We went to two of the three-night stint Gilmour did at the Albert Hall in 2006. There were some small but important differences between the two gigs. David Bowie came to guest on a couple of tracks on the first night. "Echoes" was sublime on the second night. Mica Paris guested on the second night and they consequently did "Great Gig in the Sky". "High Hopes" on the first night was replaced by a Syd Barratt track "Dominoes" on the second night.
The gigs consisted of a first half based on playing the recently released Gilmour album "On an Island" followed by a second half of Floyd classics. Gilmour was impeccable, totally relaxed, completely imperious; one of the finest rock guitarists at his best. The rest of the band were damn fine too. Rick Wright on keyboards giving credibility to the Floyd tracks, Phil Manzanera on guitar (and also on sax on Red Sky At Night).
In addition there were various guest musicians of which David Bowie and Mica Paris were the pick for me. The others were Robert Wyatt, David Crosby and Graham Nash.
The selection of Floyd tracks was pretty much perfect for me but then I have always leaned towards the Gilmour-influenced tracks (at least since Syd left) from Floyd's output. There were some differences between the two nights but both sets included "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", "Coming Back to Life", "High Hopes", "Echoes", "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". The last two tracks were in the encore and it was an amazing finale. "Echoes" is just about my all-time favourite Floyd track and the version on the second night was just about perfect.
Fabulous gigs which must have a place in the top twenty all-time list.
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