All language subtitles for DAVID GILMOUR - Live At Circus Maximus - Docunentary (2025) -Hr+

So the album's called Luck anrt Strange.

It's the luck of the very strange moment

that me and Baby Boomers in general ,

all in the postwar period
have Iived through ,

to have had such a fortu nate moment,

so many positive ideas
that one thought were moving us forward .

"The Piper's Call" is a song
about the Faustian pact,

you know, lhal deal wllh lhe rtevll.

Il's basically wrlllen muslcally
by me on a ukulele.

The ukulele opens the song .

There was a Iong saga of thinking
about producers

which had been driving me nuts for months
and Polly started researching .

It felt Iike we needed something new
on this particular occasion

and we just invited him
to come down to the house and chat.

Iljusl felt very rlgbl.

He's quite bossy

and hasn't got
any great preconceptions

about what I do,
or Pink Floyd has done, all that stuff,

and he just tells me
what he wants us to get on with

and we get on with it.

Cool . So that's the idea.
How do you feel about that?

It's great, I'm absolutely Ioving
doing it the way we're doing it.

For me, being in the studio
with the whole gang ,

Polly, David , it's just been such
a lovely environment to be part of,

and David has been
really receptive to my bossiness.

Well , thank you for the drill .
I Iike being drilled .

If I've got an opinion
or a new idea or something ,

he's been open to exploring it.

I've been trying to really rock it out,

but I'm thinking
maybe I should melody it out

in a slightly different way.

The result is extremely pleasing to me.

Polly and l are a leam.

We 've been wrlllng songs logelher
for over 30 years now.

We are very much in sync with each other
in what we want to do,

and this album is the result of
that reaching a firmer, better point

in that process.

He wanled lD lDok al tbe lyrlcs,
so we hanrted him all lhe Iyrlcs,

anrt he was very keen lo share lhose Iyrlcs
and whal lhey mennl lo hlm.

I think Iyrics are so important
to understanding what the song is

but I think it can be
easy to overlook that sometimes.

I think there can be a focus on :

"Is the groove doing this
and the guitar sounding this,"

but actually what
is the song trying to say?

Charlie sees music and words in a way
that I haven't come across before

in quite that way.

So someone coming in to play a part,

he wants them
to absolutely understand the Iyric

and then if I'm arou nd , he'Il say,

"Can you come
and just chat about this Iyric,"

and I found that really pleasurable.

I think I remember saying ,
"What are we making the record for?"

And then instantly, I think
it started that process.

And lhe orcheslralions
are rtone by Will Gardner.

His rtlrecllon oflhe cholr
ls so strnnge and avanl-garrte.

AIthough they are deliberately
out of tune, they somehow seem to fit.

It's very, very strange.

So yeah , do another one
as written , basically.

Okay.

The orchestrations will break your heart,
I mean , they're beautiful .

They're break-your-heart beautiful
and also unusual and ...

Yeah , I think he's a real genius.

I wenl lo my son Charlle

lo see lfhe wanled lo bave a go
al wrlling some Iyrlcs.

Those llnes aboul holdlng back lhe llrte
anrt lhe disobedlence oflhe lirte.

It's brilliant
and related to King Canute I guess.

The music sprang out at me one day.

I was really enjoying it

and thinking it was really exciting
and great to have come across this thing

and I was thinking we're going
to have to get some words.

I'm gonna have to write some words
and get Polly to write some words.

Polly had given me a poem
for our wedding anniversary

that happened to be sitting
on my desk right next to me

as I had been working on this track.

And I just picked up the paper
and thought, I'Il just...

J ust to hear
what words sound Iike on it.

So I turned on the microphone

and sang these words
and then played it to Polly.

And she said "Lovely, great,
I'Il need to work on them some more."

So she did .

There it was.
I mean , serendipitous really.

It's a song that we have loved

and had on our own personal playlists
since the '90s.

We always thought, imagined ,
that everyone knew it as well as we did .

We thought it'd been a hit.

So I made a backing track

and realized the lyrics weren't something
that I would naturally sing about.

- That was another short one.
- That was fine.

I zoned out.

- I think that was fine.
- Okay.

You stayed right on the note.

It's a very vulnerable lyric

and somehow there's something
invulnerable about David .

Delicately put.

So we had Romany at the house.

