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David Gilmour's return to Pompeii and honorary citizenship

Written by Matt

Monday, 11 July 2016

Last week, David Gilmour and his band performed the pair of spectacular shows at the legendary Anfiteatro di Pompei in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, marking the first time he has played there in 45 years. The performances were the first-ever rock concerts for an audience in the stone Roman amphitheatre which was built in 90BC and entombed in ash when Vesuvius erupted in AD79.

The amphitheatre was only uncovered after the Second World War and David's concerts were the first time that there has been an audience present in the arena in almost 2000 years. To mark the occasion of David's return, he was officially named an honorary citizen of Pompeii by local Mayor Ferdinando Uliano, in a special ceremony on July 6th, the day before the first show. Our thanks to Roger Leleu for the photos below, taken at the ceremony.

As noted elsewhere on this site, the lucky audience members were treated to an audio visual spectacular featuring lasers, pyrotechnics and a setlist featuring songs from throughout David's career. Tracks performed over the two nights ranged from his latest album 'Rattle That Lock' to the Pink Floyd classic 'One Of These Days', the only song that was also performed at the 1971 show.

Both concerts also saw very special performances of 'The Great Gig In The Sky' which David has rarely played as a solo artist (one of those rare performances was in Paris, 2006, with Sam Brown on vocals). A special guest at the second show was the world renowned classicist Mary Beard, an expert on Ancient Rome as well as a lifelong Pink Floyd fan, who treated David and his wife Polly Samson to a guided tour of the amphitheatre.