Regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in rock history, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd celebrates his 75th birthday today, March 6th.
Gilmour’s unmistakable sound and inimitable style has yielded some of the most significant performances within progressive and psychedelic music, notably his contributions on songs like “Time” and “Money” from 1973’s Dark Side Of The Moon, “Shine On Your Crazy Diamond” from 1975’s Wish You Were Here, and “Comfortably Numb” from Roger Waters’ 1979 rock opera, The Wall.
Despite an often turbulent relationship with Roger Waters over the years — played out mostly in the press — Gilmour and the bassist have been able to put their differences aside on several rare occasions in the past, perhaps most notably at London’s Hyde Park on July 2nd, 2005 when Pink Floyd reunited as a part of the string of benefit concerts known as Live 8.
Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid and the G8 summit, Live 8 was a string of simultaneous benefit concerts being put on in 10+ cities across multiple continents to raise awareness of poverty in developing nations. Alongside Pink Floyd, Hyde Park played host to performances by Paul McCartney, The Who, Elton John, Madonna, R.E.M., U2, Coldplay, and Robbie Williams.
A reunion 24 years coming, Pink Floyd took to a darkened stage with only the intro to “Speak To Me” being played. With the classic configuration of Waters on bass, Gilmour on guitar, Nick Mason on drums, and Richard Wright on keyboards, the band delighted the jam-packed crowd to a foursome of quintessential tunes in “Breathe”, “Money”, “Wish You Were Here”, and “Comfortably Numb”. Though the reunion was a short, 20-minute set, Live 8 was a once-in-a-generation reminder of the power and widespread influence of Pink Floyd.
In celebration of David Gilmour’s 75th trip around the sun today, enjoy the complete Pink Floyd performance from Live 8 below in 2005 below.
Pink Floyd Reunion – Live 8 in Hyde park – 7/2/05
[Video: Sse363]