David Gilmour
Remember That Night DVD Launch
Picturehouse At FACT
Liverpool
6 September, 2007
The Great God that is Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, live and in person … well, nearly. In the finest cinema on Merseyside … and many more a few miles further a field … devotees of the great man gathered, even though this was only him on film, beamed live from London’s Leicester Square on the occasion of the launch of his Remember That Night DVD capturing Gilmour’s On An Island tour of 2006, at The Royal Albert Hall.
A surreal experience in many ways, it was hard not to sing your lungs out to such timeless classics as Time or Wish You Were Here or to air-guitar along to Echoes, which was performed live for the first time since Floyd were playing it in Pompeii to world acclaim. It was equally as difficult not to indulge in some impromptu karaoke with the new stuff, too, such as the outstanding Take A Breath, This Heaven and The Blue, which are all performed superbly.
Although only treated to highlights of the show, the presentation still went on for around 90 minutes, of a collection that – in reality – spans over 2 hrs 30 mins of gig footage, and 3 hours of extras.
We even heard David Bowie giving a memorable version of Arnold Layne.
The true moment of the evening, however, was Gilmour’s live Q&A session with members of the audience in London and also those who’d clicked on his Website to contribute posers.
Who would David play with were he not in Floyd? “The Beatles did all right, didn’t they? I’m a huge admirer of theirs. Who wouldn’t be?”. How come his strings don’t break? “They’re made of sterner stuff these days … apparently”. Which is his favourite guitar? “My old black Stratocaster has had many uplifts, facelifts and transplants over the years, but it’s the one I’m most comfortable with”. Give three tips to aspiring guitarists? “Copy shamelessly the music you love and build on it from there. Originality comes from practice and the only way to do that is to listen to those who are already doing it”. How do you not get bored playing the same songs over and over? “You hit a zone and stick to it. Besides, they’re pretty good songs.”. Do the lasers and effects put you off? “Luckily they’re behind me, but sometimes they catch you off guard. In Gdansk, there was so much smoke and dry ice we couldn’t even see our foot pedals” and many, many more, before he invited Richard Wright, Guy Pratt and others onstage to perform a truly spell-binding jam session.
This was indeed a truly memorable evening and Picturehouse should be roundly applauded across the land for making it accessible to those unable to get to The Big Smoke in person to enjoy it.
David Gilmour – Remember That Night DVD Track Listing.
1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe
3. Time
4. Breathe (reprise)
5. Castellorizon
6. On An Island featuring Crosby & Nash
7. The Blue featuring Crosby & Nash
8. Red Sky At Night
9. This Heaven
10. Then I Close My Eyes featuring Robert Wyatt
11. Smile
12. Take A Breath
13. A Pocketful Of Stones
14. Where We Start
15. Shine On You Crazy Diamond featuring Crosby & Nash
16. Fat Old Sun
17. Coming Back To Life
18. High Hopes
19. Echoes
20. Wish You Were Here
21. Find The Cost Of Freedom featuring Crosby & Nash
22. Arnold Layne featuring David Bowie
23. Comfortably Numb featuring David Bowie
Available 21st September
Picturehouse at FACT opened in February
2003, as the first independent cinema
to open in Liverpool’s city centre in over a decade.
FACT, the Foundation for Art &
Creative Technology. 88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L14DQ
T: +44 (0)151 7074444 Email:
info@fact.co.uk
break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.