I said ,
"Romany, just come and sing this song ."

She didn't know it at all ,
I just gave her a piece of paper.

And she says,
"Okay, but I've got a train ."

So she just sang it once through

and 900Įo of what's on there
is the grumpy...

- Diffident.
- Diffident girl .

Since she was tiny she's always
been able to put on a pair of head phones,

stand in front of a mic
and just knock it out Iike a pro,

but this was quite extraordinary.

Beautiful .

There's a lovely thing ,
I think, about families' voices

which seem to naturally blend .

- The Andrews Sisters.
- The Andrews Sisters.

- The Beverly Sisters.
- The Gallagher brothers?

Maybe...

Sort of. . .
Not too pronounced .

Not quite like that.

That's it.

I can hear myself in the backgrou nd
willing her to...

- See?
- Doesn't matter. I can't help it.

On "Between Two Points",
in fact, I remember recording it.

I dare say, it sounds mad . . .
I said it to Polly at the time,

I was so into that moment that
it was Iike being stoned or something .

But I wasn't.

Not separated from the guitar and what
I was playing at that particular moment.

I n a way that is rare and joyful .

I'm always a bit nervous of calling people

and Polly always says to me,
"Who's your favorite drummer?"

Steve Gadd , of course,
greatest drummer in the world .

So I gave Steve Gadd a call ...

nervously, and said would he come

and spend a week with us
in London recording , and he said yes.

Simple as that.

He's just a class act.
He's really, really good .

Honestly, the sound of the drums
is quite phenomenal actually,

and he plays them very gently
but they sound big .

He just nails it immediately

and it was such a joy to finally be able
to get him in and record with him .

"Fuck anrt Slrange " ls tbe lllle ofa song.

Il comes from ajam lhal we rtlrt ln 2007
whlle Rlck Wrlghl was slill allve.

I wrole cboruses anrt brlrtges for ll
anrt lhen Polly wrole lhese great words.

From lhe firsl secondyou bear
Rickplaylng his eleclrlc planD,

youjusl know lhere 's sDmelhing
absDlulely lndlvlrtual aboul wbal he rtoes

lhal no one else does or coulrt do.

Hls level Dfcreallvlly is somelhlng
lhal l've mlssert Dver lhe years,

bul some oftbe people
lhal Chnrlie has brougbl

have artded crealivlly oflhal sort.

We have a keyboardplayer
called Rob Oenlry

who 's been dolng a lol oflhe keyboards.

Some of the things he does
take a minute to get used to.

They're very off-the-wall sometimes
but it's fantastic.

I've also had Roger Eno
playing on a cou ple of tracks,

Guy Pratt of course,
the Iegend that is Guy Pratt.

Charlie brought in a drummer,
Adam Betts, who's brilliant,

and a bass player called Tom Herbert,
who seemed to spend as much time

playing with some strange looping pedals
that created the most brilliant sound .

The joy on everyone's faces

when we arrive every day
for the work that we're doing is palpable.

It's a different level of thinking

that we're really onto something
new and exciting and joyous.

PIay from that second chorus.

Good boy. Sit there. Wait.

Good boy.

There's a song called "Sings...

The chorus part of it
is actually 25 years old ,

and when Joe was two,
I made it up one day

and I was sort of Ia-la-ing
along to it with a guitar

and he was in the room
and he was 2 years old .

And he's just talking and saying
"Sing , Daddy, sing , Daddy."

I recorded that on a Mini Disc player.

There's a sort of moment in the song where
it's kind of Ieft itself fairly blank.

Let'sjuslpul lhal demo on tbere

from 25years ago
and ll's magical, lsn 'l lt?

Iljusl sounds amazlng.

Well , you know,
I started off in a pop group

and I found myself eventually
in the position of Ieading that group,

not ever a position I was
hoping for or Iooking forward to.

Being a solo artist also
not what I really asked for.

I've always preferred being
a part of something .

And this album feels much closer to that

than anything I've had
in all these years with them .

A group of people
who are all very collaborative,

very positive, and putting in everything
that they can into what we're doing .

It's the best work I've done,
it's the best album I've made

since
The Dark Side of Moon in 1973.

50 years.

It's just home, sweet home.
I've done this room so many times.

First time we came here, in 1968,
they had just redone the stage.

It wasn't carpeted ,

it was wood and it had been
all varnished , thickly varnished .

