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Prince Tribute: Watch Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Mash Up ‘Comfortably Numb’ And ‘Purple Rain’ [Videos]

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 22:00 PST, Apr 25, 2016

David Gilmour paid a moving tribute to the late Prince at London’s Royal Albert Hall over the weekend, mashing up Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and Prince’s iconic “Purple Rain.”

The latest in a string of moving tributes to the late Prince by musicians happened on April 24, when Gilmour was performing to a huge and enthusiastic audience in the Royal Albert Hall. As the gathered crowd sings the chorus of “I have become comfortably numb,” the stage lights suddenly switch from white to iconic purple.

At around the 4:30 mark on the video below, instead of continuing with his usual solo performance of “Comfortably Numb” from Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall, Gilmour’s backing singers instead start to sing the vocals from Prince’s “Purple Rain,” the popular title track from Prince’s 1984 multi-platinum hit.

However, Gilmour doesn’t directly copy Prince’s iconic guitar work, choosing to offer a moving rendition all of his own. Around a minute later, the stage lights changed yet again, turning from purple to red and gold as Gilmour resumes singing the Pink Floyd hit, “Comfortably Numb.”

As reported Neil McCormick, music critic for the Telegraph, the “veteran guitar hero’s tribute to the late pop genius would have been worth the price of entry in itself.”

In related news on the Inquisitr:

Gilmour’s performance is one of many, as musicians continue to pay tribute to Prince, following his death last week at the age of 57. While an autopsy on the legendary singer has been performed to determine the cause of death, officials say it could still be weeks before the results are known.

The mashup of “Comfortably Numb” and “Purple Rain” was part of a special benefit concert for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Gilmour’s wife, Polly Samson, posted images from the show along with a further video of the “Purple Rain” mashup on Instagram.

As reported by Ultimate Classic Rock, this isn’t the first time Gilmour has performed a cover of Prince’s iconic hit “Purple Rain.” Reportedly back in 1992 he performed the song during a taping of a six-episode mini-series, Tom Jones: The Right Time which then aired on VH1. Tom Jones even wore a purple suit for the episode.

You can watch the performance of Gilmour with Tom Jones on vocals in the video included here:

As reported by the Inquisitor, Gilmour will be launching a European tour later this year and will be heading to Pompeii in July, the site of one of Pink Floyd’s most memorable performances.

It was back in 1972 that Pink Floyd, then featuring Gilmour on guitar, along with keyboard player Richard Wright, bassist Roger Waters and drummer Nick Mason, shot the live show, “Live At Pompeii” at the historic Roman City.

It wasn’t a concert, as such, as there was no audience, but the show was considered to be one of Pink Floyd’s triumphs, just two years before the release of their iconic album, The Dark Side of the Moon.

Another member of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, will be appearing at what is being dubbed the “Fall Coachella” later this year which will be a mega-concert featuring six major acts featuring some of the biggest icons in classic rock up on stage.

Over a period of three days, it will be the first time Waters, along with Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones and the Who, will play in the same show, albeit on different nights.

[Photo David Gilmour by Matthew Eisman/Getty Images – Inset: Prince by Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images Entertainment]

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