Bassist Roger Waters doesn’t think David Gilmour understands how big a deal Pink Floyd‘s Live 8 reunion was.
The 2005 performance would see the classic line-up of Waters, Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright perform together for a final time. Despite it taking some effort to convince the four to reunite, the show was a massive success and remains a highly regarded moment in the band’s history. But it doesn’t seem to have had that much impact on guitarist Gilmour, with Waters suggesting his ex-bandmate “doesn’t get” how massive the performance was. The bassist, who left Pink Floyd in 1985, suggested Gilmour had made some “strange comments” after the show which lessened the impact of the performance and of the “very special thing” the four accomplished together. Waters would speak positively of the show often in interviews given after the Live 8 event.
In an interview with Uncut Magazine from 2007, Waters said: “No, of course not. I was sort of controlling the whole thing without doing anything. It was a bit like walking on rice paper. I think it was a bit of a worry to him.
“I might be wrong, but he came up with some strange comments after Live 8, one of which was ‘I don’t know what the big fuss is about. It would have been just the same whether Roger was there or not’. That illustrated for me that maybe he doesn’t quite get how important the symbiosis between the four of us was during ‘the golden years’ of the band.
“We were great together. We all made a contribution, but it was the combination of the four separate talents. It was a very, very special thing.” Despite Gilmour’s alleged dislike of the performance, Waters was full of praise for his former bandmates, and particularly the guitarist’s singing.
Waters would call Gilmour’s work during the twenty-minute show a “beautiful” moment. Asked of how he felt about the performance, which would be the final time the four-piece ever performed together, Waters said he was “pleased” and that his former bandmates were remarkable.
He said: “Just pleased. I just felt pleasure, playing the music, and hearing Rick playing his great keyboard parts which of course we know and love so much from the records. It felt good. I thought Nick played great. I thought everybody played great. Dave sang beautifully. It was a great feeling.”
Despite the “great feeling” around the band at the time, they ultimately rejected a lucrative touring offer, though Waters did not rule out reuniting in future. He said: “If some other opportunity arose, I could even imagine us doing The Dark Side of the Moon again – you know, if there was a special occasion. It would be good to hear it again. Live 8 was so great.
“The day they announced the Pink Floyd were to play Live 8, I went out to dinner with a friend and an offer arrived – literally bang on the dinner table – for the four of us, the Pink Floyd, to tour again. An offer of $250 million. Guaranteed.”
Gilmour has, more recently, ruled out ever reforming Pink Floyd. He told The Telegraph there is “no possible way” he would reform Pink Floyd, with or without Waters.
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Roger is correct, insofar as fans would flip to see the 3 lads perform together again. But Gilmour is so angry with him that I don’t suppose it’s going to happen in this lifetime.
Prior to this, Gilmour had made many offers for Waters to join them. Each time Roger said eff off. You could tell how much fun Roger had that day. If he were honest with himself, he would admit his mistake. Not sure he is one to admit he’s wrong
Gilmour has never made any offers to for Waters to rejoin Floyd permanently. He claims they reached out during the last tour for Roger to join them during Dark Side only, and the idea offended him (joining for part of the performance).
On the PULSE video they thanked Roger for his words, which bolstered the idea that ALL he did was write lyrics – something many of the fans of the posthumous version of the band like to claim to this day. Nevermind that on Dark Side he wrote Time, Money & Brain Damage / Eclipse. Yes, I’m aware Time is credited to the band – this must have been a more generous Rog. Because his demo contains the verse & chorus music and the words. By any modern metric that’s HIS song. Nick adding a roto tom solo isn’t considered “writing”. Neither are guitar solos generally; something added to a song after it’s written using the songs original melody wouldn’t generally garner a credit.
It was actually Waters who reportedly made what he called an “Olive branch” offer to fully reunite I believe around the end of his Wall tour. According to Waters, he met with Dave directly and told him they could use the session players of his choice, and that Roger would even play some of the stuff without him if Dave wanted. Dave said no.
What they SHOULD have done was one last tour. Honestly, if no Rick was the problem (suddenly it’s not when Dave wants to release horrible music) there’s a simple solution – call it Mason, Gilmour & Waters. The thing would have sold out anyway. They could have done this AND made an obscene amount of money. Then, a week after the tour is done they hold a press conference announcing all the charities that literally EVERY cent is going to. Boom. Mic drop and a legendary way to end a band IMO.