In 1971, Pink Floyd performed at the amphitheatre in Pompeii, a concert to which no one was invited but which was filmed and recorded for posterity.
Last week, on July 7 and 8, Floyd guitarist David Gilmour made a historic return to the venue, the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatre, performing for a mere 3,000 lucky concertgoers. Currently touring behind his 2015 album, Rattle That Lock, Gilmour has spurned arenas and stadiums for heritage sites, including Rome’s Circus Maximum, amphitheatres in Verona and Nîmes and London’s Royal Albert Hall, in an effort to give his audiences an unforgettable evening of music.
Video from Gilmour’s Pompeii performance has been difficult to come by, so we were pleased to find this video of him performing the Pink Floyd cuts “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and “Fat Old Sun.” (You might have to sit through a commercial or two your first time watching the video.)
Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.
