Roger Waters later this year will be celebrating “The Wall’s” legacy with his 30th anniversary tour. It will update what already was one of history’s greatest stage shows into a rock spectacle for the 21st century. However, David Gilmour, who furnished the soaring solos, riffs and shared vocals on the songs “Another Brick in the Wall,” “Run Like Hell” and “Comfortably Numb” won’t be joining the tour. According to Waters that was Gilmour’s call.
Waters said that David isn’t interested at all. He added that after the brief reunion of the band for Live 8 in 2005 that he probably could have done more stuff, however David isn’t interested.
The years after Pink Floyd broke up were marred by a lawsuit and infighting. However, all four members from the classic lineup did agree to perform together for Bob Geldorf’s 2005 benefit concert held in London. Following that the band rejected plans to do a full-scale tour. Gilmour and Waters returned their focus to their solo work.
There was no explanation provided by Waters why Gilmour didn’t want to perform again with Pink Floyd. The reason is probably because Gilmour wouldn’t want to perform without Rick Wright, keyboardist, who died in 2008 of cancer. After Wright was essentially forced by Waters to resign from the band after “The Wall,” Wright was welcomed back by Gilmour after Waters left. The Gilmour-fronted Pink Floyd released the album “A Momentary Lapse of Reason.” After Wright died, Gilmour said nobody can replace him. He was my friend and musical partner. In all of the arguments over what or who Pink Floyd was, the enormous input of Rick’s was forgotten frequently.
Pink Floyd fans might be feeling some frustration with Gilmour for not being interested in “The Wall” tour. However the fans of Elliot Smith are blasting Waters for covering a mural up that was associated with the songwriter/singer. Smith died in 2003. Waters is introducing street art ads for promoting “The Wall” tour with a Dwight Eisenhower quote. On May 10 tickets are going on sale for the general public.
The quote in New York has been placed in locations with heavy traffic like Union Square. However in Los Angeles, the ad was placed atop the “Elliot Smith Memorial Wall” mural on West Sunset Boulevard which was made famous on his “Figure 8” cover. When Waters became informed of the incident it said it was an accident resulting from his team based in New York choosing the location in Los Angeles without knowing of its significance.
Waters said that he didn’t want to disrespect the fans of Elliot Smith. He told his team to take the wheat paste off immediately. He said the art was made from biodegradable material. Waters said he isn’t too familiar with Smith’s work. After learning about Smith more Waters said he guess he would probably have been sympathetic of the anti war message in the quote.
