David Gilmour in Concert

I bought this DVD on faith in one of my favorite Guitarists in the world. At first I was taken aback. The concert starts with David, standing alone on stage noodling around on an acoustic guitar, and he works his way into Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part 1. OK, at this point I was enjoying the show fine, but it wasn't what I expected. Then the sax player came on stage and put goose bumps down my back. Not only is Mr Gilmour awesome, but every musician that appears on stage with David throughout this show is incredible.

The concert starts mellow and soft, builds to the climax (With Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part II) then ends with a very mellow Hush-a-bye Mountain. High points include the George Bizet tune and the home video on the extra's portion of the DVD.

This is not a renter - if you're a David Gilmour fan, buy it and watch it over and over again.

I knew that this concert movie was an acoustic show so I wasn't surprised that the tempo was slow at the beginning. But to start the show with Gilmour tuning his guitar was a bit much.

Once he did start playing, Gilmour was having such a hard time finding his rhythm that I found myself praying for the drums to kick in.

By the time things settle down, the really glaring problem with this film comes to the surface. The mix is horrible. The crowd noise drowns out Gilmour at times when they cheer a song they recognize, he is almost inaudible when talking between songs and at many points the backup singers completely cancel him out. I found myself constantly adjusting the volume which really takes away from the "concert experience".

There are high points in the show, but the low points are rock bottom. Comfortably Numb is a song that millions of people know by heart. Two versions are provided on the DVD - from the concert and in the bonus section. Neither of the guest singers (Robert Hewitt and Sir Bob Geldoff) know the words, have to read from sheet music and based on their phrasing have never heard the song before. Gilmour would have been better off asking for a volunteer from the audience.

The very best thing on the DVD is, oddly enough, in the bonus section. Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put a Spell on You, a blues standard performed with Mica Paris and Jools Holland, almost makes the DVD worth buying. Almost.

Watch Jonathan Demme's beautiful treatment of Neil Young: Heart of Gold if you really want to see a great acoustic concert film. That is the gold standard.

Being a fan of Pink Floyd, and a fan of the incredibly underrated guitarist that is David Gilmour. I naturally had to go pick it up, It is a fantastic DVD, It has some of the greatest Floyd songs Shine on you crazy diamond parts 1 and 2, comfortably numb, wish you were here. The additional material like the Syd Barrett songs are excellent, even some of the other songs that were not as good as the Floyd material, Gilmour stills tackles them with impressive vocals and always impressive guitar playing.

If you enjoy David Gilmours Work, and your a Pink Floyd fan, and you don't own this go and get it I've had it for a couple days and I'm on my fourth viewing-Great purchase.

I picked up this concert video by mistaken identity. I miss-took this for a live performance of a solo project that included the Hit song "There's no way out of here"(which was a big hit for David Gilmour)that he recorded between Pink Floyd records. The shock that I had was instantly replaced with total Awe! This wonderful moment of guitar playing and song, captured in time for us to enjoy shows right from the beginning that David Gilmour could easily entertain us with just his guitar and a few electric gadgets. But it doesn't stop there! As guest musicians slowly enter this sonic arena one by one, we hear old classics like "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and the all time classic "Comfortably Numb" done to perfection live! As I was watching and hearing, my mind put to rest any left-over notions that old "die-hard" Roger Waters disciples used to throw out saying "Pink Floyd is a fake without Roger in the band". As a true Pink Floyd fan I would never try to doubt Roger Waters importance to Pink Floyd's unique blend of Music with his cynical, sometimes twisted lyrics and unique bass guitar lines, but I think this Video proves that both David Gilmour and Roger Waters were sharing a parallel vision of music through Pink Floyd's Music. Maybe more then some would like to admit. This is a must own for even the most modest Pink Floyd fan, especially the die-hard David Gilmour version! The only thing that I could possibly say remotely negative about this video would be how easy he makes it look with his skillful playing and that, as always, it could have included so many more Pink Floyd Classics. That said, this is a masterpiece!

I must say i was quite disappointed with David Gilmour.. I was somewhat amazed when he pulled the long reverb sounds out of the chords in shine on your crazy diamonds, but I lost my interest right afterwards.. The way he plays these beautiful classics sound like stereotype-music with no purpose... It doesn't work at all with him playing it acoustic and alone, and when he gets the other musicians they continue to deliver the music inelegant empty and exposed for soul. For a moment I thought that pink floyd's music was uninteresting.. and I don't get it because I know Pink Floyd are good, so this must be a mistake from Gilmour, he was drunk, or maybe he wasn't.. anyways this doesn't work! Pull your act together big guy, I know your up for it..