June 30, 1990
Knebworth Park,
Knebworth, England
Welcome to the month of Pink Floyd, where I’ll be celebrating
the 30-day countdown until the release of the Early Years box set. Technically,
it’s 31 days, but I’ll be celebrating the 31st day differently…
maybe. I’m bad at commitment.
The plan is to look at 30 random concerts from Pink Floyd
history, even going past the content covered in the Early Years.
It’s the only Pink Floyd concert from 1990, it’s the Knebworth
Park Festival from June 30, 1990.
Between September 9, 1987 and July 18, 1989, Pink Floyd were
in their A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour. It was the first tour since the Wall
and the first tour without Waters. It took Gilmour and his band throughout the
world, going to new places and using brand new equipment that would make the stage
theatrics better than ever. It was a big concert, as well, going through 196
concerts split between 7 “legs”.
And then the tour ended, but a year later Pink Floyd showed
up as the last act during the Knebworth Festeival. So a little background on
that.
The Knebworth festival is a sometimes annual “open air” rock,
er, festival, that benefited charity. Starting in 1974, people like The Rolling
Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Lynyrd Skynyrd performed. Pink Floyd played at the
festival in 1975 as part of their Wish You Were Here tour, and even had Roy
Harper on Have a Cigar. But this is 1990, and the concert was actually part of
the Silver Clef Award Winners. It was a hefty lineup, with Paul McCartney,
Plant / Page, Tears for Fears, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Phil Collins WITH
Genesis, and Pink Floyd. Apparently, Gilmour paid for the $60,000 firework
finale himself.
Important to note that Clare Torry joined Floyd again for
this. That makes me happy.
This concert was also filmed! BUT I CAN’T TALK ABOUT THAT,
THAT’S NOT A BOOTLEG. At least it’s soundboard quality.
The setlist was a little different from the tours, and we
start off with Shine On You Crazy
Diamond (Parts I – V). With special guest Candy Dulfer doing some saxophone
work. Nothing is better than live sax from a person whose Wikipedia page
describes them as “smooth jazz, funk alto saxophonist.” That just guarantees smooth
sailing.
You don’t know how good it is to hear soundboard Floyd. It just
sounds so much nicer to the ears. The intro is just beautifully done. In fact,
everything is done just right, especially Gilmour on guitar. This is the nicest
I’ve heard this song live in a while.
And how about those backing vocals? I can finally talk about
pre-1994 vocals. I feel these are far superior than 1994. If I wasn’t afraid of
backlash, I would even say they’re better than the original Dark Side’s tours’.
But I said it anyway. That sax comes in clear, too, and when that funky bass
line comes in, oh my god is it something special. They knew what they were
doing. It ends way too early because I want more sax.
The Great Gig in the
Sky is next because Gilmour just wanted you to melt in your seat from the
beautiful noises coming from the stage. Joining in on the backing vocals is
Clare Torry, the original vocalist for this song. I’ll be honest, the Momentary
Lapse of Reason produced better versions of this song in terms of vocals
(because they just SCREAMED and Jesus) Torry’s vocals still sent shivers down
my spine. She’s more improvised than the regular 87-89 tour, so it adds a nice
spin to the song.
Gilmour does a weird noise and says good evening, and does a
quick introduction before jumping right into Wish You Were Here. The acoustics are a little flat, but this is
probably the best Gilmour sounded on this song since the last time he played this
with Waters in 1977. All the way from the quieter parts to the singing with the
guitar to harmonizing with one of his backing vocalists (could be Renwick,
could be Pratt). I think it ends a little short, so no real good ending solo,
but it’s still great.
Don’t think you’re getting away from A Momentary Lapse of
Reason, here comes Sorrow. Clare
Torry was a nice touch as part of this song, and the rest was Sorrow at its
finest, but also at its most predictable. Nothing to note here.
Money, however,
is 11 minutes long, with a neat sounding organ and the promise of Candy coming
back to sax us up. And guess what? She’s amazing. And that transition to the
guitar solo is Gilmour at his finest. The post-solo guitar diddle is something
I haven’t heard from Gilmour yet. And because it’s 11 minutes, it’s extended
guitar sections, Torry sections, and even more guitar sections. Needs more
Wright sections. All around, best version of Money you’ll get from a lot of
Pink Floyd’s money performances.
Comfortably Numb
was surprisingly synth heavy, in a way only the late 80’s could produce. It
wasn’t new wave synth, but it was definitely relying on that synth a little too
much and not going with guitar. But once the outro guitar solo hits, it lasts a
long time and everything feels right again. If you’re not used to Comfortably
Numb in the post-Waters era, Waters’ vocals are replaced with two of (session)
band members singing together.
Gilmour and his Floyd end the entire night with Run Like Hell, a usual encore to any of
his shows. It’s pretty much the same as any of his Run Like Hells, but his
vocals are much better than even the stuff from 94.
I’d definitely recommend this to anyone. It’s a greatest hits
performance in the late Floyd fashion, without the extras that would turn off a
casual listener. The sound is beyond excellent and the playing is the same.
But really, thank god for a recording with a perfect mix of
instruments.
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