It’s been a long while since my last post here. I’m sorry about that.
God has led me on a curved and uneven path over the last year or so. But I’m safe in His hands, and so like so many others these days, I struggle with my anxieties, but I trust in Him. More about those adventures in another post. Suffice it to say, recently I’ve had the blessing of time on my hands.
I’ve gotten into watching concerts from the British rock band Pink Floyd. If you aren’t familiar with the band, that’s not surprising. They’re from an earlier time, and their genre – psychedelic blues – may not be your cup of tea. You may have heard of some of their albums, though ~ “The Dark Side Of The Moon” and “The Wall” are two of the greatest-selling albums in music history.
The band formed in 1964, in London, and had begun to become successful, releasing two albums with guitarist Syd Barrett. Barrett was a close friend of both bassist Roger Waters, and future Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. Unfortunately, the band had to ask Syd to leave, reportedly due to heavy psychedelic drug use and mental health issues, and Gilmour stepped into his place. After a few unhappy years, Barrett disappeared from world and from his friends, until his death decades later. Losing their friend and comrade profoundly influenced the band, Waters in particular, and this theme of alienation and pain forcing you further and further away from friends and family can be found throughout the band’s greatest works. The entire album “Wish You Were Here” is understood to be Waters mourning the departure and loss of his good friend.
Most of the band came together for one last ride in 1994 for the Division Bell tour; Roger Waters had parted ways by this time. The European leg of this tour was filmed, and different performances were put together and released as a CD and DVD, collectively titled “Pulse“. These ‘Pulse’ concert presentations of their songs are the versions with which I’ve become utterly fascinated. I’ve also been binging ‘reaction’ videos, where young people, perhaps people like you, Gentle Reader, who have never heard of the band listen and react to videos of the ‘Pulse” concerts. At the end, more than one host has stared at the camera and said ‘I get it now’. One in particular sat silent for several seconds, before looking at the camera and saying, ‘Well, I can’t just sit here looking blown away’. They are truly amazing to watch and listen to.
I’ve been blessed enough to see the Floyd two times, including the Division Bell Tour, from which ‘Pulse’ sprang. Of course I cannot know what concerts you may have seen in your time on this Earth. But if you have not seen Pink Floyd, then you have also never seen anything like Pink Floyd. Their concerts are a singular event, a unique and mesmerizing experience. Their light show is legendary, their lyrics are frequently deep and philosophical, and David Gilmour’s bluesy, emotional solos have earned him a place on lists of the best guitar players the world has ever seen.
Once of the conceits of going to a live concert is that you, the audience, are the biggest and therefore, in a sense, the most important part of the show. But upon entering the venue at a Floyd concert, you immediately realize that isn’t going to be the case this night. The stage is huge, 180 feet wide, with a massive 700-ton steel arch that rises to 130 feet above the stage at it’s peak. It takes three full days to erect and take down. The entire structure is painted black, and it completely intimidates the venue and all within. The arch is encrusted with lights, so many lights. And it sits, waiting.
And then the lights go down. In the darkness, as the soft sound of a heartbeat signals the start of the show, you begin to get the sense that Pink Floyd brings their own reality on tour. And you’re inside it.
At one point you become convinced the stage is alive. Fast or slow, everything is always smooth. Setting aside the music for a moment, there is just so much imagination and creativity on display in the stage show. The lights move and writhe and rise and fall, the Eclipse looms, the lasers reach out to pull you in, and when that stage is in full-throated roar there is absolutely nothing like it.
So then let me present for your consideration, the ‘Pulse’ concert version of “Comfortably Numb“. It’s almost ten minutes long, so it’s an investment to watch. But David Gilmour’s two solos on the studio version of the song are often included on lists of the greatest guitar solos ever written. And this version is better.
“Comfortably Numb” is from the double album “The Wall“, a concept album. In it, Waters created the character of Pink Floyd, a young boy who endures a difficult childhood, to grow up and become a massively-famous rock star. But to get there he has sacrificed his friends and family, and walled himself off to protect himself, using among other things, drugs. As the song begins, rockstar Pink has again self-medicated, and the first voice you hear is that of his manager. He pretends to care if Pink is feeling okay, offering to help ease his pain, but in reality he just wants Pink to get out there and do that night’s show.
But Pink is hallucinating. He speaks about how his hands feel swollen, and ‘this is not how I am’. But the drugs have done their work, and he’s comfortably numb to all the pain in his life. Gilmour’s first solo here can still bring tears to my eyes. It’s bliss, and flight, and poignant loss. It’s brief, and beautiful.
The manager returns, gives Pink a shot of something and runs him out on-stage. Pink, still hallucinating, recalls the dreams he had as a youth, and mourns how he has sacrificed them for the success he now has to escape from. He has surrounded himself with evil people who care nothing about him. He sees he has become comfortably numb to the loneliness he endures, and Gilmour’s second solo is agonized, with Pink longing for what he gave up, and loathing what he’s become.
So, sit back with whatever you may use to relax, get comfortable and/or numb, and enjoy the definitive version of “Comfortably Numb“.
The Cool of the Evening 