Famed guitarist David Gilmour has added the Chuck Leavell to his touring band for his upcoming European tour. The Pink Floyd man is surely excited to add Leavell’s legendary keyboard skills to the mix, as he has shown in his career with The Rolling Stones and The Allman Brothers Band. Leavell recently posted his thoughts on the interesting collaboration on his website:
I was pleased and surprised to be contacted by David (Gilmour) a couple of months ago asking me if I would be available to tour with him in June and July. My first contact with David was back in 1984 when I was the Musical Director of a show broadcast on MTV called “Guitar Greats”. David was a part of that, and he was amazing. Then a few years later when I was with Eric Clapton, David invited me and some of the other members of the band to his home where we had a memorable night talking about music and life in general. To have him reach out to me now is truly an honor, and I can’t wait to start work with him and the band. My good friend, Greg Phillinganes, who I was honored to work with during some of my Clapton days will also be playing keyboards on the tour and I look forward to “tag teaming” with him again. The timing for this is perfect, as the Stones will gear up again for our “Desert Trip” shows and some other activity in September and October. So this is proving to be an extraordinary year for me! – Chuck Leavell
Gilmour, who is still touring in support of his recently released album Rattle The Lock, will hit the road with Leavell and co. on June 25th in Poland, and will wind their way through Europe for a full month, finally ending their tour in Belgium on July 28th. If you’re in Europe this summer, make sure you catch this epic tour while you can, as it’s likely that Leavell will only be on this tour for a brief period of time before linking back up with The Stones at Desert Trip this October.
In the meantime, check out our review of Gilmour’s brilliant show at Radio City Music Hall this past April.