David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii (various formats) - Sept 29th

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A really enjoyable concert, well filmed and without all the hyper-speed editing that affects a lot of concert discs. I really enjoyed the music mix, not a noticeable use of the surround field for the most part, but very immersive and the instrumentation is well focussed. As a bonus there is a nice discrete surround mix for the music for the closing titles. Highly recommended and at a bargain price of £32 from Amazon Italy for the four disc set. :banana::banana::banana:
 
To put to rest (in my mind) any bass complaints: Just listening to ‘Time’ from the South American set on the bonus blu ray. Volume is set at a nominal level of 85db or thereabouts. When the low sustained bass notes hit during this song, I’m getting readings peaking at 108db. And all the while, none of it comes across as fatiguing. Man, this thing sounds great!
 
If your in the UK and haven’t decided on this yet BBC2 have an hour long highlights show on Thursday 23rd November at 23.15.
 
This blu ray is outstanding. The audio is so clean and crisp and the video is superior to many other concert videos. IMHO Faces of Stone is one of the best cuts on the disc. Nice mix of classic Floyd and Rattle that Lock tunes. Crank it up and let it fly, this was made to play as loud as you can handle it!
 
Gilmour Q&A posted today on Facebook:

Q: Dear David, please try to describe the vibe of the place. It is something mystically for you there? A kind of a connection with the past and the soul of a sleepy volcano?
Tudor Runcanu (via Facebook)
A: The connections with the past are powerful at Pompeii. You feel that you are walking in the footsteps of the people who came to entertain and be entertained so many years ago. There are other places in Italy, Greece, Turkey and the Middle East where you have this feeling, but nowhere do you feel closer to it than in Pompeii.

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Q. Your solo on In Any Tongue that particular night was epic. I saw you at Madison square garden on that tour and thought your guitar playing was phenomenal and better than ever. Does it require more practice or get harder to stay creative as one gets older?
John Simonds (via Facebook)

A. I don’t really practice. The process of making an album and rehearsing for a tour is all the practice that I do. I like a guitar solo to have a recognisable start to get both myself and the audience into the groove and, depending on how creative and fluent I am feeling on any one night, that will then dictate how free I feel to wander off into new territory.

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Q. Can you offer a little insight into what you're thinking or looking for when building a set list for a show?
Scott Wallen (via Facebook)

A. There are many things to take into account when working on a setlist. You want the rhythms and the keys not to be too similar, you must consider the meanings of the songs as they follow one another, you need to balance the newer songs that people know less well against the old favourites and you need to build towards a climax at the end. It is very tricky to get it right and a lot of thought goes into it. I hope that you approved.

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Q. Mr. Glimour. Loved the DVD. Just a quick gear question I am a bit of a guitar nerd.) We all know about the iconic Black Strat, but I was wondering about that well worn Tele. I have heard there is a vintage Broadcaster pickup in the bridge, but is the guitar wired as a Broadcaster or as a straight up Tele? 🤔 Cheers!
Edward Blakemore (via Facebook)

A. The old Tele that I call The Workmate started out, before I had it, as an Esquire. It had had a neck pick-up added before I had it which I later changed for a Strat neck pick-up.
The bridge pick-up is the one that was on it when I got it, not sure quite what it is and I confess that I don’t know what the difference between a Broadcaster’s and a Tele’s wiring is.

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Q. How strong was the urge to take your shirt off like in 1972?
Ed Hydock (via Facebook)

A. I had a glance at myself in the bathroom mirror and thought ‘Nah'.

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Q. Did you play with any of the guitars you used in the first Pompeii in 1971?
@telecasttro (via Instagram)

A. Yes, I played the Black Strat at both.

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Q. What did you do before you went on stage that night? Do you have any rituals?
@raygultomWhat (via Instagram)

A. I don’t have any rituals, just a few vocal warm up exercises.

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Q. Hi David, I'm from Iran. You are my love. Why do not you sing Echoes in Italy?
@hadiravanshad24 (via Instagram)

A. Echoes for me is so much about the interplay between Rick and myself that after he died in 2008 I decided not to play it any more.

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Q. Which one do you think was best. The original or the revisit.....?
@sjd0105 (via Twitter)

A. It’s impossible to compare the results of the two performances. They are so different. Back in 1971 we were making a film mostly in daylight. It involved doing a performance of a song, often several times, until the director was satisfied that he had all the shots he needed – a lot of time was spent sitting around doing nothing.
Also, there was no audience.
In 2016 we were playing live at night, playing as well as we could to a lovely enthusiastic audience. The atmosphere was very different. 2016 was much more enjoyable.

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Q. If you could whisper some advice to your younger self in Pompeii, based on all your experiences between the two Pompeii gigs, what would it be?
@musicandwords (via Twitter)

A. Keep your shirt on…

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Q. Does this bookend a career? Or are there plans for a new album or future tour?
@nicksthatoneguy (via Twitter)

A. I have no immediate plans for an album or a tour, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve retired.
 
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