David Gilmour has offered the first look at his new film Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome, which is being released to cinemas this week.
The renowned musician, 79, returned to the historic location as part of his Luck and Strange tour last year, for which he performed material from his recent album of the same name, as well as classic and rarely heard songs from the Pink Floyd catalogue.
The Independent can now share an exclusive teaser for the film, out in cinemas and IMAX on 17 September, in which Gilmour talks about the making of the film as well as what the tour meant to him.
“It’s Italy, it’s Rome, it’s beautiful venues,” Gilmour says. “These places have an atmosphere to them which can’t help but be contagious, and the Circus Maximus, like the amphitheatre in Pompeii, are just magical places. You feel the feet of people walking there over millennia… it has a spiritual energy to it.”
The Luck and Strange Tour marked Gilmour’s first in nearly a decade. His Circus Maximus concert was filmed by longtime collaborator Gavin Elder, against the dramatic backdrop of the ancient Roman ruins.
Gilmour said it was “exciting” to be able to play the new material while finding a “nostalgic joy” in playing music from his extraordinary back catalogue: “That’s got to be balanced off what I consider to be one’s purpose in this venture, which is to create new music, create new art.”
He continued: “All songs, they are one thing in the studio and they have a different life onstage. The joy of playing new music live is enormous… The songs in the studio have been constructed and taken apart and re-edited and fiddled with until we get to where we think we’d squeezed as much out of the song as we could get. But live is a whole different experience: you count it in and you go.”
He later added: “There’s nothing quite like performing live.”
Gilmour said he could never tell whether the energy of the band was contributing to the atmosphere of the concert, or if the audience’s energy was what spurred his band on to greater heights.
“You have to throw yourself into the story you’re telling… let the melody come out,” he said. “It’s something you constantly have to be thinking about, bearing in mind as you’re stepping up to that microphone.”
During the film, Gilmour paid tribute to his wife, author and songwriter Polly Samson. “[She’s] my partner in life and in work, and has been an integral part of all of my work going back to the Nineties,” he said, noting how she had contributed “substantially” to his lyrics and had a hand in the production aspects as well. “She’s invaluable to me.”
He also reflected on how he was joined on tour by his daughter, Romany, who also duets with him on the album, Luck and Strange: “It’s always been a popular thought that family voices blend together in a special way… I do think that Romany’s voice blends with mine especially well. And onstage, singing with me on ‘The Piper’s Call’, it’s really fabulous.”
Gilmour recently remarked on the rumour that he would be playing a residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas, neither confirming nor denying the speculation.
“Well, you know, I'm hoping one of these days I'll go and sit there and watch myself doing it, which is something I've always wanted to do with my avatar,” he said during a Q&A at the world premiere of the concert film last week.
He also revealed that he had started work on the follow-up to Luck and Strange, which topped the charts upon its release last year and received positive reviews from critics.
“I have sort of started work on a new album,” he said. “The intention is to move into it a little bit faster from here on out, but getting all these things prepared and ready has taken quite a lot of time and energy. Okay? But we're ready to get moving on now.“
David Gilmour: Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome, is out in cinemas and IMAX worldwide on 17 September for a limited time only. The Luck and Strange concerts LP super deluxe boxset will be released on 18 October.
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