David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.5

David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 6, 2017

It’s perhaps indicative of the enduring popularity of Pink Floyd and/or David Gilmour that Columbia is releasing two editions of Live at Pompeii (this one and a deluxe edition with a bonus Blu-ray, CDs and additional swag). Pink Floyd has been at the forefront of some really beautiful Blu-ray releases, including Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd: The Division Bell and Pink Floyd: The Endless River (there’s also Pink Floyd: The Early Years for those who don’t go into sticker shock at the sight of the price), though at least some of those releases tended to skimp a bit on video quality (often due to the source). One thing that has not made it to Blu-ray yet, at least that I’ve been able to find, is the 1972 documentary film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (culled from an October 1971 series of concerts the band gave), though evidently a CD of the concert is included in the massive Early Years set (reportedly initially due to an accidental release which was intended to be another CD). One of the interesting things about the Pink Floyd performances is that they were done (largely) without an audience (a few hangers on were in attendance, as is mentioned in a supplement included with this current release), something that made this particular “concert film” a bit of an anomaly in the general era of Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music and Monterey Pop. That salient fact meant that when David Gilmour returned to the Pompeii Amphitheater in July 2016, this time with a smallish (for “arena rock” venues, anyway) audience in the low thousands in attendance, he became the first public performance at the venue in literally thousands of years.

For my thoughts on the concert, please see our David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray review.

This disc contains the following tracks:

Part 1

5 A.M.
Rattle That Lock
Faces of Stone
What Do You Want From Me
The Blue
The Great Gig in the Sky
A Boat Lies Waiting
Wish You Were Here
Money
In Any Tongue
High Hopes

Part 2

One of These Days
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1 - 5)
Fat Old Sun
Coming Back to Life
On an Island
Today
Sorrow
Run Like Hell
Time / Breathe (In the Air) (Reprise)
Comfortably Numb

David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality is assessed in our David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray review.

David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality is assessed in our David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray review.

David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Pompeii Then and Now (1080p; 7:16) finds Gilmour and company touring the amphitheater, which has copious photo documentation of Pink Floyd's 1971 appearance there. Gilmour also receives an honored citizen award.

David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For those pinching pennies, this release gives you the great concert footage but is lacking all of the bonus material of the Deluxe Edition. You can't really go wrong with either release, and whatever your budget allows, David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii comes Highly recommended.