The song David Gilmour refused to perform at Live 8
In 1985, there was Live Aid. In 2005, there was Live 8. Both were on a mission to use music to do charitable good, with Bob Geldof calling in the biggest names in the industry for some landmark performances. In the ‘80s, there was Queen, David Bowie, The Who and more. But in the 2000s, they did the impossible. They got Pink Floyd back together – but not to play their biggest hit.
The band had ended badly in the 1980s as Roger Waters ventured off on his own for solo efforts and refused to come back. It ended so badly, in fact, that it landed them in court, in a legal battle over the demise of the group and the split of royalties.
In the years that followed, the band’s two leaders, Waters and David Gilmour, were so distant that when Geldof came calling about a possible reunition, Waters needed to ask him for his old bandmate’s phone number. It had been decades since they last performed together and even years since they’d last spoken. But as the Live Aid creator set about to make a secondary event, the potential to be part of a historic night was too big to miss. So, peace was brokered between the two; Waters picked up the phone, and days later, they sat in front of one another, having their first conversation in years.
“The moment was bigger than those bad feelings,” David Gilmour told the Associated Press ahead of the event. Live 8 was trying to raise money and awareness of poverty, debt and the AIDS crisis in developing counties, hoping to have the same impact as the original 1980s event did. For the musicians, no fallouts or fights were bigger than supporting the cause. “Any squabbles Roger and the band have had in the past are so petty in this context,” Gilmour continued, “And if reforming for this concert will help focus attention, then it’s going to be worthwhile.”
So on July 2nd, 2005, Waters and Gilmour took to the stage in Hyde Park together for the first time in 24 years, along with Nick Mason and Richard Wright to complete the classic-era lineup. It was a comeback for the ages, but after so long, they were concerned about the quality.
“It’s sort of assumed that we’ll all remember how they go,” Mason admitted as they returned to their songs years on. Everyone had been trying to keep it together and not fight in rehearsals, but it was the issue of the setlist that boiled the tensions over.
Gilmour outright and steadfastly refused to play ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. He thought it’s anti-authoritarian message was inappropriate for the moment, but also, he simply wasn’t fussed on the track. “I don’t like it much. It’s all right but not part of the great emotional oeuvre,” he said.
The old rivalry between Waters and Gilmour reared its head in the decision-making process. “The songs that Roger wanted were not the ones I thought we should do. The arrangements of the songs were not the way Roger wanted to do them. But I kind of insisted,” Gilmour said, owning up to his bossy nature.
He stuck to his refusal to play ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. Instead, their short, sharp 20-minute set featured ‘Breathe’, ‘Money’, ‘Wish You Were Here’ and a final, moving rendition of ‘Comfortably Numb’. While plenty of fans will have missed the hit, beggars can’t be choosers when they were already lucky enough to be witnessing a reunion nobody thought would happen.
