The Party At The Palace (which we mentioned last week) is released on Region 2 DVD (Europe) on July 1st, by the BBC. The CD of the concert is released by Virgin Records on June 24th... However, there was no obvious sign of David appearing on the night, despite being due to perform (as per Michael Kamen's comments, reported previously). The releases are for charity, and despite the concert being a bit bizarre in places (an apparently embalmed Brian Wilson, a bemused Tony Bennett, and a hopelessly out of his depth Will Young) still worth a look if you missed it on television.

For our friends in North America, the DVD is due to be released on Region 1 DVD on July 2nd, by Naxos. Running time of the DVD is expected to be three hours, and it has a recommended retail price of US$22.99.

Last night, June 2nd, David Gilmour made two brief appearances on a BBC TV tribute: "There's Only One Paul McCartney". This one hour special looked at the life of the lovable moptop, and featured a serene Gilmour fifty minutes in to the show.

Talking about McCartney's varied career: "He's earnt the right, hasn't he, to have a go at anything he damn well wants to do! Be it poetry, painting, oratorios, or rock and roll". Then, five minutes later, he pipes up again: "He has struggled and fought a valiant fight over all the years to retain an air of normality in all his life and everything he has done. But, its just, you can't... he cannot have a normal life - he's a BEATLE!"

It was confirmed in an interview with Michael Kamen, long time Pink Floyd and Roger Waters collaborator, in The Times newspaper on May 29th, that the Party At The Palace concert to be held at Buckingham Palace in London in honour of the Queen's Golden Jubilee on Monday June 3rd, will include David Gilmour in some capacity.

Other artists scheduled to appear include the likes of Eric Clapton, Sir Paul McCartney, Elton John, Atomic Kitten, Rod Stewart, The Corrs and somewhat bizarrely, Ozzy Ozbourne! (In an interview today on the BBC he confirmed that the royal corgie dogs were safe - making reference to his legendary head-biting-off antics!)

The concert is scheduled to start at 7:30pm and run for three hours. It will be televised by the BBC. There were 12,000 tickets available for the event, given free in a draw from over three million entries made. Touts won't have a chance at this event - proper identification is needed at the gates of the palace.

In a month that so far is dominated with Gilmour news, here's some more! He is due to appear at another concert held at Cowdray Park, Midhurst, West Sussex. Some of you will recall he played there a few years ago with members of Queen etc. Tickets for this black tie event, on Friday June 21st, are priced at £90 for basic entrance, or there are various marquee and tented picnic table tickets available (a tented self-catering picnic table seating up to 12 guests is £300 - plus the entrance tickets).

Full details can be found at the official Cowdray site; artists other than Gilmour appearing in "An Evening Of Beatles Music" include Ringo Starr, Roger Taylor, Mike Rutherford, Paul Carrack, Damon Hill(!) and "other special guests".