Exactly 20 years ago, on July 2, 2005, in the heart of Hyde Park, the Pink Floyd got on the stage of Live 8 for what he would become, without anyone being able to know in advance, their last concert with the complete training. Nick Mason, in a recent interview granted to Eon Music, has returned to that moment with a mixture of lucidity and regret: “We really didn't think it would have been the last time – he explained – because you can never know what can happen. An event like Live 8 has shown that there is an effective way to raise awareness and raise funds. I thought it would be only the first of other similar moments. But organizing things like this is never more complicated, and in fact it is never more complicated. repeated “.
The Pink Floyd performed for the last time with their original formation: the one composed of David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason (after the abandonment of Syd Barrett in 1968). Live 8 was a series of concerts organized in the 8 countries that were part of the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States), to draw attention to the themes of poverty and debt in developing countries.
The Pink Floyd performed at 23:23, immediately after the WHO set. Gilmour, Waters, Wright and Mason did not share a stage from the “The Wall” tour concluded in 1981: they performed “Breathe”, “Money”, “Wish You Were here” and “Comfortably number” (see the video below). Since then the original members of Pink Floyd have no longer played live together. Before attacking “Wish You Were here”, Waters said to the public: “It is exciting to stay here with these three guys after all these years … Anyway, we are doing it for all those who are not here, and in particular obviously for Syd”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_4Ueazq2kg
Three years later, in 2008, the disappearance of Richard Wright would have given that concert an even deeper meaning: a definitive greeting of the group to his audience, with the – inevitable – exception of Syd Barrett. “I always thought it was one of our best concerts – Mason continued – also because everyone knew that there was a tension between Roger and David, but each of us decided that that event was more important than any divergence, more important than the band itself or music. I think it was a demonstration of maturity”.
Roger Waters also remembered that moment with affection and surprise. In an interview with Digital Spy, he told the behind the scenes of the return to the stage: “I was really happy. Bob Geldof called me telling me that he was trying in every way to convince Gilmour, and asked me a hand. He said that I was the only one who could make it. I replied that I would try, but that I needed his number, since I did not say. Then, at a certain point, he changed his mind.
Recently, David Gilmour, if there had still been doubts, has definitively clarified that he will no longer play together with Roger Waters: “I tend to stay away from those who actively support genocidal dictators and self -conscious such as Putin and Maduro – said the guitarist to the British Guardian, during the promotion of his latest solo album,” Luck and Strange ” – could not convince me to share the stage. With someone who thinks that treatment reserved for women and LGBT communities is ok. editor's note), one of the kindest and musically equipped people I met in my life “.
The dispute between Gilmour and Waters has been going on for decades. Waters left the Pink Floyd in a stormy way in 1985, with Gilmour assumed the leadership of the group for albums “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” (1987) and “The Division Bell” (1994), then followed in 2014 by “The Endless River”. Waters remained distant from his ex-compagni and openly criticized the work of the ex-compagni, despite a sporadic reunion for a unique performance at Live 8 in 2005, before the death of the keyboardist Richard Wright in 2008.
The controversies have continued over the years, for example when, in 2022, Gilmour and the drummer Nick Mason made the single “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!”, As a sign of protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Waters attacked them defining the song “empty and patriotic”. Gilmour's wife, Polly Samson, did not send them to say on Twitter accusing Waters of being “a supporter of Putin, a liar, a misogynist” and other serious offenses (including playback in playback), about which Gilmour in a later tweet wrote: “Each word is true and demonstrable”.
The last time the two shared the stage was Roger Waters's “The Wall” tour in 2011.
The Pink Floyd catalog was sold thanks to a 400 million dollar agreement with Sony Music for the rights of recorded music, the name and image of the band.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
