David Gilmour @ The Paramount, Oakland, CA - April 17th, 2006

Last night was the second show David Gilmour performed at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA. (David Gilmour was the former guitarist and lead vocalist for Pink Floyd.) With a ticket that had a face value of $95 and a seat about 20-25 rows from center stage, my expectations were high. And luckily, Mr. Gilmour didn't disappoint.

The other musicians on stage with Gilmour included:

Richard Wright - Pink Floyd’s original keyboard player
Phil Manzanera - Roxy Music guitarist and co-producer of ‘On An Island’
Guy Pratt - bass player with Pink Floyd and Roxy Music
Jon Carin - keyboards and longtime player with Pink Floyd
Steve DiStanislao - drums, recently played with Crosby & Nash

Now the question that kept running through my head was 'how much are these backing musicians getting paid?' Specifically, regarding Richard Wright... I can't imagine he's being paid the same amount as the other musicians. And if he's on tour with Gilmour, where was Nick Mason, Floyd's original drummer? Scheduling conflicts? Not enough money? Too old to hit the road again? Or was it that if Nick Mason joined up with Gilmour, David wouldn't be able to get top billing throughout the tour and properly promote his new album, "On an Island"? If that's the case, why add Rick Wright to the line-up at all? Surely, Gilmour didn't need Wright in order to sell-out the entire tour. And yet, there Rick Wright was on keyboards and backing vocals and yet his name didn't appear in any of the show's billing. Whatever the arrangement, the band sounded fantastic with the Paramount's extraordinary acoustics.

I also met a hard-core Floyd fan who attended the show the night before too. This guy paid $850 for a front row seat, and $750 for last night's second row seat. The guy was a nut. He was driving down to LA for the next to shows later this week too. He also mentioned something about London too, but at that point, my mind was starting to wander as he kept talking.

On to the details of the show! There was no opening band, and gilmour played for nearly 3 hours straight -- including a 20 minute intermission. I have to say that the live version of his new album is much better than listening to the CD (even though the CD is growing on me.) The second set was what the entire audience was waiting for -- Floyd material! The highlights included the 20 minute jam session of Echoes. And also Arnold Layne made its' first appearance in a live show since the Floyd toured in the 60's.

Overall, a fantastic show!


SET LIST MONDAY 17 APRIL OAKLAND PARAMOUNT THEATER

Intro:
Speak to Me / Breathe / Time / Breathe Reprise

The remainder of the first half of the show consisted of songs off DG's most recent album, and included:

Castellorizon
On An Island
Blue
Red Sky at Night
This Heaven
Then I Close My Eyes
Smile
Take a Breath
A Pocketful of Stones
Where We Start

Second Set:
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
Wearing the Inside Out
Fat Old Sun
Arnold Layne (first time this song has been played since the 60's)
Coming Back to Life
High Hopes
Echoes (unbelievable 20 minute jam-out session!)

Encores:
Wish You Were Here
Comfortably Numb

Charlie Clouser Music Clinic @ an Apple Store

As I wonder how long I'll continue to post things here, I thought I'd add some content that (at least in my mind) is somewhat cool or off-the-wall. For anyone who knows me, I've been a big fan of nine inch nails since catching one of their first videos on MTV's 120 Minutes back in 1990. If you're familiar with the band, you've probably heard of Charlie Clouser. One of the principle sound designers and mixing engineers that worked with Trent Reznor (aka nine inch nails) during the late 90's and early '00's. Here's a group photo featuring Charlie in the bottom middle, surrounded by other NIN fans and random Apple Store customers at an Apple Store Music Clinic in 2003(?). Charlie made two appearances in Northern California Apple Stores (Palo Alto & Santa Clara.)