Watch Pink Floyd's Final Performance At Live 8, On This Day In 2005

Few bands in rock and roll history have the legendary musical status as Pink Floyd. The classic art-rockers redefined popular music with albums like Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Animals, Wish You Were Here, and countless others, offering a unique blend that incorporated rock, jazz, psychedelia, and so much more.

Despite the fruits of their creative partnership, tensions between David Gilmour and Roger Waters caused rifts within the band’s musical fabric. After dominating the charts for most of the ’70s, the classic Pink Floyd lineup was never the same after that decade, as Waters left the group in 1985. Keyboardist Richard Wright left the band from 1981 to 1987, and Pink Floyd toured without Waters until 1994, reuniting with him only once in 2005 to play the global awareness concert Live 8. The show was the first time that the band had played together in 24 years, and it would also be the last.

With Wright’s passing in 2008, the end of the Pink Floyd legacy was all but cemented. Waters and Gilmour have both openly said that they have no intention of reuniting Pink Floyd, though even if they did, the band would not be the same without Wright’s iconic work on the keys. In honor of the group’s legacy, we wanted to share footage from the group’s final performance.

Taken from Live 8 on this day 20 years ago, July 2nd, 2005, watch all four core members of Pink Floyd perform “Speak To Me/Breathe”, “Money”, “Wish You Were Here”, and “Comfortably Numb”.

Pink Floyd — Festival 8 – London, England – 7/2/05

[Video: michele matraia]

[Originally published 7/2/16]