David Gilmour & Nick Mason Join Roger Waters on Stage on May 12th - O2 Arena - London

From Rolling Stone & Brain Damage

The surviving members of Pink Floyd reunited onstage at London's 02 Arena, May 12, 2011.

Photograph by Jennifer Bain

The surviving members of Pink Floyd reunited onstage tonight at London's 02 Arena during a stop on Roger Waters' Wall tour - marking only the second time that Nick Mason, David Gilmour and Waters had played together in the last 30 years. Waters and Gilmour performed "Comfortably Numb" as the crowd at the arena went absolutely insane, and during the finale of "Outside the Wall," Gilmour returned to the stage alongside Mason, who played a tambourine.

As he did on the original 1980/81 tour, Gilmour played his epic solo on the top of the Wall. Last July, Waters promised that Gilmour would play the song during one show on the tour, but drummer Nick Mason's involvement was kept a secret. They last performed together at Live 8 in 2005. Original keyboardist Richard Wright died in 2008.

Confirmation of Gilmour's appearance hit the web hours before the reunion on Gilmour's official fan blog. "I should also remind you that tonight is most definitely a one-off," the blog notes. "David is not repeating his special guest performance at a later occasion, I’m sorry to disappoint those of you with fingers crossed and tickets for later shows."

Pink Floyd Announce Massive Reissue Project

Last July – shortly before Waters began his Wall tour – he played a brief set with Gilmour at a benefit for the Hoping Foundation. They closed the set with a cover of Phil Spector's "To Know Him Is To Love Him." Waters initially told Gilmour that he wouldn't sing the song with him because of Gilmour's "superior vocal skills."

Rumours that he'd be bringing his guitar work to Run Like Hell proved unfounded, but if the crowd thought that they'd seen the last of David, Outside The Wall proved them wrong! Making for a very moving sight, David and Roger greeted each other as Roger thanked him for taking part. Then, to add further to the special nature of the night, Nick Mason was called to join them. As you'll see from the pictures on this site, Roger played his trusty trumpet, David a mandolin, and Nick a tamborine!

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A wonderful way to conclude such a great show - a show that boasted a number of familiar faces in the audience, including Gerald Scarfe and Jane Asher amongst others. Truly a one-off event, it'll stay in the minds of those present for years to come.

As always, we welcome your views on the evening...and to kick these off, a couple of video clips for you, of the full performance of Comfortably Numb, and the finale:

Comfortably Numb - Roger Waters and David Gilmour reunited on stage at London O2 Arena 12 May 2011

"I clung resolutely to my fear of failure until one day he made one final entreaty," Waters wrote on Facebook. "I quote 'If you do 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' for the Hoping Foundation Gig, I'll come and do 'C. Numb' on one of your Wall shows". Well! You could have knocked me down with a feather. How fucking cool! I was blown away. How could I refuse such an offer. I couldn't, there was no way."

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The news sent Floyd fans into a state of hysteria, especially because they didn't know what show on the extremely long tour would be the special one – though the six-show run at London's 02 Arena always seemed like a safe bet because Gilmour lives in close proximity to the venue. Earlier this week Floyd announced a massive reissue campaign (read about it here), which was almost certainly timed to coincide with this event. Press outlets, much like this one, were sure to cover the story - and also mention the details of their reissue campaign.

This will be the third time the former bandmates have reunited since Waters left the band after the original Wall tour in 1981. The first was at Live 8 in 2005, and the second was at the Hoping Foundation benefit last year. Waters says he's interested in a brief Pink Floyd reunion tour, but Gilmour refuses to even consider it. Just this past week Rolling Stone asked Mason about the possibility of a reunion. "There are absolutely no plans," he said. "But Live 8 was fantastic. We did something for other people, but we also proved that we could all work together again. I'm really pleased that my children saw that. I would have thought that could be regenerated at some time. So I live in hope – but that's no reason to put it out on Twitter that 'Nick Says Band to Re-form!'" (Watch a fan-shot video of "Outside the Wall" performed by Mason, Waters and Gilmour below.)

