First off, I would like to start this review
by saying how much I love the Royal Albert Hall. Yesterday was only my 3rd
visit to the venue (and first for over 3 years) but I had forgotten just how
good of a venue it is. All 3 times I have been, I’ve been in gallery standing
up the top. I do need to experience something from lower in the bowl at some
point. It was the perfect surrounding for the evening’s entertainment. David
Gilmour was playing the last date on the “Rattle That Lock” world tour which
saw him play at the Royal Albert Hall 11 times over two years. The setlist on
previous nights had a decent helping of Gilmour’s solo material but the
majority of it consisted of Pink Floyd songs. Whilst I really like the Rattle
That Lock album, I was really looking forward to seeing Pink Floyd songs
performed live by one of the people in the band again. I saw The Wall performed
at Wembley Stadium by Roger Waters, which was phenomenal.
The evening was set to be broken up into
two sets, with a short interval in the middle. The first set kicked off with 3
songs from Rattle That Lock. Hearing the songs live gave me a whole new
appreciation for these songs which I already liked. Not that the crowd as a
whole weren’t into these three songs, but there was a significant increase in
volume whenever a Pink Floyd song was played. The first of these was What Do
You Want From Me, which is a great song. This was followed by The Blue –
another solo track from the album On An Island and then The Great Gig In The
Sky – which got a massive roar of approval from the crowd. Another song from Rattle
That Lock – A Boat Lies Waiting – followed which was good. What followed this
was one of my highlights of the night. Back to back Pink Floyd classics in the
form of Wish You Were Here and Money. Wish You Were Here provided the first
loud sing along of the night and the crowd had barely calmed down afterwards
before roaring again when the introduction to Money kicked in. This section was
certainly one of my top two moments of the gig. Were you to put a gun to my
head and demand to know my favourite Pink Floyd song, it is possible I would
say one of these two. To hear them both back to back? Awesome. The instrumental
section of Money was longer than it is on record, which sometimes can be
annoying but not on this occasion. The saxophone player in particular was just
superb. The first set ended with another Rattle That Lock song – In Any Tongue –
and High Hopes from The Division Bell. The first set was, put simply, stunning.
The second set opened with a real cross
section of Pink Floyd material – One Of These Days, Shine On You Crazy Diamond
(Parts I-V), Fat Old Sun and Coming Back To Life. It was great to hear a real
mix of Floyd like this – Shine On You Crazy Diamond was another moment where
the crowd really got into the performance. This is a part where my memory is
letting me down slightly. I know after the four Pink Floyd songs, there were 3
more solo tracks played. The Girl in the Yellow Dress is not often on the set
list but it was last night. I’m looking at other set lists and it has the Pink
Floyd song Us And Them on. I can’t remember if we got that as well, or if we
got The Girl in the Yellow Dress as a replacement. I’m sure someone out there
knows. Regardless, I really enjoyed this part of the set – particularly as I
wasn’t expecting to hear The Girl in the Yellow Dress. Towards the end of
Today, another song from Rattle That Lock, the crowd really livened up – to the
point I wondered if I had missed something as they hadn’t got that lively for a
song that wasn’t a Pink Floyd song all night. Today is a superb song though so
maybe that is why. The second set concluded with two Pink Floyd songs, Sorrow
(one I’m not overly familiar with) and Run Like Hell – which was immense. It
was one of my highlights when I saw Roger Waters and was one again last night.
Gilmour and the band came out for an encore
to close out the night. The room got very loud again when the introduction to
Time started. The end of Time blended in nicely with a bit of Breathe, which
was really cool. The last song of the night was Comfortably Numb – another one
of my highlights from when I saw Waters. It was better last night than it was
at Wembley Stadium. I think Gilmour singing the chorus is vital to that song
when performed live and no disrespect to the guy in Roger Waters’ band, but
Gilmour he is not. Earlier in the tour, Benedict Cumberbatch came out to sing
the Roger Waters parts of the song which must have been cool to see. This
encore was probably my favourite part of the set due to the inclusion of
Comfortably Numb – a predictable but epic closer.
I bought my ticket for this gig in December
last year, and it exceeded all expectations I had for the gig. Were I to rank
my top 3 highlights of the gig, it would all be Pink Floyd songs. That is not
to take anything away from the solo material though – as there was never a
moment when a solo song was being performed that I wished it would be over. It
is just, in my experience, always great to hear Pink Floyd songs being
performed live by someone that was in Pink Floyd. I’ve made reference to the
Roger Waters Wembley Stadium show but I am not going to say which gig was
better as they were entirely different experiences. What I will say though is
that last night was just outstanding, and I am glad I was there to see it.
Would I have enjoyed it more being sat down closer to the stage? Possibly.
Being stood up at the top didn’t ruin it at all for me though, which is a good
thing.
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