And the road crew,

the drum kit, the bass drum ,
kept slipping every time Nick hit it.

So they got six-inch nails,
and drove them into their shiny new stage

to hold his bass drum
in place, right there.

And we got banned for Iife.

For Iife.

- Shall we start wllh "Plper's "?
- Yeah .

Okay.
Cbange ofplan.

Cbange ofplan.
We 'll slart wllh "Plper's '

"Piper's" first, okay.

Very nice bunch .

You say that about everybody,
though , don't you?

Yeah , when there's a camera in front of
me, and we're talking about the client?

Yeah , of course.

Well , what is there to know?
I don't know?

- You set this up?
- Not in any way!

- 1 992, chef on the QE2 , yes.
- QE2, my goodness.

So I've got a phobia of cameras
but that's all good . That's coming .

As Iong as it's not
a video camera, I'm all right.

The glue that holds it all together.

...wbere Ben sings tbe blgh part?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm gonna rto ll. . .
So lhal'Il be me.

Neert anylhlng else Colln ?

- Yeah .
- N ight 3 at the Royal Albert Hall .

- We're all very blasé about it now.
- It's Iike "been there, done that".

I never liked either of them .
I never liked them .

Greg is my hero.

Five minutes people, then it's showtime.

The suffragettes.

When they tried to stop the women
from being in the Royal AIbert Hall .

And she's whipping them .

- Minus two.
- M inus two?

M inus two.

It's like herding cats, I tell you .

Come on , ladies.

Whoo-ooo-oo!

Let's do another even bigger one.

Tonight was a Iittle bit delicious.

Each night has been getting more stronger
with more wondrous flavours.

How was she, David?
How did she do?

- Brilliantly!
- Yeah?

- She takes these things in her stride.
- Yes.

- Albert Hall . . .
- Albert Hall .

- Circus Maximus. . .
- Circus Maximus.

Here comes Madison Square Garden , hey ho.

Yeah , it was good . That was actually
one of the most nervous...

When I went on , and I was like, "I don't
know if I can play 'Vita Brevis"'.

My fingers. . .
My fingers have turned to mulch .

And hold it, hold it.

- It should be "bam , bam". The last chord .
- That'd be great. Thank you .

Peels llke ll's dlrent
lo lbe olher Dne.

Peels llke ll's dlrent
lo lbe olher Dne.

O I lboughlyou were dolng tbe vamp.
You're rtolng lhe flrst cborus...

- Can I gel lbe flrsl one, flrsl Dne ?
- O sorry aboul lhal.

Two, three.

High Hopes.

Before we get too tempted .

AII right, now.

- All right
- You never Iet us have any fun .

No, that's right,
I'm such a tyrant.

- AIl right, have a good one.
- You too.

We've reached the bitter end ,
and it is bittersweet indeed .

We're at Door 11 ,

and it's the very Iast night
at the Royal AIbert Hall

on my first-ever tour.

So you've been playing with your dad ,
what is that Iike?

It's quite normal .
It's always been our relationship.

Nice to still have that when
so many people are watching .

Hector Bear

Careful , Hector. How are you doing ,
Hector? Are you all right?

Having fun with those drumsticks?
Are you going to be a drummer?

- I wouldn't.
- One, two, three, four.

- Mamma!
- Mamma...

It's the boy!

Team of glory.

Team ofglory, leam of Chrisl

Team ofpreclous wonders and dellghl

Oet up on lhe slage and be wondrous now
Porever anrt ever

- How is tonight going?
- Half time.

Perk u p the second half.

Dave's gonna kick it into high gear.

It's the vibrations of sorrow.

Full body vibrations

Last of a series of shows
at the Royal AIbert Hall .

So what?

Will you be back?

Maybe? Who knows?
Who knows what the future will bring?

Thank you.
Thank you very much lnrdeerd.

Good nlght to all. Good night.

It's been amazing .

It's crazy.
This is only our third city.

We've been doing this for over a month .

Now, hang on . How Iong . . .
It seems Iike forever!

I n a good way!

Yeah , it's a drug having a live audience,
hopefully adoring you .

But you don't get the opportunity
to do that very often .

And if you do it for too Iong ,
you can become a Iittle bit jaded .

So a nice, short, snappy,
concentrated tour Iike that one,

suits me at this moment in my life.

