles Times, described David Gilmour’s show as “atmospheric” and noted that there were fireworks, thick fog, projected videos, and articulately timed lighting to add to the experience.
“Leading a large band that included three backup singers through solo material and Pink Floyd classics, Gilmour sounded thoroughly engaged Thursday, even pointed at times,” said Wood, who was surprised at how much energy the guitarist put into the show.
Further, Wood brilliantly described the vibe of the concert as David Gilmour’s attempt to get closer “to nirvana as a comfortably numb post-hippy burnout.”
David Gilmour will continue on touring through Toronto, Chicago and New York up until late April, as reported by Consequence of Sound. In June, he will begin a summer tour of Europe, playing in such cities as Vienna, Paris, London, and most notably Pompeii.
According to The Telegraph, it will be Gilmour’s first concert in the Roman city in 45 years. Pink Floyd first performed at the Amphitheater of Pompeii for four days in October 1971, and became the basis of a concert film simply titled Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii.
“Performing there in 1971 was very special and I’m looking forward to returning and hopefully creating some more memorable moments, made even more special by playing to an audience,” said Gilmour, who will perform on July 7 and 8.
Meanwhile, David Gilmour’s album Rattle That Lock has been positively reviewed by music critic Tim Sommer of Observer.
“When I listen to Rattle That Lock I visualize the blue beacon of a lighthouse seen through the fog. I see the faux-Borealis of a far-away great city reflected in the clouds,” said Sommer, who credited the album’s success to “an integration of the sublime and the solid.”
Sommer continued, “And I see and hear a great artist who commands the tools of a rock band and a recording studio, and uses them to reach our ears and our hearts with tuned air.”
[Photo by Jo Hale/Getty Images]
