David Gilmour Sets First Pompeii Shows Since Pink Floyd’s Concert Film
Guitarist to perform in front of audience – as opposed to empty amphitheater – in long-awaited return to Roman city
David Gilmour
David Gilmour will perform in the Roman town of Pompeii ”“ the site of Pink Floyd‘s classic Live in Pompeii concert film ”“ for the first time in 45 years this July, Italy’s culture minister Dario Franceschini announced Wednesday. “Agreement reached. After 45 years, David Gilmour will play again at Pompeii on 7 and 8 July,” Franceschini tweeted.
Unlike that Live at Pompeii concert, where Pink Floyd performed Meddle-era tracks inside the Amphitheater of Pompeii without an audience, Gilmour’s concerts will take place at the nearby Roman Amphitheatre (with a crowd of approximately 2,000) and not the same venue where Live at Pompeii was filmed, a Pompeii spokesman told Reuters. The set list will also likely gravitate towards Gilmour’s latest solo LP Rattle That Lock. Days before the Pompeii shows, the guitarist will play another 1st century amphitheater in Verona, Italy.
The Amphitheater of Pompeii resided under ash for nearly 1,600 years following the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano in 79 A.D. Pink Floyd spent four days in October 1971 recording in the empty amphitheater for the Adrian Maben film, which was later re-released in 1974 with additional studio footage of the band working on Dark Side of the Moon.
On March 24th and 25th, Gilmour launches a brief U.S. tour with a pair of shows at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl followed by a concert at the city’s the Forum; on Gilmour’s three-city tour of the U.S., he’ll also play two venues in Chicago (Auditorium Theatre, United Center) and New York (Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden).