And then we had three days off, which is
really weird , which never happens on tour.

It's about 1 0 quid
to get to the coffee shop.

It's more than an U ber,
but I think it's pretty good .

Please rton 'l touch lhe sleerlng wbeel
orpedals rturlng your rlrte.

Doing it round Beverly H ills
is perfect as well .

It's so preposterous.

So David tried to call me,

I get this call from an unknown number,
and I'm ignoring it.

And then I get a text from this number
a week Iater saying :

"H i Ben . It's David Gilmour here.
Give me a call back".

And I'm going , "Fuck!"

So then I went down to his house
and Polly suggested ,

"Why don't you guys jam
'Wish You Were Here'?"

I don't think I'd played
"Wish You Were Here" since I was Iike 1 2 .

And , I'm sat next to him

and he starts playing that riff while I'm
playing and I Iose it, freak out, and go,

"Oh my God ,
I can't believe this is happening ."

And I forget how to play guitar.

I mean , how often do you get
such a lovely group of people?

I can't believe the village
we've made along the way.

One could do stripes.

And it's the Iast two nights,
I guess I should be glittery.

I feel the real kinship
with these musicians.

There's a kind of a sense
of togetherness and unity

that I would say, is very, very special .

Doing new material on a tour

is the joy of what we're doing .

And you have to counter it a bit
with the expectations of the audience

who want to hear music
that they know already.

So it's a, yeah , it's a balancing act.

You have this thing of always thinking ,

the thing you've done
the most recently is the best,

so one is stuck
with that sort of prejudice.

But I genuinely think this is the best
album, solo album , that I've done.

The shadow! It's me!

There's something about this tour,
and anyone who's been will say this,

and all the reviews seem to bear it out,
that we're in a special place now

is that David , yeah ,
he owns his narrative.

The new album plays amazingly.

The new album lsjusl wonrterful.
Il's wonderful.

There shoulrt be some Paul anrt Llnrta,
John anrt Yoko, Pele anrt Rachel,

anrt Davlrt anrt Polly sluffgolng on,
because Polly...

l've always loved ber wrlllng.

That's what Pete Townshend thinks.

Someone sent me a clip
of the end of "Comfortably Numb".

It sounds ridiculously good .

- From Iast night?
- Yeah .

I mean , come on!

Can we rto "Belween Two Polnts "?

Ten gauge, 1 2 gauge...

- It's your favourite, isn't it?
- That's my favourite.

- 1 7 gauge. . .
- OK.

24. 34. 44.

- Sometimes people use up to a 50.
- Really?

And there we have
Iessons with David . Thank you .

I told him earlier today,
at the end of the sound check,

I said , "You know what? I've worked
with several guitar players in my Iife,

but nobody bends like you".

And I Iove being reunited
with my main man ,

who I call The Wizard .

Marc Brickman is a genius.

The main inspiration for me

was not to have it Iook Iike
what everybody was expecting .

So much of what I do now
is all based on algorithms.

So we decided to make it
more manual feeling , human .

I think it was really
about painting with Iight.

Yeah , Hattie had a baby.
She brought her baby on tour.

It helps create a very nice
family atmosphere on the tour,

having Hat with her baby.

I was really Iucky because
she was born on the Friday.

I came back from the hospital
on the Saturday, so I think I had

one week at home and then
we began our Gilmour adventure.

Where we are is backstage in Rome,
at the fantastic Circo Massimo,

which is built originally
for 1 50,000 people

and then J ulius Caesar had it
increased to 250,000 people

with fantastic chariot racing
over 2,000 years ago.

And now I've got
a measly 1 5,000 poor people

out there in the absolutely pouring rain .

Let's hope they brought
their umbrellas and macs with them .

This time of the year,
is a good time of the year,

but what happened on this day
was completely u npredictable.

We have a tank outside
that is ready to pump out the water.

We do what we can
to make the show happen .

They rock, we roll .

The forecast is that this rain
and the wind will die down

well in time for the show,

but it's not Iooking like it's trying too
hard to achieve that at the moment.

Well , it's raining , as you can see,
and it's continuing to rain .

And when it stops, we'Il uncover
everything and try and put a show on .

But I'm placing my grace
in my usual good fortune

and that everything
will eventually be okay

and we'll get up there and do it.