Pink Floyd's last performance: Live 8, Hyde Park, London, July 2, 2005

About the artist

Pink Floyd was formed in the 1960s by Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard "Rick" Wright, who met as students,^[1] with singer and guitarist Syd Barrett at its center.^[2] The band signed to EMI in February 1967 and debuted the next month with "Arnold Layne." "See Emily Play," written by Barrett, reached No. 6 in the U.K. that June, and the debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn also peaked at No. 6.^[3][4]

Guitarist David Gilmour joined in January 1968, and by the end of that month the band was playing without Barrett.^[5] The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame traces how the sound moved through long pieces like "Echoes," from Meddle (1971), into concept albums driven by Waters as chief lyricist and shaped by all four.^[4] The band first played Japan at Hakone on August 6, 1971,^[6] and returned in 1972 and 1988.^[2]

The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) gave Pink Floyd its first No. 1 in the U.S.^[7] Wish You Were Here (1975) included "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."^[4] In late 1979, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" spent four weeks at No. 1 in Britain, and the double album The Wall topped the U.S. chart.^[8] The Wall shows of 1980–81, staged just 31 times in four cities, built a wall that hid the band from view; The New York Times' John Rockwell wrote that it would be the touchstone for all future rock spectacles. The band entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, inducted by Billy Corgan.^[4]

Why this was the last show

Getting the four of them back on one stage took more than two decades. Waters left the band in 1985.^[9] Gilmour and Mason carried on as Pink Floyd,^[10] Wright returned in 1987,^[1] and on March 2, 1988, the band opened an eight-date Japanese run at the Budokan in Tokyo.^[11] Writing in 2005, Billboard described the relationship between Waters and Gilmour as long and bitter.^[10]

The Division Bell came out in Britain in March 1994 and, released in the U.S. the following month, went to No. 1 there. The tour behind it opened on March 30 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami,^[12] and closed on October 29 at Earls Court in London;^[13] on six nights of that London residency the band played The Dark Side of the Moon in full.^[12] According to Rolling Stone, the tour drew more than five million people and grossed over $250 million. The magazine wrote that, for all practical purposes, Pink Floyd ended at Earls Court, as Gilmour soon put the band aside to spend time with his family.^[13] That night in October 1994 was the band's last tour date.

Eleven years later, Bob Geldof was lining up acts for Live 8, a set of concerts meant to press the leaders of the G8 into doing more for the world's poorest countries. As Rolling Stone Italia tells it, Geldof called Gilmour first and was turned down; he even went to Gilmour's house, and the answer was still no. Mason, approached next, said no too, doubting he could change Gilmour's mind, but he emailed Waters. The two had drifted apart for years before a chance meeting on the Caribbean island of Mustique brought them back in touch. Waters was in at once and phoned Gilmour himself. Gilmour worried about rehearsal time and how long it had been since they had played, but he called back the next day to say yes, and Wright signed on as well.^[14] Ultimate Classic Rock notes that Waters had to ask Geldof for Gilmour's phone number.^[15]

When the reunion was announced, Gilmour wrote on the band's website that he wanted to push the G8 leaders to commit to fighting poverty. Next to that, he said, the band's old quarrels were petty, and if getting back together helped focus attention, "it's got to be worthwhile."^[10] He told the Associated Press the moment was "bigger than those bad feelings," and Waters said it was "great to be asked" to help.^[15]

Choosing the songs was harder. Ten days before the show, according to Rolling Stone Italia, the four met at the Connaught Hotel in London. Waters wanted to play "Another Brick in the Wall"; Gilmour objected that it was wrong for a concert about Africa. Waters' other ideas, "In the Flesh" and "Run Like Hell," struck the others as too aggressive.^[14] Rehearsals ran for three days from June 28 at Black Island Studios in west London.^[16] Mason later joked that everyone had assumed the others would remember the songs.^[15]

None of this was presented as a farewell. At the time, Billboard reported that there had been no official word, but the reunion was expected to be a one-off.^[17] The four never again appeared before an audience as Pink Floyd. With no reunion tour, Wright's death in 2008 and Gilmour's later statements that the band was finished, this site files the show as final in retrospect.

