Pink Floyd frontman and bassist Roger Waters says he “loved” the group’s reunion at Live 8.
Waters would speak fondly and often of what would be the final show from the classic line-up, which also featured David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright. Their twenty-minute set at the charity event in 2005 went down well with fans, and even Waters was pleased with how he and his ex-bandmates had performed. Speaking to Rocky Mountain News in 2008 about the performance, Waters would call it “quite extraordinary” that the band got back together and played as well as they did. The bassist, who would leave Pink Floyd in 1985 and return just for the twenty-minute Live 8 show, called it a “fantastic” occasion. Though there was talk of future performances, this never came to be.
Waters said: “I don’t think you can generalise about it. It’s hard for bands. Often half of them are dead. I’m not really keen on the reunion when there’s only one bloke left standing. However if everybody’s alive and enthusiastic about doing it I think they’re great. The Live 8 thing was quite extraordinary.
“Even at our advanced years we all still seemed to be able to play a bit and sing. I thought those songs we did sounded great. It was very moving for me personally to hear those four musical voices joined together again onstage. And equally very moving to experience the enormous waves of love that were coming off the field at us. It was just fantastic. I loved it.”
The performance was a smash hit with promoters too, who believed there could be a lucrative deal that would tempt Pink Floyd into touring properly. This tour never came to be, but Waters claimed there was a $250million offer on the table for the four-piece.
Speaking to Word Magazine, Waters shared he was open to reuniting with the band, though this stance may have changed since Live 8. He said: “Oh it was terrific. I really loved it. I hope we do it again. It was more than good.
“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.” No such plan came to be and the band has yet to perform since their twenty-minute set at Live 8.
But Waters says it would need to be another “good reason” to get back together if they were to take to the stage. He added: “A good reason. I don’t know. Something with a political or charitable connection.
“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.”
Waters did not reveal why the offer was turned down but it may have something to do with the lack of a charitable angle associated with the performance. The bassist has toured as a solo artist in the years since Pink Floyd’s Live 8 reunion, as has Gilmour.
