Pink Floyd at Live8
3rd July, 2005
Pink Floyd have appeared on stage at the Live8 Hyde Park concert last night, 24 years after their last performance with the classic David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason line-up. During their performance, Floyd played "Speak to Me/Breathe", "Money", "Comfortably Numb" and "Wish You Were Here," and were in fine form considering the extended hiatus from the stage.
The Live8 event itself appears to have been particularly successful having attracted over 200,000 people in London, 1 million people in Philadelphia, and an estimated 3 billion people watching the various concerts throughout the world. The concerts are to lead to protests in Scotland, when the leaders of the G8 countries meet on Tuesday, with the hope of ending world poverty. For more information on the Make Poverty History campaign see http://www.makepovertyhistory.org.
The Floyd, who were the penultimate act, with Sir Paul McCartney and George Michael closing, appeared to be enjoying themselves throughout the performance, and Roger Waters even cracked a smile or two. The hatchet looks like it might finally have been buried as far as the band members are concerned, with their performance ending in a hug between Waters and Gilmour.
Waters and Gilmour had barely spoken to each other for over 18 years, after a legal battle over the use of the "Pink Floyd" name, but they have now ended the feud along with jokes and reminiscing in old times. Nick Mason commented that "the same old rehearsal jokes have come up again" and that they are all getting along again.
In an earlier interview for the BBC, Nick Mason was asked whether Live8 was a turning for the band and the beginning of a new era for Pink Floyd, to which he replied that he did not know and that it "wasn't intended to be", but he did not say that the Floyd would not be performing again after Live8.