The live performance David Gilmour was terrified of playing: “Momentous”
Most seasoned musicians don’t usually have to worry about getting cold feet—that’s something reserved for those still finding their place onstage. Once you’ve played in front of stadium-sized crowds, strapping on a guitar and delivering your best set tends to become second nature. However, even David Gilmour, who had mastered his craft by the 1980s, admitted that playing Wembley Stadium during Live Aid left him shaking with nerves before he could even touch his guitar.
Then again, it’s not like Gilmour hadn’t been put through his paces in front of an audience before. It must have been surreal having to “stand in” for Syd Barrett during Pink Floyd’s early years, and despite The Wall being entirely Roger Waters’s vision, the idea of Gilmour getting on top of the white wall to play ‘Comfortably Numb’ isn’t going to be easy for anyone with a fear of heights.
But that’s the key to Pink Floyd: it’s all about the visuals that aren’t the band members. Regardless of how many effects they put into their later shows, none of them had the same magnetic stage presence as Freddie Mercury, so how were any of them expected to work out at Live Aid?
While Waters did arrive on the festival grounds at Wembley for the broadcast, he would not be performing, often roaming around backstage in support of Bob Geldolf’s cause. Gilmour was already slated to play alongside Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry. Although it seems like a strange pairing, you have to remember what Gilmour had been doing on Floyd’s side for years.
Beyond being the group’s de facto frontman after Waters’s departure, Gilmour was responsible for bringing some of the biggest names in art pop to the mainstream, becoming friends with luminaries like Ferry and helping boost Kate Bush’s career. That energy doesn’t always translate to the live stage, especially one in broad daylight that is being internationally broadcast around the world.
Looking back on the day, Gilmour remembered being beside himself with anxiety before going on, saying, “[It was] terrifying, on stage with Bryan Ferry. Shoved you on, you had 17 minutes to do your bit. My guitar didn’t work, and I was just looking at amplifiers. By the time I fiddled around and got it working it was all over, really. The day itself was momentous.”
Then again, that wasn’t the kind of stage Gilmour was made for. If you look at the stage props used during the shows on Delicate Sound of Thunder, for instance, bringing in everything from the floating pig to the massive light shows was the opposite of what he was going for when working with Ferry.
Still, it wasn’t about Gilmour playing the guitar solo to end all guitar solos or anything. It was about raising money for a worthy cause, and even if Queen stole the show for their 20-minute performance, Gilmour could count himself as one of the few rock legends banding together to change the world through their music.
