Revisit Richard Wright’s final performance with Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd’s triumphant performance at Live 8 was a heroic way for the band to bow out on the grandest stage in front of a crowd of millions. Contrary to common belief, it wasn’t their final show, and Richard Wright played with Pink Floyd one more time before his tragic death in 2008.
Wright was 65 years old when he sadly passed after a battle with lung cancer. Until the end, he continued to work, and in the months before his death, Wright was working on a solo album made up of instrumental pieces, which later featured on Pink Floyd’s 2014 album, The Endless River.
Eight days after Wright’s death, his Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour paid a poignant tribute to his late friend and performed ‘Remember A Day’ on Later Live… With Jools Holland. The original version of the track from A Saucerful of Secrets was written and sung by Wright.
Following the news of his death, drummer Nick Mason said: “Losing Rick is like losing a family member – in a fairly dysfunctional family. He’s been in my life for 45 years, longer than my children and longer than my wife. It brings one’s own mortality closer. I’ll remember Rick with great affection. He was absolutely the non-contentious member of the band and probably suffered for it. I wouldn’t say he was easy-going, but he certainly never pushed to any aggravation. It made life a lot easier.”
Meanwhile, Roger Waters said the news of Wright’s death “came suddenly and shockingly”. On a positive note, he added: “I am very grateful for the opportunity that Live 8 afforded me to engage with him, & David & Nick that one last time. I wish there had been more.”
Following the resounding success of Live 8, Wright went onto a tour with Gilmour for the latter’s album, On An Island. However, the pair weren’t done with Pink Floyd yet and took to the stage for the last time in 2007 at the Barbican Centre in London for a Syd Barrett tribute concert.
Unfortunately, Waters didn’t play with the band for Wright’s final concert, but he still played a part in the evening’s proceedings and performed his solo song, ‘Flickering Flame’. Andy Bell from Oasis deputised on bass for Pink Floyd.
Other contributors to the concert included Damon Albarn, Robyn Hitchcock, Martha Wainwright, Kate McGarrigle and Chrissie Hynde. The crowd were angered by Waters’ absence from Pink Floyd’s performance and his refusal to participate in the grand finale rendition of ‘Bike’.
Towards the end of the evening, Gilmour, Mason and Wright came together to play ‘Arnold Layne’, the first time that incarnation of Pink Floyd had shared the stage since 1994. Tragically, it would be the last time too.
Nobody in the band could foresee it being the final time they would stand next to Wright at a concert, as the keyboardist was operating at full health. However, less than 18 months later, he was sadly no longer with us, and the performance below of ‘Arnold Layne’ is the last time he played with his beloved bandmates.
