David Gilmour: amazing concert [PHOTOS+VIDEO]

David Gilmour’s concert was one of the most important events in the programme of the European Capital of Culture 2016 and certainly an important reason for his fans to arrive in Wroclaw – particularly because that was the only concert of Pink Floyd’s guitarist in this part of Europe (later the artist will perform, among others, in Austria, Italy and Germany, but his tour will not encompass Czech Republic or Russia).

Wroclaw received a real gift from David Gilmour – an almost three hours long concert on a special stage on the Plac Wolności square in front of the National Forum of Music. The main element of the decoration was the famous circular screen that was present also on the reformed Pink Floyd’s live performances (for example, during the concert tour in the summer of 1994) and was used mainly for displaying video clips that accompanied songs. One of them was Ian Emes’ work ‘French Windows’ for the song ‘One of These Days’, which can also be watched at Emes’ exhibition in the City Gallery till 29th July. At the very end of the concert, the audience could admire a specially designed map with intersecting light beams running from the stage towards the sky as an illustration of ‘Comfortably Numb’.

But, even though these effects were spectacular (and their colour harmonised with the nature of songs), they only served as a supplement to music. David Gilmour likes simplicity and focuses on the most important thing – playing, and he played with increasingly stronger passion as the evening progressed. It is a pity that the concert did not last longer, but even final songs, such as ‘Time’ from the classic ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, were played with special feeling. Apart from musicians accompanying Gilmour on stage, we must praise particularly 30 members of the Orchestra of the National Forum of Music prepared and conducted by Zbigniew Preisner for the entire period of the concert. Without them, this concert would not have been the same.

The performance was divided into two parts (both of them were broadcast by TVP). The first consisted mainly of songs from David Gilmour’s last solo albums – the most recent ‘Rattle That Lock’ (including the title song, ‘Faces of Stone’ or ‘A Boat Lies Waiting’) and the previous ‘On an Island’ (‘The Blue’), with some immortal hits from Pink Floyd’s repertoire interleaved between them (‘Money’, ‘High Hopes’). After the break, the artist played many more Pink Floyd songs, such as the legendary ‘One of These Days’, the stirring peformance of ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’, which was originally dedicated to the deceased band member – guitarist Syd Barrett, the excellent dynamic ‘Run like Hell’ from ‘The Wall’, or the final ‘Time’.

And, last but not least, ‘Comfortably Numb’ with a truly cosmic guitar solo, which was played by Gilmour in Wroclaw in an almost exemplary manner (fans are very demanding in this respect), with the luminous sound that has been the guitarist’s signature feature for years. On Saturday, he played his favourite Fender guitars, an electrical lap steel guitar and an acoustic guitar.

The support act for Gilmour’s concert in Wroclaw was Leszek Możdżer – at the beginning, he warmed the audience up for several minutes, and then he accompanied Gilmour on stage in the jazz-flavoured song ‘The Girl in a Yellow Dress" from ‘Rattle That Lock’.

Magdalena Talik

photo: Janusz Krzeszowski