If you’ll be attending any of David Gilmour’s upcoming Albert Hall gigs this October be prepared for the absence of more than a few crowd-pleasing staples.
Speaking to Mojo, Gilmour discussed his upcoming mini-tour – effectively a Royal Albert Hall, London residency spanning October 9th through to 15th – and outlined some prominent songs from the Pink Floyd back catalogue that have fallen out of favour with the guitar-playing great.
Outlining his changing attitudes and moods, Gilmour picked out a number of tracks that for various reasons won’t be part of his set. “There are songs from the past that I no longer feel comfortable singing,” Gilmour explained to the magazine. “I love Run Like Hell [a track from 1982’s The Wall]. I loved the music I created for it, but all that ‘You’d better run, run, run…’ I now find that all rather, I don’t know… a bit terrifying and violent.”
Others on the (s)hitlist are more surprising.
“Another Brick In The Wall is another one I shan’t be doing,” Gilmour confirmed. “I don’t think I’ve done that with my own band, but I certainly did it in the post-Roger Pink Floyd, against my better judgement.” It’s a decision that’s sure to be a disappointment to fans eager to see Gilmour let loose with that solo.
Gilmour has in more recent times grown increasingly detached from The Wall, an album which ex-bandmate Roger Waters has increasingly taken as his own, forging multiple solo tours and side projects around its concept, music and imagery.
In 2021 Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson took to Twitter to describe Waters as a “Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy megalomaniac.” Something backed up by Gilmour himself immediately afterwards. “Every word demonstrably true,” he Tweeted.
“That tweet was boiling up,” Gilmour tells Mojo. “It had to come out – and I have no regrets about it. No regrets whatsoever.”
Elsewhere Gilmour says he finds talk of Walters “wearisome”. “Do you know what decade of my life I was in when Roger left our pop group? My thirties. I am now 78,” he opines. “Where’s the relevance?”
And it’s not just The Wall that’s coming under fire… “The same with Money. I won’t be doing that,” says Gilmour.
However there is some good news buried in there as Gilmour highlights songs that he still feels adequate connection with in 2024 and will be playing out live.
“I’m going to be sticking with the ones that are essentially my music, and I feel some ownership of. Comfortably Numb, Wish You Were Here, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, maybe,” he teases.
