Pink Floyd Reunites at Roger Waters Concert in London

Thursday night, the surviving Pink Floyd members reunited onstage at O2 Arena in London during a stop from the Wall Tour of Rogers Waters. It’s just the second time Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason have performed together during the past 30 years. “Comfortably Numb” was performed by Gilmour and Waters, with the arena crowd going completely insane. During the “Outside the Wall” finale Gilmour came to the stage with Mason, who was playing a tambourine.

Just like on the 1980-81 original tour, Gilmour performed his epic solo over the Wall. Last July, Roger Waters promised Gilmour would be playing the song at one of his tour shows. However, the surprise involvement of drummer Nick Mason was kept under tight wraps. The last time they performed together was in 2005 at Live 8. Richard Wright, the original Pink Floyd keyboardist, died in 2008.

The appearance of Gilmour was confirmed on the official Gilmour fan blog just hours before their reunion. The blog noted, I want to remind everyone tonight is definitely a one-time performance. David will not be repeating another special guest performance in the future. I’m sorry I have to disappoint those crossing your fingers and with tickets for upcoming shows.

This past July, right before Waters launched the Wall tour, Gilmour played a short set with him that benefited the Hoping Foundation. They did a cover of “To Know Him Is To Love Him” by Phil Spector to close the set. Initially, Waters told Gilmour he wouldn’t sing that song with him due to the superior vocal skills of Gilmour.

On Facebook, Waters wrote, I resolutely clung to my fearing failure until he made one last plea one day. He said, if you will perform “To Know Him Is To Love Him” at Hoping Foundation’s gig, then I will come and perform “Comfortably Numb” for one of the Wall shows. I could have been knocked down using a feather. That was so fucking cool. It blew me away. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. I just couldn’t. No way.

Pink Floyd fans went hysterical when they heard the news, especially since they had no idea which show from the very long tour it would end up being. Although, it was a safe bet that it would be during the run of six shows at the O2 Arena in London since Gilmour lives near the venue. Pink Floyd, earlier in the week, announced a gigantic reissue campaign. No doubt the timing was to coincide with the seminal event. The press would voraciously cover the concert event as well as mention details from their reissue campaign.

It’s the third reunion for the former band mates since Waters departed after the original 1981 Wall tour. The first reunion came in 2005 at Live 8. The second was last year for the Hoping Foundation’s benefit. Waters says he would be interested in a short Pink Floyd reunion tour. However, Gilmour won’t even consider it. Mason was asked by Rolling Stone last week if a reunion was possible. He said, there were no plans at all. Live 8 was great. We we are able to do something to help people. We also proved we were capable of working together again. I am really happy my children were able to see it. I would think at some time it could be regenerate. I live with hope. However, there isn’t any reason to put on Twitter “Nick Says Pink Floyd Will Reform!”