LIVE IN GDAńSK

Good things is that this gig persuaded me that Pink Floyd without Waters can be still perfect. 1)there was already Pulse and Sound of Thunder which persuaded me, but 2)there's a lot of old material from Pink Floyd times and, to be honest, Gilmour's vocal was much better, 3)Even how many, so many (60, 62? 1946, depends on how you take this album. Recorded, I think in 2006, but released two years lated) years old, D. G. can sing well (don't take me bad, his best years are just gone, but still does the job on perfect level)) 4)This blend of old songs and Gilmour's new ones is great. But in fact I never heard DG's solo performance before, only these PF tours. Bad thing is that it's last gig of "the quiet" Floyd, Rick Wright. (disputable argument about this quietness)

"First DSotM suite ("Breathe", "Time" and "B reprise") is one of the best performances I've ever heard (of these tracks, I'm also glad that they refused to include "On the Run", my personal non-favourite one). "Castellorizon" serves more like intro to next track, which is nothing less than full grown track "On an Island", which I dare to describe as his best new track. I'm not blindfolded old school PF fan, I know this is something new. But as DG was important part of PF back in past times of creativity, something from it is to be see (hear) here too. But it's different.

I'm aware it's kinda unfair to compare these new ones to old PF songs, so I know I have to try to be honest to them. Of course that first track I heard here was "Time" and then "Echoes", but it's about 50/50. Depending on what version you own. DG's music is suprisingly composed from a lot of longer songs, maybe 5 minutes average length. "Take a Breath's lyrics are not so important, they're here to cover long guitar solo in the end. Some songs given to us are calm ones, presenting David's unique voice, little bit raspy (just little, but it's well known fact, this voice he had even back in 70s, so time did nothing bad to him, just hairs are short and white).

But comparing this performance of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond to older ones (live) is not fair fight. 6:22-6:46, the way how he play the guitar (reminds me one of studio interview's in Live at Pompeii, where he does the same thing to "Time" song, not ordinary tabs, he adds something new, some playfulness to it, maybe called by some guitar virtuosity, or improvisation. Whatever the correct name for it is, I admire it.

"Astronomy Domine" is my favourite one from first years of PF. This is decent performance of what I like most on Ummagumma's live version. "Fat Old Sun" is another old track which (to my bad) I didn't know. Mistake fixed, it's really good track, played very well, but it may be by track itself. You can clearly divide old PF tracks from newer ones. This just sounds like relic from the past.

"Echoes" is just wonderful. Even not beating masterpiecy dead gig in Pompeii (by the way, what does?), it's very refined version. I was always quite fond of this song, these lyrics, humming in my amateurish way ""No one flies around the sun"", enjoying this all. One of the best moments in rock history, he did impossible. Improved his guitar style, forgot about his age and did his best. Yes, he improved, even I though it's not possible to do better job than he already done. In fact, this is comparable with Italian trip back in 70s. Atmosphere's maybe not the same (death gig, petrified audience everywhere), but soloing here is better (see how one's opinion can change when song is slowly getting to the end). I must say that middle part, electronic work little bit disappoints me, not so good as on live/studio version. It's just not what I expected. Not bad, it's really good, but not perfect. It doesn't matter much, the rest is perfect. Other Rick Wright's work on this album is better, don't worry. When guitar came again, it takes place. Also the difference here is that guitar sound is one that is most clearly to hear, probably because they know it will catch attention. To say something positive avout keyboards again, last minute's duet of electric g. and k. is so tender, so soft and appealing, that you can easily imagine them almost having their eyes closed and playing by memory.

As conclusion, philosophical depths of "Wish You Were Here" are endless. "Comfortambly Numb"'s ending guitar solo seems like is longer than before. With same quality. It's hard to review live versions (before albums ones), but I want to give my special thoughts about "A Great Day For Freedom", with its free melody, optimistic lyrics and feeling of one period ending, second coming.

Five stars for maybe the best PF concert. Even without most of PF.