Crisis Hidden Gig
Last Monday David played guitar with Amadou & Mariam from Mali at the Crisis Hidden Gig held in the Union Chappel in Islington, London UK. The location for the show was revealed to the ticket holders the same day as a symbol of Crisis’ work for the homeless in London.
Picture kindly contributed by Richard Stone.
David played on all nine songs performed by the band (aprox 1hr 25 mins) including a version of No Way from his solo album from 1978, which has never been performed live other than the promo clip from ‘78. Read a full review of the Crisis show on Brian Damage.
David was seen using the Black Strat – confirmed by the Hendrix strap – while both the red Strat with the EMGs and the Gretsch Duo Jet was also spotted in the back but not used. The limited space on the rather cramped stage only allowed a small setup consisting of an Alessandro Bluetick 20w tube head (as seen on several 2006/07 performances) with matching cabinet. It also looked like he used an Fender Twin for monitor (note: an odd choice since he normally uses Bassman combos so this might be Amadou’s amp but it looks very much like there’s an Evidence Audio cable going into the amp, which indicates that David used it).
Picture kindly contributed by Darran.
He used the 2006 Pete Cornish board with an Ernie Ball volume pedal and the familiar looking Conn strobe tuner placed on top of the amp. As you can see from the pictures the board had tape over the on/off switches for the send/return effects (whammy, UniVibe, MXR delay) as the rack was not used. The small venue called for mild settings on the gain pedals (although very similar to the On an Island tour) and from what I can gather the settings was about this:
Demeter Compulator
gain 2:00, volume 1:30, compress (labelled ”sus”) 1:30
Pete Cornish G-2
sustain 100%, tone 10:00, volume 1:00
Pete Cornish P-1 (labelled ”muff”)
sustain 12:30, tone 10:00, volume 10:00
BK Butler Tube Driver #1
gain 8:00, lo 2:00, hi 2:00, volume 2:00
BK Butler Tube Driver #2
gain 2:00, lo 2:00, hi 11:00, volume 11:30
Picture kindly contributed by Liam Schwartz.
A handful of Gilmourish.Com friends very lucky to attend the show and has reported that it was a great night and a special treat to see David on a small stage so close to the audience. A big thanks to Darran, Richard and Liam for contributing pictures!
Woah…..always amazing to see that pedal board :)
Thanks Bjorn…are you fine?
Rick
[Yeah thanks, I'm fine! You all is well with you too :) Cheers! - Bjorn]
Hey, thanks for posting my photo! It was a great night, a once in a lifetime chance to see David’s playing up close and be able to hear his stage amps. Glad to see Liam’s sent a photo as well – it was good to have someone like-minded person next to me to share the experience with.
By the way, Bjorn, I also splashed out on one of Jeri’s replica straps a few years ago and I’m very happy to report that now I’ve seen the real thing up close I couldn’t tell the difference!
[Agree. I saw the same thing in Albert Hall in 2006. Jeri's strap is by far the closest match of the numerous copies that are available. Thanks again for the photos! - Bjorn]
Fender Twin might be for the other guitarist, Amadou.
[It could be but it looks like one of David's Evidence Audio cables are going into the Fender. Amadou is not using EA cables. - Bjorn]
Thanks again Bjorn. Always on the ball with the info and insight into David’s gigs. Nowadays I guess the first thing we photograph is his rig!
I must ask though, and I realise it’s such a basic question, but I’ve never understood the way setting are written down. For instance, when I read “sustain 12:30, tone 10:00, volume 10:00
” for the P1 I don’t understand this when I look at the actual controls on the picture. I know others might laugh, but I don’t understand:-)
I’ve never heard of those amps. I’ll have to do some research.
Thanks again for keeping us up to date.
Paul
[Thanks Paul! I'm just lucky to receive pictures and first hand comments... makes my "job" very easy :) The control knobs on the Cornish board is upside down so that David can see them even when the brightest stage lights hits the board. Quite strange but Cornish has indeed confirmed this. Flip the image and everything makes sense. - Bjorn]
GREAT JOB !!!!… you are amazing like a Fbi or Cia agent !!
This is a dimotration that Gimour Tone can be riproduced with simply gear setup….
You have missed only one thing ….. grab Gilmour’s hands..and clone it
hahahaahahah
Cheers !! By Banana
[LOL! - Bjorn]
It’s great David has played No Way again!! To me, it’s one of the best songs from the ‘78 album.
Anyway, thanks for the info Bjorn…you are always on top!
[Agree! Such a shame he didn't play anything from the 78 album on the '06 tour. Cheers! - Bjorn]
The Video …
Amadou & Mariam and DAVID GILMOUR! 25/05/09 CRISIS Hidden gig
[It's amazing how David just puts his stamp on everything he does :) - Bjorn]
Was a fantastic night! Me and my friends all had a fantastic time!
After a chat with Phil Taylor i can confirm that david was not using the the Fender amp for anything. Phil was also kind enough to let me have a very close up look at the black strat (Ill send you the pics Bjorn as soon as i get them on my computer ;) ) Even though he thaught i was a bit strange for wanting to do so! lol!
I was also luck enough to meet Polly Samson, Phil Manzanera (a very very polite and interesting person!) and after the show David himself. Even managed to get my copy of On an Island signed by both David and Polly!
O almost forgot, Phil Manzanera got a NOS Gilmour Strat for christmas! Haha! How cool is that?
