|
April
13, 2006
Artist: David Gilmour
Venue: Rosemont Theatre
Review by: Anita Maree Lande
Photos by: Niva Bringas
Gilmour’s Island
reaches the dark side
Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour is off and running,
performing at a limited amount of venues in the U.S., Canada, and Europe
to sell-out crowds promoting his new album called On An Island.
The 60-year-old
Gilmour was born and raised in Cambridge, England and joined Pink Floyd
in the late 1960s. His over-the-top guitar abilities and unique
song-writing skills helped explode Pink Floyd, with band members Roger
Waters and Richard Wright, for worldwide success. Gilmour’s first solo
effort was back in 1978 when he released his self-titled album and six
year’s later he released his second solo album entitled About Face.
So after twenty-some long years, a new solo album has finally emerged
and the die-hard fans at the Rosemont Theatre were excited and anxious
for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer to take center stage.
As the theatre
lights went off, blue streams of rays of lights appeared on stage and
out came Gilmour wearing black on black performing his new instrumental
song Castellorizon,and he received a thunderous applause. He has
a six-piece band that includes his Pink Floyd band mate Richard Wright
on keys. He then performed
the single On An Island, which is a very Pink Floydish sounding
song. Lyrically, Gilmour explained that this song is about how friends
can die during your lifetime, but it is how their memory keeps living on
inside of you. He then told the audience that his band would be
performing all ten songs off his new album and after his brief
intermission they would move into some Pink Floyd classics, which of
course pleased the audience.
Some of his newer
songs are a bit darker and a bit slower in tempo but the feel and sound
of his soulful guitar playing brings fresh energy to each one. Then when
he led off into his song Red Sky At Night, he changed pace and
switched to playing saxophone. The other new instrumental song Then
I Close My Eyes displayed more of his eerie yet moody guitar feel.
This Heaven was one song that stood out, possibly because it had
hints of a R&B sound and how Gilmour drenched down into the lyrics to
reveal a warm side: “Life is much more than money buys. When I see the
faith in my children’s eyes.”
After intermission
the band performed quite a few Pink Floyd hits like High Hopes,
Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb and Echoes.
Gilmour’s
performance was top edge with his raspy voice, screeching guitar, and
mammoth light show. Even though at the time of this writing he only has
limited venues scheduled to perform at, if he doesn’t make it your city,
my advice would be to go to an island, pop in the CD, close your eyes,
and dive into the Gilmour array of ten organic songs.
For more
information visit
www.davidgilmour.com |
