As David Gilmour talked about his new solo album “Luck and Strange” recently, the Pink Floyd singer-guitarist described the work as his best since he and his Pink Floyd bandmates recorded “Dark Side of the Moon,” one of the most legendary albums in rock, in 1973.
That’s a bold statement, obviously. But as Gilmour arrived at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood for the first of four shows he’ll play in Southern California, and only nine in the United States, it was easy to see and hear how seamlessly his present work connects with his past. (Gilmour plays the Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 29-31.)
How could it not, given the unique sound Gilmour coaxes from his guitars? If you know Pink Floyd, you know the sound of Gilmour’s signature soloing, bending notes to pull emotions from the melody, playing fewer notes while creating more mood.
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On Friday, in a show that spread 24 songs over three hours including an intermission, Gilmour and his excellent nine-piece band, played all nine songs on the standard release of “Luck and Strange,” a dozen from across the Pink Floyd catalog, and a trio from his previous solo album “Rattle That Lock,” which he featured the last time he played Southern California in 2016.
The instrumental “5 A.M.” from that latter album opened the night, Gilmour drenched in a single red spotlight, keyboardist Greg Phillanganes in another. “Black Cat,” a second instrumental off the new record followed, and slowly the moods of the night revealed themselves: quiet yet powerful, calm but moving, beautiful always.
The title track of “Luck and Strange” brought the entire band into play, its slow bluesy groove beneath Gilmour’s first vocals of the night. At 78, his voice is strong and clear. Like many of the songs in the night’s two sets, the end of the lyrics signaled Gilmour’s shift into a long instrumental runout of guitar soloing.
It’s not fair, of course, to compare the popularity of “Dark Side of the Moon,” “The Wall,” “Wish You Were Here,” or any other Pink Floyd album to that of Gilmour’s solo work. That band was made up of four individuals – singer-bassist Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason, the late keyboardist Richard Wright and Gilmour (who replaced co-founder Syd Barrett in 1967) – and the whole of those parts can only be greater than the individual players.
Add to that the greater familiarity of fans with the classic songs and albums, and you get the huge cheers that greeted the first Pink Floyd song of the night, “Breathe (In the Air),” which flowed in its dreamy melodies into the tick-tocking clocks that open “Time,” an even bigger fan favorite, and through that back to “Breathe (Reprise).”
With those three pieces, all of which come from “Dark Side of the Moon,” the pattern for the rest of the show was set, mixing band with solo, new with old until everything felt of a piece.
Other highlights of the first set included “Fat Old Sun,” the oldest song in the show, reaching back to the 1970 album “Atom Heart Mother.” It opened with a gentle country folk feeling, Gilmour on a pedal steel guitar, before building up into the harder rocking version into which Pink Floyd and Gilmour transformed it for live performances.
The arrival of “Wish You Were Here,” an even more beloved Pink Floyd song than “Time,” drew most in the arena to their feet at the opening acoustic guitar melody played by guitarist Ben Worsley, the cheers growing even louder when Gilmour’s acoustic guitar and vocals joined the mix. By the time it reached its chorus – “How I wish, how I wish you were here” – most in the crowd were singing loudly along.
Gilmour returned to the new album for a pair of songs that feature his daughter Romany Gilmour. The instrumental “Vita Brevis” saw her and backing vocalist Hattie Webb playing harps of different sizes. “Between Two Points,” as it is on the album, is her solo vocal, and a lovely cover of the Montgolfier Brothers’ original.
“High Hopes,” one of four tracks from the 1994 Pink Floyd album “The Division Bell” closed the first set, a church bell chiming a rhythm behind a simple piano leading to a kind of pastoral feeling gone surreal thanks to the accompanying visuals, and ending with a few dozen large white balls released to bounce through the arena.
The second set opened with Pink Floyd’s “Sorrow,” a big, meaty rock number accentuated (like all of the songs in the show) by the production design of Marc Brickman, who has created visual spectacles with lights, fog and visuals for Pink Floyd for decades. (In addition to many other musical clients, Brickman is the guy who designed the current lighting on the Empire State Building that allows it to change patterns and colors from night to night.)
Brickman’s visuals were subtly stunning throughout the performance, at times creating single-colored clouds that filled the screens and space above the stage, at other times scores of pinpoint rainbow beams that shifted colors and density to create an almost pastel waterfall of hues that fell upon the musicians. And, here and there throughout the second set, green and blue and white lasers shot across the arena like they have for years at Pink Floyd shows.
Other highlights of the second set included “The Piper’s Call,” a new song with a title that harks back to an old Pink Floyd album, which featured a Romany and David Gilmour duet on vocals, which ended with David Gilmour giving a small, proud smile at his daughter’s work.
“The Great Gig in the Sky” was the final number from “Dark Side of the Moon,” and in its current arrangement, it was particularly lovely. Unlike the album where session singer Clare Torry wailed wordless vocals over keyboardist Richard Wright’s music, here it was done with David Gilmour on pedal steel, backing vocalist Louise Marshall also playing piano, and Romany Gilmour, and Hattie and Charlotte Webb joining her in a gorgeous chorus of sound.
A trio of “Luck and Strange” songs – “Dark and Velvet Nights,” “Sings,” and “Scattered” – closed out the set, leaving one last Pink Floyd classic to wrap it all up.
“Comfortably Numb,” the only song off Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in the show, arrived as the encore. Its slow, rolling groove had the crowd on its feet once more, another cathartic singalong to what other than “Wish You Were Here” was the biggest hit played all night. “I have become comfortably numb,” everyone sang as the chorus hit, lasers ricocheted back and forth across the arena, and the evening floated to its finish.
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