It was the collaboration that no-one saw coming - David Gilmour playing guitar for Ice-T's band Body Count as they take a fresh look at Comfortably Numb. The song, which originally appeared on 1979's Pink Floyd album The Wall, has been updated for the 21st century, with a focus on issues close to Ice-T's heart. The song appears on the new album Merciless which is out on November 22nd.
Permission was asked by Ice-T for the usage, and it clearly interested David, who went further and performed a new solo for the track on his Black Cat Strat - and even appears in the new, official video for the song, which was directed by Jay Scorsese.
"For me “Comfortably Numb" is an introspective song—it's me acknowledging that I'm older now. I'm telling the younger generation, you've got two choices: you can keep the fire burning or you can give up. It's me trying to make sense of what's happening, but also pointing out that we're all in a place where we don’t have to face reality. We've got flat-screen TVs and popcorn, and we can just sit back and watch the chaos of the world like it’s a TV show. It doesn’t feel real until it shows up at your door. I’m a little numb, too—we all are.” - Ice-T on the track.
David said: "Body Count's version of 'Comfortably Numb' is quite radical, but the words really struck me. It astonishes me that a tune I wrote almost 50 years ago is back with this great new approach. They've made it relevant again. The initial contact from Ice-T was for permission to use the song, but I thought I might offer to play on it as well. I like the new lyrics. They're talking about the world we're living in now, which is quite scary.
"Ice-T and BODY COUNT played in London recently. Sadly, I couldn't make it, but if another opportunity came up to play with them, I'd jump at it."
The Royal Albert Hall has long been a favourite of David's, so it should be a good place to see him play in again. This was proved with the opening show last night for which we've already had some pictures and comments through from people who attended, and were thrilled by what they witnessed!
As ever, we will do our best to minimise any spoilers unless you go further down each of the concert pages - the set list is always hidden for obvious sight, and comments about each show will be below that, along with pictures kindly submitted.
We've included one here of a recognisable shadow playing on the rear of the Royal Albert Hall's seating area, courtesy of David Gaylor, which we figured didn't really spoil anything in particular of the show. The other picture, showing the Luck and Strange Man above one of the Royal Albert Hall entrances, was kindly sent by Chris Leith.
For those interested, there were no major differences with the merchandise on offer - the normal range of t-shirts, hoodies and other accessories including tour programme. Sometimes for the Royal Albert Hall, there's been a special poster, but all there is are the t-shirts and hoodies marked as from the London shows (as seen in the previous shows in Brighton and Rome). We hear though that the merchandise stall was swamped with people snapping things up eagerly so would suggest those who want to get something to commemorate the show, should buy before the concert, and not after, to reduce the chance of disappointment.
Obviously, if you go to any of these shows (or indeed, any others between now and when the tour wraps up next month at New York City's Madison Square Garden) and would like to share your thoughts and/or pictures with the Floyd community, do please get in touch! Thank you.
Something a little different today as we count down the hours until David Gilmour's Royal Albert Hall shows begin, tomorrow evening. The Dark Side Of The Moon is rightly considered an audiophile classic, and has been used over the last fifty-odd years as a showcase of someone's hifi, or indeed, as a perfect test record in equipment stores for prospective buyers of turntables and so on.
The following video goes into incredible detail into the vinyl version of The Dark Side Of The Moon, and includes plenty of background into how the finished recording made it onto vinyl. It also compares various editions of the album, to try and determine (from the presenter's perspective, of course) which are the copies to search out for the highest quality audio.
As with all audio comparisons, it is subjective, and different equipment does affect the sound one hears. The most important thing is for people to enjoy the music, irrespective of the format, but nevertheless it is a fascinating look at how records are made, showing the process - particularly, how it was done in the early to mid 1970s...
On Friday evening, and yesterday afternoon, David Gilmour and his new touring band performed a brace of shows at the Brighton Centre, on the south coast of England.
It obviously bodes well when David Gilmour hires the Brighton Centre for production rehearsals. Concluding their time at the south coast of England venue, following the initial rehearsals at the King Alfred complex in Hove (just along the seafront road), a repeat of 2015's preview show saw a pair of what was called "Dress Rehearsals" to further finesse the production. The first was a standard evening show, the second, a matinee so that everything could be broken down and packed ready to ship to Rome, Italy, for the first string of proper shows.
We are now starting to receive pictures, comments and suchlike for the pair of shows, and are adding them to both of the show pages (Friday, September 20th and Saturday, September 21st) to join the short post-gig video that's been put together by David's team to give the tiniest of tasters of the show. If you went to either, we really welcome and appreciate any contributions you would like to offer - just email through the normal address of
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please.
We've purposefully picked a very simple picture for this story, so as not to spoil anything for those who don't want to hear anything about the show. The show pages also hide the set lists so people don't see anything they don't want to. Pictures and reviews are below the hidden set list section, so should be difficult to accidentally see things you might not want to see.
Next stop for David and his team is Rome, Italy, for the six shows there, from this coming Friday, 27th September - and if you are going to any of these, we'd love to hear from you after the show!
Following the release of David Gilmour's Luck and Strange, his critically acclaimed first new album in nine years, this week, has been an announcement which reminds us of 2015. Today, Gilmour has announced two very special rehearsal performances at the Brighton Centre on the south coast of England, on September 20th (Evening) and 21st (Matinee). Each show will be limited to just 1500 people.
Many of you will remember that in 2015, Gilmour performed what was called a "preview show" at the same venue, which had been used for production rehearsals, and the Brighton Centre obviously worked well as a facility to get the show into its final shape, hence these newly announced concerts.
Tickets for the shows are £30, and to be in with a chance to get them, fans will need to have
purchased a copy of Luck and Strange from the official David Gilmour UK store by 8am, Monday, September 16th. This will give the chance for first access to the available tickets. Those who have already ordered from the store will also be included. Visit that website to get full details of terms and conditions of the ticketing process. The shows will offer an exclusive preview of David's forthcoming live performances in Rome, London, Los Angeles, and New York.
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On Friday evening, and yesterday afternoon, David Gilmour and his new touring band performed a brace of shows at the Brighton Centre, on the south coast of England.
Following the release of David Gilmour's Luck and Strange, his critically acclaimed first new album in nine years, this week, has been an announcement which reminds us of 2015. Today, Gilmour has announced two very special rehearsal performances at the Brighton Centre on the south coast of England, on 
