On 2nd July 2005 the impossible happened and the 1970s members of Pink Floyd reunited to perform at the London Live 8 concert in Hyde Park. I thought my chances of Roger Waters rejoining David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright were very slim, and I was delighted to be able to be see them together once more. This was the band’s first performance together in over 24 years, since The Wall concerts in 1981. Marie, David, Laura and I all went to Live 8, and greatly enjoyed the day, which I will blog about on another occasion. Today I’ll limit by writings to Pink Floyd’s appearance. Gilmour announced the reunion less than a month before the gig, on 12 June 2005: “ Like most people I want to do everything I can to persuade the G8 leaders to make huge commitments to the relief of poverty and increased aid to the third world. It’s crazy that America gives such a paltry percentage of its GNP to the starving nations. Any squabbles Roger and the band have had in the past are so petty in this context, and if re-forming for this concert will help focus attention then it’s got to be worthwhile.” Pink Floyd appeared later in the day, sandwiched between great sets by The Who and Paul McCartney; who closed the show. Floyd’s set consisted of Speak to Me; Breathe; Money; Wish You Were Here; and Comfortably Numb; a good choice of songs for their short appearance. Waters said on stage: “It’s actually quite emotional standing up here with these three guys after all these years. Standing to be counted with the rest of you. Anyway, we’re doing this for everyone who’s not here, but particularly, of course, for Syd.” The band who played with Pink Floyd in Hyde Park were Tim Renwick (guitar); Jon Carin (keyboards); saxophonist Dick Parry Money (played on the original recording); and backing singer Carol Kenyon. The screens showed video from their past shows, and a film of the pig from the Animals flying over Battersea Power Station. This was simply mind-blowing stuff; for me it was the highlight of the day, and a very emotional experience. We were close to the front (I’d managed to score tickets in the enclosed area near the stage) and had a great view of the band. I found Wish You Were Here particularly powerful; you felt they were singing the song for Syd; which of course they were. Syd sadly passed away the following year. With Wright’s subsequent passing in 2008, this was to be the final concert to feature all four playing together.
26 Jan
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by connor jackson on March 16, 2022 at 5:07 am
Watched this on tv with my dad and we were both emotional, so I’ll bet it was very moving to have been there, did get to see the Waters-less PF twice, at Maine Rd in 88 and Earls Court 94, which were both unbelievable gigs I must say, they even opened completely unexpectedly with Astronomy Domine at the Earls Court gig which we couldn’t believe, seen David and Roger solo a bunch of times too, Roger doing the Wall at Wembley Stadium was epic, and David at the Albert Hall in 2006 with an encore appearance from David Bowie doing Arnold Layne, just unbelievable, plus Crosby, Nash and the late great Richard Wright all part of the band. Wish you were here was my dads fav song of all time and we played it at the funeral, so its hard to listen to now with tearing up but I still love PF so much
Posted by vintagerock on March 16, 2022 at 12:16 pm
I am so jealous that you were at the Albert Hall the night David Bowie joined them. I was there the following evening and they were joined by Nick Mason. Yes the Live 8 reunion was pretty special. Another great band Peter