Rick
[Congratulations Rick! It must have been an amazing night! Did Phil say that the Fender was David's but that he didn't use it or that it wasn't his? Please send me the pix when you get the time! Cheers! - Bjorn]
Rad! Here’s hoping some audio hits the interwebs at some point.
Hey Bjorn.
Great stuff getting this up so quickly. I was surprised to hear that David did No Way on the 1984 tour, i know he did There’s No Way Out Of Here however this is the first i have heard of No Way being performed, would you know the date(s) it was done as i would like to hear it.
Cheers mate.
Lee
[Sorry... my bad. The song is of course only performed live on the 78 promo video. Thanks for noticing! - Bjorn]
Thanks for sharing those outstanding pictures!
Holy crap! He got up close pics of the black strat and hes sending them to you, Bjorn? You have to post those as soon as you get them or just e-mail them to me. Im a total sucker for unofficial GIlmour pics! Keep it up!
[LOL! I'm very much looking forward to the pictures my self :) - Bjorn]
It´s not rare seen David using Fender amps, he recorded some tunes from DSOTM with a silver face Fender, and played some gigs (in the 70s) with a Twin reverb too :)
[Yes he did, as listed here. But lately he's mostly seen with Bassman combos but it's always nice to see that he's experimenting with different gear. - Bjorn]
Bjorn – as long as we’re asking “basic” questions – what the heck is that 4-button do-hicky with the little red-blue screen that looks like an oscilloscope? You can just see it behind David’s left elbow in the second picture above, sitting on top of the Bluetick. I saw it on the Island tour too.
[You mean his right elbow? That's a Conn Strobotuner (click for info). David and Roger has been using these since the mid 70's. - Bjorn]
Ah! And looking back, you did mention it in your writeup – I should have read more closely. But thanks Bjorn for shedding light on such a very cool retro piece of tech!
Wow! Im waited for this post! Thank you, thank you! :)
Hi
happy to say that I was there and what a fantastic night it was. I knew that it would be a small gig but bever expected to be so closem I could see the wear on the fret board!
It was an exceptional night marred only by the fact that my stuid camera decided to die on me when for the first time ever I was (legitimately) allowed to take pictues and videos :(
Could I ask a huge favour and ask you to send me any of the pictures that you have of the gig? I would be extraordinarly grateful.
And if by any chance the beautiful French girl sitting next to me would like to get in contact again please drop me a post!
Oh and btw thanks for this site – its been hugely helpful and informative and thanks in advance for any pictures you may be able to send
Steve
[Hi Steve. The pictures aren't mine so the owners have to send them themselves. Thanks for your kind words! - Bjorn]
Hey Bjorn,
I know this is a little off topic, but on Youtube I found this Video by David Walter Mohr and he demos the EMS “Synthi Hi-Fi” processor and he also has video demos of a Binson Echorec 2. So I’m psyched about, I thought you and the rest of Gilmourish would like to see. Here is the link to his Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/davidwaltermohr
-Jared
to you all that was there…..envious
Just one question with the pictures: I would like to use the latest one (http://www.gilmourish.com/wp-content/images/blog_dg0509_chwartz1024.jpg) for the Hungarian Wikipedia’s “Crisis Hidden Gig” titled article under this licence. Is it possibel? (My e-mail address is under my name!)
[The picture is not mine, so if you see this request Liam, then please reply. - Bjorn]
hey bjorn & richard,
just a qick question regarding the colour of david’s/ jeri’s straps. since I own one too, does david’s strap have the same actual (rather) dark shade of brown with lighter laces. I reckon there might be a difference when you actually see the strap, than from how it appears on pics and film. I photographed my strap and on the pics it came out darker with lighter laces, than it actually is (lighter brwon with slightly darker laces). any ideas from you guys? not that it’s a big concern, just interested…
cheers, bernhard
[It's difficult to describe but I've seen David's strap up front a couple of times and as far as I can tell, Jeri's is 100% both in design, fabric and colour. The numerous other straps available on the net are not identical to David's. - Bjorn]
yeh, I reckon that, too… especially the fabric, it’s amazing! but did you get the impression that david’s strap looks a little lighter in colour than on most photographs or on film? I should have put my question like that in the first way.. ;), b/c this is what I would assume then. jeri’s strap is lighter in colour (at least mine) than david’s on photographs and film (and even there it depends on the light and everything…). I took pictures of my strap, not even with a great camera, and alas the strap looked darker when photographed (with the laces a bit brighter), hence my assumption. I have two of martin pryce’s straps, they are a lot darker, with brighter laces.
I love jeri’s strap, a beautiful piece of great work, I’ve only been pondering that colour question for a while now. just to give you an impression here’s the strap on a photograph, it comes across a wee bit darker here than it actually is. the pic’s not the best quality, done with my cell phone, but you get an impression…
thanks again and cheers,
bernhard
[It's always difficult to judge colour nuances from photographs but all I can say is that Jeri's strap is as close to David's as possible. As far as i know, she's only used a picture that I took in Amsterdam for reference but she has enough experience to tell what fabric and colour it is. I had a strap from Martin for a competition here on the site and the fabric was different and different textured (not as "scruffy"), the laces look different and the color is a bit off the original. - Bjorn]
thanks again, man. you’re right of course, it’s very hard to judge from pictures, I’ m also convinced jeri got it down right to the spot, it just looks a little different on the pics than in natural, photographed it’s just the same, that’s were my confusion came from…
cheerio, b.
Back to Ummagumma: David Gilmour barefoot again:
http://www.davidgilmour.com/index.htm
(Select Video: Amadou & Mariam | Chicago)