What is known about the day

Hyde Park was familiar ground. On June 29, 1968, Pink Floyd had headlined the Midsummer High Weekend in the same park.^[5] Thirty-seven years later, on July 2, 2005, it hosted the London leg of Live 8. Billboard put the crowd at about 200,000;^[17] The Cavalier Daily said more than 130,000. The music ran for twelve hours, opening with Paul McCartney and U2 playing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," and the point of the day was to raise awareness of poverty in Africa rather than money.^[18] Each act had a 20-minute slot.^[15]

Pink Floyd were the second-to-last act.^[19] Rolling Stone Italia has them starting at 11:23 p.m., straight after The Who.^[14] Alongside the four were Jon Carin on keyboards, Tim Renwick on guitar and Carol Kenyon on backing vocals.^[16] It was the first time the four had played together since 1981,^[17][15] and the band's first show of any kind since the Division Bell tour of 1994.^[17]

The set began the way The Dark Side of the Moon does, with "Speak to Me" leading into "Breathe," carried through to "Breathe (Reprise)."^[19][20] "Money," from the same album, came next.^[17] Billboard observed that the four looked happy up there.^[17]

Before the third song, Waters spoke to the crowd. It was "quite emotional," he said, to be standing up there with these three again after all these years; they were doing this for everyone who wasn't there, "and particularly of course for Syd."^[15][20] Then came "Wish You Were Here." Barrett, the band's founder, had stepped away from Pink Floyd in the late 1960s.^[17]

The closing song was "Comfortably Numb."^[19][16] Billboard pointed out that the Scissor Sisters' cover had made it a U.K. top 10 hit the year before, introducing it to a new generation.^[17] For the two writers from The Cavalier Daily, the high point of the whole night came when Gilmour started his guitar solo and the dark stage suddenly blazed with white light.^[18]

When the song ended, the four locked arms and walked off to thunderous applause.^[19] Ultimate Classic Rock called it a "somewhat awkward bow."^[15] The set had lasted about 24 minutes.^[14] Paul McCartney followed, bringing out George Michael for "Drive My Car."^[17]

Afterward, Gilmour sent Waters an email. As Waters later described it, the message thanked him for making the call and said the day had been fun.^[14]

What the show left behind

The effect showed up quickly in the numbers. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, sales of Pink Floyd's catalog jumped 1,300 percent after Live 8, and Gilmour announced he would give the proceeds to charity. The four were reportedly offered as much as $150 million for a U.S. tour. Gilmour's answer: "It's completely mad," and "we won't do it."^[15] Radio X reports Gilmour saying that the rehearsals had convinced him "it wasn't something I wanted to be doing a lot of."^[20] A month after the show, Waters told Rolling Stone he had no need for a reunion tour: one day was an exception he could make, a tour was not.^[14]

The performance was included on the four-disc Live 8 DVD, released in Japan on November 9, 2005, with Pink Floyd's set on disc 3 and rehearsal footage among the extras on disc 4.^[21][22] On November 16, Pink Floyd were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame at Alexandra Palace in London, introduced by Pete Townshend of The Who. Gilmour and Mason attended, Wright was unwell, and Waters appeared by video link.^[16]

Syd Barrett died on July 7, 2006, at 60.^[23] On May 10, 2007, at a tribute to him at London's Barbican, "Syd Barrett – Madcap's Last Laugh," Gilmour, Wright and Mason played "Arnold Layne" together. Waters performed his own "Flickering Flame" separately and did not join the closing "Bike."^[23][24] Rolling Stone describes that night as Wright's final concert and the last time Pink Floyd performed in public.^[24] It was, however, a tribute show, and Billboard's report refers to the four who appeared as "surviving members of Pink Floyd"; we have not been able to confirm that they appeared under the band's name.^[23] This site treats Live 8, announced as a Pink Floyd appearance and the last time all four played together, as the band's last stage.

Wright had also toured with Gilmour's solo band in 2006, and Gilmour recalled how surprised Wright was by the standing ovations he received.^[25] Wright died on September 15, 2008, at 65.^[25][1] "No one can replace Richard Wright," Gilmour wrote. "He was my musical partner and my friend." He added that "Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten."^[25] Rolling Stone Italia notes that his death ended any possibility of the four reuniting.^[14]

On May 12, 2011, Gilmour and Mason joined Waters at his The Wall show at London's O2 Arena. Gilmour played the "Comfortably Numb" solo from atop the wall, and Mason came out with a tambourine for the closing "Outside the Wall." On his blog, Gilmour had warned fans that the night was "most definitely a one-off." It was a date on Waters' tour, not a Pink Floyd show.^[26]

In November 2014, Pink Floyd released The Endless River, their first album in 20 years and one built largely on Wright's writing. "It's a shame, but this is the end," Gilmour told the BBC. "This is the last thing that will be out from us."^[9] In August 2015 he told Classic Rock he was "done with it": the band had "run its course," going back would be "fakery," and doing it without Rick "would just be wrong."^[27] Waters, speaking to the BBC, put it simply: "I think Live 8 was probably it."^[15]

In April 2022 a new Pink Floyd song did appear. "Hey Hey Rise Up," recorded by Gilmour and Mason on March 30 in support of the people of Ukraine, used the voice of Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian band Boombox. It was the first new original music the band had recorded since The Division Bell in 1994.^[28] But it was a recording, not a performance before an audience.

In 2025, American Songwriter called Live 8 "the last true Pink Floyd reunion."^[19] The park where the band had headlined in 1968 became the place where the four stood together on a stage for the last time.^[5]