Rhino Factoids: Pink Floyd Reunites for a Night

On this date in 2011, the world – or, more specifically, the attendees of a Roger Waters concert at London’s O2 Arena – witnessed what is technically likely to go down in history as the last live performance of Pink Floyd.

It’s well documented that Roger Waters and David Gilmour haven’t played together publically very often since Pink Floyd’s infamous dissolution in the wake of the band’s 1983 album, The Final Cut, when Waters declared the band to be “a spent force creatively” and Gilmour and founding member Nick Mason took Waters to court and ultimately earned the right to use the Pink Floyd name in perpetuity. In 2005, the classic lineup of Waters, Gilmour, Mason, and Rick Wright finally put their differences aside long enough to perform at the charity concert Live 8, and while the band turned down a highly lucrative offer for a “final tour” together, Waters didn’t dismiss the possibility that they might reunite again for some other charitable endeavor. In the end, though, the only time all four of them managed to find themselves performing at the same venue was on May 10, 2007 – Waters performed a solo version of “Flickering Flame” and Gilmour, Wright, and Mason played “Bike” and “Arnold Layne” – after which any chance of the classic lineup finding themselves onstage together again ended on September 15, 2008, when Wright died of cancer.

In 2010, though, Gilmour convinced Waters to team up with him for a charity event for the Hoping Foundation, but only after Waters got Gilmour to agree to perform “Comfortably Numb” at one of Waters’ solo shows at the O2 Arena. That moment took place on May 12, 2011, but before the evening concluded, the audience had another surprise in store: when the time came to perform “Outside the War,” not only did Gilmour take the stage again, armed with a mandolin, but Waters also said, “By a strange and extraordinary, happy coincidence, there is another remnant of our old band here tonight: please welcome Mr. Nick Mason to the stage!” And, lo, Mason did join Gilmour and Waters, playing tambourine.

Are we likely to see these three gentlemen play together again? One never likes to say never, but if it doesn’t happen, at least we’ve still got The Wall.