Tag Archive for "meltdown" tag

David performed the Elvis number, ‘Don’t', at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in June 2001. It’s an extra on the ‘David Gilmour in Concert’ DVD, and also available as ‘A Tribute to Leiber and Stoller’.

Later, in December 2004, it was performed again at Abbey Road, as Scotty Moore and Friends paid tribute to The King.

Just for fun, which other Elvis songs do you think David would do well (keeping in mind that he’d be given artistic licence to present them however he deemed fit)?

Of course, the reason I ask is because it allows me to remind fans in the States that you can catch the Abbey Road performance of ‘Don’t’ on RAVE today at 13:00 (EST).

David had a fair stab at ‘All Shook Up’ as part of his 1999 collaborations with Paul McCartney, most notably at Liverpool’s famous Cavern, albeit providing backing vocals instead of lead.

How about Elvis’ take on Bob Dylan’s beautiful ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’? Or a slowed-down acoustic ‘Suspicious Minds’, complete with trademark lap steel solo, à la ‘High Hopes’?

If you get the urge, come and chat – the chatroom opens at 13:00 (UK).

It’s Kate’s birthday today, providing me with a perfect excuse to show off this great painting of Ernest’s, and also find out how many of you are fans.

You all know the connection: David passed Kate’s demo recordings EMI’s way and would go on to produce tracks on her debut album, ‘The Kick Inside’. More recently, Kate would be a very welcome surprise guest at David’s final Meltdown show, in 2002.

If you have a favourite Kate Bush song, album, fact or moment, we want to know about it.

Thanks for sharing your talent with us, Ernest.

If you have something similar, we’d love to see it. Just get it online and send me the URL.

The chatroom is open, and will be until 12:00 (UK), should you care to pop in. Newcomers are most welcome. Please read this first, which should tell you all you need to know.

Thank you all for the lovely comments about Syd.

And thank you, Ikkar, for sharing your artwork with us.

Which of Syd’s songs can you imagine David singing?

On the last tour, David covered ‘Astronomy Domine’, ‘Dark Globe’ and ‘Dominoes’, and on his previous solo outing in 2002, ‘Terrapin’.

Not to mention ‘Arnold Layne’, which was released as a single and is a highlight of the ‘Remember That Night’ DVD (sung by Richard Wright and David Bowie).

You’ll be able to hear ‘Dominoes’ (from Paris) on the forthcoming ‘Live in GdaÅ„sk’ album – unless you opt for either the two-disc or vinyl set, that is – as it’s one of 12 live tracks included on a bonus CD, and will also be available for download.

‘Astronomy Domine’ (from GdaÅ„sk, naturally) is also included on a bonus DVD, as well as featuring on the album itself.

Both ‘Dominoes’ and ‘Terrapin’ are included on David’s 2002 ‘In Concert’ DVD.

Do you have a favourite of those tracks already covered?

There’s no chat today, but the chatroom will be open tomorrow: between 11:00 and 13:00 (UK).

I’ve been dedicating a blog entry to each of the musicians and main players in David’s touring party, and today it’s the turn of Robert Wyatt, founder member of Soft Machine.

Fans of David should be particularly grateful to Robert, for as curator of the 2001 Meltdown music festival, he coaxed David into performing at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The success of that critically-acclaimed semi-acoustic show spawned similar concerts in both London and Paris the following year. The tremendous success of these shows surely played a part in the ‘On An Island’ tour.

So please feel free to leave a message for Robert if you’d like to, or perhaps tell others a little about Robert’s music, if you’ve followed his career or seen him in concert.

Thanks to everyone who told us which of Polly’s photos are their favourites. You can vote on which you like best of all, from a shortlist of ten, with our latest poll (coming later today).

Thanks also to all who popped into the chatroom this morning. It was really nice chatting with you.

The next chat will be tomorrow at 3PM UK time.

Please see the calendar for chatroom opening times.

As you may have noticed from our Latest News, the 2001 Meltdown show at London’s Royal Festival Hall – which became ‘David Gilmour In Concert’ upon its release on DVD in late 2002 – could well be appearing on a television near you.

If you live in Portugal, then RTP will broadcast it on Saturday 22 April on RTP1, with a repeat following in May.

Contrary to reports elsewhere, the UK’s Channel 4 will not be showing this concert on Saturday 15 April.

We’ll let you know the broadcast times, and which other countries are going to be airing the concert, when we have all the details.

We’ve got two full tracks and four clips from this concert on the Discography page, by the way.

Can we also put an end to the endless questions about a DVD of the ‘On An Island’ tour by saying that a DVD is being discussed and we’ll let you know when an official decision has been made.

There are no plans, however, for a live CD.

It’s hard to believe that there have been seven shows already and many of you have been lucky enough to attend some of them. The comments you’ve left have been absolutely amazing, so thank you all very much for sharing your experiences with us. It’s vastly appreciated and has helped torment those fans who are waiting for the concerts in Italy, Canada, the US and UK just perfectly.

Lots of people are avoiding these comments, however. They don’t want the surprise to be spoiled. So, I thought I’d remind you at this point of David’s last shows in London and Paris in 2001 and 2002, as lots of people have written in asking about the nature of David’s ‘On an Island’ shows, but don’t want me to say too much.

