David Gilmour confirms Pink Floyd are over

The guitarist says it would be 'fakery' to reform with his two surviving bandmates

David Gilmour has confirmed that Pink Floyd are over.

The 69-year-old guitarist said it would be “fakery” to reform with his two surviving bandmates, Roger Waters and Nick Mason, explaining that the iconic rock band had “run its course.”

“I’m done with it. I’ve had 48 years in Pink Floyd – quite a few of those years at the beginning, with Roger,” Gilmour told Classic Rock Magazine.

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“And those years in what is now considered to be our heyday were 95 per cent musically fulfilling and joyous and full of fun and laughter. And I certainly don’t want to let the other five per cent colour my view of what was a long and fantastic time together.”

“But it has run its course, we are done – and it would be fakery to go back and do it again.”

David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1967, two years after the band’s formation in 1965 by then students Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. Syd Barrett left the group in 1968 and passed away in 2006. Rick Wright died in 2008.

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“To do it without Rick would just be wrong,” Gilmour explained. “I absolutely don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go and play stadiums … under the [Pink Floyd] banner. I’m free to do exactly what I want to do and how I want to do it.”

“Obviously I accept there are people who want to go and see and hear this legend that was Pink Floyd, but I’m afraid that’s not my responsibility.”

“It’s just a pop group. I don’t need it. I don’t need to go there. I’m not being coy or difficult – I just think that at my age I should do whatever I really want to do in life.”

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Gilmour recently revealed details of his new solo album ‘Rattle That Lock’, which will be released on September 18 and is the follow-up to 2006’s ‘On An Island’. Watch the animated video for the album’s title track, ‘Rattle That Lock’ here

He plays three consecutive nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall on September 23, 24 and 25 and will play his first North American live dates for 10 years in March and April 2016.

Gilmour has not toured since 2006, although he did recently join Bombay Bicycle onstage during their gig at London’s Earls Court Arena in December, where he played lap steel guitar on the London’s band’s own song ‘Rinse Me Down’, as well as an acoustic version of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ from the 1975 album of the same name.

David Gilmour will play:

Pula Arena, Croatia (September 12)
Verona Arena, Italy (14)
Florence Teatro Le Mulina, Italy (15)
Orange Theatre Antique, France (17)
Oberhausen Konig-Pilsener-arena, Germany (19)
London Royal Albert Hall, UK (23 – 25)
London Royal Albert Hall, UK (October 2 – 3)

To check the availability of David Gilmour tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0871 230 1094.

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