Outside The Wall - Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason join Roger Waters on stage 12may 2011




This is stemmed from Waters playing with Gilmour at a benefit for the Hoping Foundation in Oxfordshire, England

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/roger-waters-reunites-with-david-gilmour-for-wall-tour-20100715

Nick Mason talks about mammoth Pink Floyd reissue campaign

Written by Matt From: http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/

A pair of interviews have been published today with Nick Mason, talking about the massive Pink Floyd reissue programme that was announced this week. The first of these, with Reuters news agency, was conducted at the Hollywood EMI office, with Nick saying that "There is a slight sense that we are coming to the end of the period where people will buy the physical record with all the packaging and the information and so on. I think it's really important to try and have a last go at that, because if we do end up just downloading everything from now on it would be a shame if there wasn't on record all that good artwork and the things that went with it". Elsewhere in the interview, which you can read here, Nick talks of his pleasure that the Stephane Grappelli guest appearance was found and will be on the Wish You Were Here package. Mason also said he planned to attend the London stop of Waters "The Wall" world tour on Thursday. The other interview appears in Rolling Stone, where Nick reveals that the earliest material proved the biggest draw for him, particular tracks that emerged "from the very back of the cupboard". When the subject turns to Roger Waters, he said: "I hate to say this, because Roger is insufferable already, but his writing is extraordinary. The lyrics to Dark Side were written by a 20-something-year-old guy, but they're relevant to a 50- or 60-year-old guy. 'Time' or any of those songs have lasted extremely well. And the music has an abstraction to it that allows people to put their own visions on it. The songs leave a lot of scope for people to use their imaginations, paint their own pictures and make it a soundtrack to their thoughts and their lives. And you're most susceptible to that when you're a teenager". The full interview is online here.

Pink Floyd's Nick Mason Celebrates

LONDON – January 16, 2009: Traffic in London’s Pall Mall came to a halt today (Thursday January 15th) when the “world’s greatest racing car” driven by rock legend Nick Mason from Pink Floyd called into the Royal Automobile Club.

The club welcomed the car after thousands of readers from Octane, one of Britain’s top motoring magazines, had voted for the car which had been nominated by Sir Stirling Moss.

Nick Mason said: “The accolade is well deserved. To many the 250F is the archetypal Grand Prix car and, apart from being one of the most beautiful, it is one of the most progressive and forgiving of racing cars to drive. Who can forget what must be the most iconic of motor racing images – Fangio in a full power-slide at the French Grand Prix in 1957, with battle scars evident on the nose? (The car that is, not the driver…).”

He added: “It was a great idea from Octane to get readers to vote for their favourite racing car and I am delighted that the 250F beat its rivals.”

The magazine received thousands of votes for the car from readers around the world who had seen a series of articles putting a total of nine famous cars up for the accolade including an Auto Union Type C, Lotus 49, Porsche 917, Cobra, Mercedes-Benz W196 and Toyota TS010 Group C, but it was the 1950s F1 car that won.

The 250F competed between 1954 and 1958, during which time it won 55 races. It first raced in the 1954 Argentine Grand Prix in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio, who won the first of his two victories before he left for Mercedes Benz. Sir Stirling Moss raced his privately owned 250F for the full 1954 season. In 1956 he won the Italian Grand Prix and the Monaco Grand Prix in his private car.

In 1957, Fangio drove to four more championship victories, including his legendary win at the Nürburgring where he overcame a 50-second deficit in just 20 laps, passing the race leader on the final lap to take the win.

The cars were nominated by famous motor racing drivers and personalities, including Brian Redman, Damon Hill, Derek Bell, Carroll Shelby, Andy Wallace and Bobby Rahal. The Maserati 250F was put forward by Sir Stirling Moss, who said: “I have great affection for the 250F because it was the car that gave me my first proper break in Formula One.”

Now 79, Sir Stirling Moss is one of the best-known racers of all- time. He won 194 of the 497 races he entered, including 16 Formula One Grand Prixs.

Ben Cussons, Motoring Committee Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, said: “We are delighted to have the winning car featured outside the Club. The Maserati 250F combines the very best in both automotive design and racing car engineering of the era. Its style and appeal are timeless.”

Andrea Antonnicola, the Managing Director of Maserati GB Ltd, said: “The 250F is possibly the most iconic car in the history of Maserati, a masterpiece of engineering which won the company the ultimate motorsport accolade, the Formula One Championship. Times have changed and Maserati's core business now lies in the luxury car market, but the spirit of that era, the passion and the constant strive for excellence are part of our DNA.”

The editor of Octane, Robert Coucher, commented: “There has been a huge debate over the years as to which car could be described as the Greatest Racing Car but no-one has ever put it to the test. We decided that we would ask over 33,000 magazine readers and more than 100,000 users of the Octane website to vote.

“We also wanted the views of some of the most famous drivers in the world who have actually experienced these famous cars over the years.”

He added: “From the 1950s heyday of Grand Prix racing, the precise, pretty 250F was the weapon of choice for Moss, Fangio, Bira, Salvadori and Hawthorn.”