As well as long-time fans, I’m delighted to welcome new fans who may not be as knowledgeable about David’s career and work. If you fall into this bracket and will be seeing David for the first time on his ‘On an Island’ tour, then you might like to know that you can see two full tracks and four clips from his last solo outing – at London‘s Royal Festival Hall in 2001 – online.

This was the annual Meltdown festival, which kick-started a short, but highly successful, residency in London and Paris the following year.

Have a look at the Discography page for that.

These shows were semi-acoustic by nature and featured an orchestra and gospel choir. This time, it’s just David and his band. David is playing some of his favourite Pink Floyd songs on this tour, as he did in 2001 and 2002. Add to that the new songs from ‘On an Island’, which you are now familiarising yourselves with, and what have you got?

You’ve got a great show to look forward to, that’s what!

The next show’s not until Friday, so what better than a little ‘David Gilmour In Concert’ to keep you going until then?

Hope you like it and, as always, I welcome your comments.

I’d like to clear up some confusion regarding the way your comments are displayed.

I’ve received many messages informing me that your messages have being incorrectly credited. Please note that this is not the case. Your name appears after your comment. You’ll notice that the first entry shows the daily blog, which is underlined, with the name (in this case, Features Editor) appearing afterwards. This trend continues for all your comments.

I apologise for any confusion that this may have caused you and am happy to clarify this matter.

There were some very interesting comments yesterday with regards to eBay, with a mixture of views expressed.

It seems that many of you support the sale of tickets on eBay and raised several valid points to support your stance.

Thanks to everyone who stated their point of view on this controversial topic. I appreciate both sides of the argument and enjoyed reading your opinions.

We will also be considering your points about the sale of tickets to see David in concert. Thank you for letting us know how you found this experience. This is important to us.

One of Polly’s photographs will be here tomorrow and I will also be revealing another surprise contributor to ‘On an Island’, so don’t miss that. Feel free to hazard wild guesses if you want to. They might make me laugh.

I’ll leave you with another instalment in the seemingly never-ending ‘Five favourites’ chart.

061. Sheep
062. What Do You Want From Me
063. More Blues
064. Cry From The Street *
064. The Dogs of War *
066. Obscured By Clouds *
066. Welcome To The Machine *
068. A Great Day For Freedom
069. Smile
070. Atom Heart Mother
071. The Gold, It’s In The… *
071. The Great Gig In The Sky *
071. Is There Anybody Out There? *
071. See Emily Play *
071. Terminal Frost *
076. Signs of Life *
077. Arnold Layne *
077. Embryo *
077. Interstellar Overdrive *

* Equal number of votes polled. Alphabetical order, not preference, dictates a song’s order in the chart.

It’s good to see ‘Smile’ listed so highly as a new song among so many established tracks. ‘Smile’ will be on David’s new album, although it sounds quite different to how you’ll remember it from 2001’s Meltdown and the 2002 shows in London and Paris. If you saw David’s appearance on ‘Three Men in a Boat’ recently, then you got to hear a brief snippet of it.

There are lots of instrumentals in this chart, you surely will have noticed. ‘Atom Heart Mother’ is an intriguing prospect, as is ‘Interstellar Overdrive’.

Do let us know what you think of the list so far. Is there anything missing?

Thanks for another fine response to yesterday’s blog about the greatest David Gilmour/Pink Floyd bass lines. No matter who played them, or who is the better bassist, your comments made for interesting reading.

We’ve had even more fantastic ideas for David’s forthcoming live shows, such as starting and ending the show with ‘Echoes’ (as in the Pompeii film), re-inventing tracks from ‘Obscured By Clouds’, an acoustic ‘Sorrow’ (so suggests Tim Taylor) and cover versions of all varieties.

Which brings us quite nicely to today’s teaser, in fact.

Let us know which tracks you think David could work his magic on. Any artist, any song.

We’ve already seen ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ (thanks to Gem) and ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ (thanks for that, Stephen), as well as numerous tracks that David has made a contribution to as a guest artist, such as Michael Kamen’s beautiful ‘Sacha’ (good thinking, Nick) and Supertramp’s ‘Brother Where You Bound’ (a fine idea, Yoni).

Several of you seem curious to hear a Dire Straits cover, with James Q suggesting ‘So Far Away’, to give just one example. We’ve even had a couple of Scissor Sisters tracks thrown in for good measure, courtesy of Brendon Doran… although I personally think they’re getting a better deal by being allowed to cover Pink Floyd songs, to be honest with you.

Remember, this is just for fun. These are suggestions, not requests. David is not guaranteed to see any of them, never mind take a fancy to them and fit them into his live set.

But then again, he might see them all.

Five suggestions only, please. Not everyone kept to five the last time we asked a similar question, which is perfectly understandable bearing in mind just how many excellent songs there have been, but it made tallying up harder. Have a heart, OK? No more than five per post.

Today’s photograph is of Robert Wyatt. Robert was a founder member of Soft Machine and also formed Matching Mole before embarking on a solo career. In 2001, he was curator of the annual Meltdown music festival held at London’s Royal Festival Hall, which paved the way for David’s own semi-acoustic shows in 2002. His latest album, ‘Cuckooland’, was released in 2003 and included a contribution from David.

More of Polly’s photographs to come.

Thanks again to everyone who has had some involvement in the blog to date. Keep it up.