This winter David Gilmour will play at The London Palladium as part of a sold-out tribute to Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green.
Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood organized the event, which will also include Billy Gibbons, Jonny Lang, Andy Fairweather Low, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler, Bill Wyman and others yet to be announced.
“The concert is a celebration of those early blues days where we all began, and it’s important to recognize the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music,” Fleetwood says.
“Peter was my greatest mentor and it gives me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I am honored to be sharing the stage with some of the many artists Peter has inspired over the years and who share my great respect for this remarkable musician.”
The show takes place Tuesday, Feb. 25. Ticket pre-sale started Nov. 13 with general sale starting two days later. The show has sold-out.
Little, Brown Book Group Ltd. is publishing two new titles by illustrator Gerald Scarfe, best known to Pink Floyd fans for his work on “The Wall.”
“Long Drawn Out Trip” was released in September. It’s a 320-page memoir of the artist’s life the publisher describes as “a very personal, wickedly funny and caustically insightful account of an artist’s life at the forefront of contemporary culture and society.”
The more substantial “Scarfe: 60 Years of Being Rude” will be published Nov. 9 in three editions: A £1,200 limited “Artist’s Edition”; a £500 limited “Deluxe Edition”; and an unlimited standard edition for £150.
The artist’s edition is limited to 26 copies signed and lettered A-Z, presented in a cloth-covered, soft-lined presentation box with design elements by Scarfe. It includes alimited edition print signed by the artist, and an exclusive original drawing on high-quality cartridge paper.
Edition ‘A’ is being auctioned off as part of the sale of Scarfe’s artwork at Sotheby’s this month. The auction will benefit Parkinson’s UK.
The deluxe edition is limited to200 numbered copies, and features a cloth-covered, soft-lined presentation box with design elements by Scarfe and includes a limited edition print signed by the artist.
The special editions of “Scarfe: 60 Years of Being Rude” are available for purchase at www.scarfebook.com. The standard edition and “Long Drawn Out Trip” are available for purchase from online and bricks-and-mortar stores everywhere.
Abbey Road Studios has announced sound engineer Mike Sheady has died.
Abbey Road calls Sheady “one of the world’s most well-respected senior classical engineers.” According to the studio, his 1988 recording of Mahler’s “Second Symphony” earned him the Gramophone Engineering Award.
Earlier in this career, Sheady engineered sessions for The Beatles, and was one of several engineers to work on Syd Barrett‘s “The Madcap Laughs” album, released in 1970.
Prog magazine will present Pink Floyd drummer and co-founder Nick Mason with its Prog God award at the 2019 Progressive Music Awards next month.
Mason, 75, has been touring the world with his band Saucerful of Secrets, playing pre-“Dark Side” Floyd to sold-out crowds.
“I’m all in favor of recognition for drummers — particularly when it’s me — so I’m really delighted to be recognized as Prog God,” Mason tells Prog editors. “It’s hard to believe that it was over 50 years ago that the music we know as prog rock was born, and it’s still being celebrated, played and developed in the 21st century. Long may it continue!”
The awards will take place Sept. 12 at London’s Underglobe Theatre.
Past winners of the Prog God award include Steve Howe, Carl Palmer, Jon Anderson and Peter Gabriel.
Yesterday’s much-anticipated auction of David Gilmour‘s guitars raised $21,490,750 for charity.
The highlight of the Christie’s auction held in New York City was the Pink Floyd frontman’s fabled “Black Strat,” which sold for $3,975,000, way beyond the official estimate of $100,000 to $150,000.
Gilmour bought that Fender Stratocaster in New York City in May 1970, and played it extensively through the ’70s and into the ’80s on such recording as “The Dark Side of the Moon” (1973), “Wish You Were Here” (1975), “Animals” (1977) and “The Wall” (1979).
The winning bid for the Black Strat came from Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts. Larry Hall, vice president of special projects for the NFL team, attended the auction as Irsay’s proxy.
Other highlights include Gilmour’s ’54 Stratocaster, serial number 0001, used for the rhythm track on “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2,” which went for $1,815,000; a ’69 Martin D-35 used on “Welcome to the Machine” and “Wish You Were Here,” (also sold to Irsay) for $1,095,000; and his 12-string Martin D12-28, used to write and record the opening riff for “Wish You Were Here,” sold for $531,000.
According to Christie’s, the Black Strat breaks the record for a guitar sold at auction, and is the most ever paid for a Stratocaster. Previously, the most expensive guitar sold at auction was the “Reach Out to Asia” Stratocaster, auctioned to support victims of the 2004 tsunami.
That item sold in 2005 for $2.7 million. It had been signed by Gilmour, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, and others.
Irsay has a few other notable guitars in his collection, including an orange ’63 Gretsch once owned by John Lennon and purchased for $530,000 in 2015; and the “Yellow Cloud” guitar played by Prince, which Irsay purchased for $137,500 in 2016.
The day before the auction, Gilmour announced all proceeds would benefit ClientEarth, an organization that funds attorneys and other experts to fight climate change.
“The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible,” Gilmour said.
“I hope that the sale of these guitars will help ClientEarth in their action to use the law to bring about real change. We need a civilized world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung.”
The auction lasted eight hours with bidders from 66 countries participating.
Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour will publish “Three Different Ones,” a three-part podcast series beginning tomorrow.
The podcast is a prelude to the upcoming auction of 120 of Gilmour’s guitars taking place in New York on June 20.
Episode 1, dropping May 31, focuses on his legendary black Stratocaster. The June 7 episode covers the 6- and 12-string Martin acoustic guitars he used in writing and recording “Wish You Were Here” (1975). And the series concludes June 14 with a final episode about his white Strat, serial #0001.
Auctioneers Christie’s announced the Gilmour auction in January. All proceeds will go to charity.
The entire collection was on display at Christie’s on King Street, London, March 27-31. Selected guitars were displayed in Los Angeles May 7-11. Your final chance to see them will be in New York as part of the sale preview that runs June 14-19.
We’ll remember long-time Floyd sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson (d. April 18, 2013) by playing from albums all designed by Storm and the team at Hipgnosis.
Hear cuts from Flash, T. Rex, The Hollies, Wings, and, of course … Pink Floyd.
