On an Island was a concert tour by musician David Gilmour to promote his third studio album, On an Island (2006).
Background Richard Wright, Phil Manzanera and Guy Pratt joined Gilmour on tour to promote the album. The tour also featured Dick Parry, who played saxophone on the Pink Floyd albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Division Bell and Jon Carin who, in 1980s and 1990s, toured with Pink Floyd. Zbigniew Preisner conducted the orchestra in concert at Gdańsk. Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason joined to play "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb" at one of the London shows. David Bowie made a guest appearance in London, performing vocals on "Comfortably Numb" and "Arnold Layne", the latter subsequently released as a live single. David Crosby and Graham Nash also appeared on select dates, reprising their studio performance of "On an Island", as well as singing on three other songs.
The tour was documented by the release of a live DVD/Blu-ray, Remember That Night; recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2006 and a live album, Live in Gdańsk; a recording of the final show of the tour at the Gdańsk Shipyard, Poland in August 2006.
Set list
Set one: "Speak to Me"/"Breathe" "Time"/"Breathe (Reprise)"(At the beginning of the tour the above tracks were played during Set 2) On an Island (entire album)(At the beginning of the tour the On an Island album made up the entire first set. The album was originally played in order, but half way through the US tour "Take a Breath" was moved so it was played after "Smile".) All above tracks were present at every show.
Set two: The second set featured a selection of these tracks: "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1–2, 4–5)" (Always present in the set. Occasionally performed with David Crosby and Graham Nash. "Part 3" was omitted to make the song's intro more guitar focused.) "Astronomy Domine" (Added during the second European tour, after the UK tour.) "Wot's... Uh the Deal?" "Wearing the Inside Out" "Fat Old Sun" "Dominoes" "Arnold Layne" (was added at the end of the US leg with Richard Wright on lead vocals. A performance at the Royal Albert Hall on 29 May featured David Bowie on vocals) "Coming Back to Life" "High Hopes" (Always present in the set) "The Great Gig in the Sky" (performed on 30th/31 May with Mica Paris and during the early European dates, but was dropped until the London dates.) "Echoes" (Always present in the set, always the show-closer before the encore.)
Encore: "Wish You Were Here" (Always present in the set. On 31 May Nick Mason played drums) "Find the Cost of Freedom" (only performed with David Crosby and Graham Nash) "Comfortably Numb" (Always the final song of the shows. On 29 May at the Royal Albert Hall David Bowie sang lead vocals on the verses. On 31 May Nick Mason played drums.)
Other songs: Special performances of the following songs: "On the Turning Away" (Venice, Italy on 11/12 August) Unrehearsed, impromptu performance, played during the second set. "Dark Globe" (Performed during July & August) Solo performances by Gilmour, performed after the death of Syd Barrett. "A Great Day for Freedom" (Gdańsk, Poland on 26 August) One-off performance. The song is about the freedom brought to the Eastern Bloc with the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was this, in part, that the concert was celebrating.
Personnel
Main band
David Gilmour – lead guitar, rhythm guitar on "Dominoes", vocals, console steel guitar, acoustic lap steel guitar, cümbüş, alto saxophone on "Red Sky at Night" Richard Wright – piano, organ, synthesiser, vocals Phil Manzanera – rhythm guitar, additional lead guitar on "On an Island" and "Then I Close My Eyes", lead guitar on "Dominoes", vocals, glass harmonica on "Shine On" (Venice, 11 August and Gdańsk) Guy Pratt – bass guitar, double bass, vocals, guitar on "Then I Close My Eyes", glass harmonica on "Shine On" (Venice, 11 August and Gdańsk) Jon Carin – keyboards, synthesiser, vocals, lap steel guitar Dick Parry – tenor and baritone saxophones, glass harmonica on "Shine On" (Venice, 11 August and Gdańsk) Steve DiStanislao – drums, percussion, vocals
Special guests
David Crosby – vocals on "On an Island", "The Blue", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Find the Cost of Freedom" (various dates) Graham Nash – vocals on "On an Island", "The Blue", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Find the Cost of Freedom" (various dates) Robert Wyatt – cornet on "Then I Close My Eyes" (Royal Albert Hall shows) David Bowie – vocals on "Arnold Layne" and "Comfortably Numb" (Royal Albert Hall, 29 May) Mica Paris – vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky" (Royal Albert Hall 30 and 31 May) Nick Mason – drums on "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb" (Royal Albert Hall, 31 May) Igor Sklyarov – glass harmonica on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (Venice, 12 August) Leszek Możdżer – piano (Gdańsk, 26 August 2006) Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zbigniew Preisner (Gdańsk, 26 August) Sam Brown – vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky" (Paris, 16 March)
Tour dates + List of 2006 concerts Date City Country Venue Note7 March 2006LondonEnglandMermaid TheatreFilmed for BBC broadcast10 March 2006DortmundGermanyKonzerthausFirst live performance of "Wot's...Uh the Deal"; First of "Echoes" in 18 years; Featuring "Dominoes"11 March 2006HamburgCongress Centrum Hamburg15 March 2006ParisFranceLe Grand Rex16 March 2006L'OlympiaFeaturing Sam Brown in a performance of "The Great Gig in the Sky"18 March 2006FrankfurtGermanyAlte Oper19 March 2006AmsterdamNetherlandsHeineken Music Hall20 March 200624 March 2006MilanItalyTeatro Arcimboldi25 March 200626 March 2006RomeAuditorium Parco Della Musica4 April 2006New York CityUnited StatesRadio City Music HallFirst concert on tour to feature Crosby and Nash; First to feature "Find The Cost Of Freedom"5 April 20069 April 2006TorontoCanadaMassey Hall10 April 200612 April 2006ChicagoUnited StatesRosemont Theatre13 April 200616 April 2006San FranciscoOakland Paramount Theatre17 April 200619 April 2006Los AngelesKodak Theatre20 April 2006Gibson Amphitheatre26 May 2006ManchesterEnglandBridgewater Hall27 May 2006GlasgowScotlandClyde Auditorium29 May 2006LondonEnglandRoyal Albert HallFilmed performance; Featuring Robert Wyatt, David Bowie, David Crosby and Graham Nash30 May 2006Filmed performance; Featuring Mica Paris, Robert Wyatt, David Crosby and Graham Nash31 May 2006Filmed performance; Featuring Mica Paris, Nick Mason, Robert Wyatt, David Crosby and Graham Nash27 July 2006KlamAustriaKlam CastleFeaturing the first performances of "Astronomy Domine" and "Dark Globe" on the tour29 July 2006MunichGermanyKönigsplatz31 July 2006VienneFranceThéâtre Antique2 August 2006FlorenceItalyPiazza Santa Croce11 August 2006VenicePiazza San Marco12 August 2006Featuring an unrehearsed performance of "On The Turning Away"26 August 2006GdańskPolandGdańsk ShipyardFilmed performance; Featuring orchestra; Featuring "A Great Day for Freedom"
References Citations
Sources