David joins Jeff Beck on stage!
Last Saturday, July 4th, David joined Jeff Beck on stage at the legendary Royal Albert Hall in London. David was introduced late in the show as a special guest. Totally unannounced and naturally a huge surprise for the audience. Together they performed two Beck classics – Jerusalem and Hi Ho Silver Lining. David used his black Strat, the scaled down Pete Cornish ‘06 pedal board and what appears to be three Alessandro heads powering two WEM cabs.
Jeff Beck was apparently a candidate for replacing Syd in 1968 although the band probably never had the nerves to approach him and of course, he played guitar on Roger’s Amused to Death album. Gilmour has stated many times that Beck has always been a huge contemporary influence, which is no surprise when listening to early albums like Beck-Ola (my favourite). In fact, the original solo on Hi Ho Silver Lining could very well be Gilmour. Anyway… It’s good to see these two legends on the same stage!
(Thanks to Rafal for spotting the pedal setups!)
Thanks for posting two of my all-time favorite players, it was a real treat. I just loved Jeff’s boots ;).
Jae
Great news, Jeff Beck is one of my favourite guitarists. On the Floydian side, I think that his guitar work on “Amused to Death” is simply outstanding. Acording to Roger Waters on that album Beck used an Stratocaster and a Fender Bassman- Bjorn, do you have any idea of what other gear Jeff Beck used on that album? As always congratulations for you site.
Regards,
Fernando
[I've read the same as you but I have no idea what effects he used. Beck has always been a minimalist compared to David so I would assume that he's using only a handful of pedals or perhaps mostly just the amp. - Bjorn]
Nice to see David playing out. Especially with a fellow legend. It’s amazing how well they can still play.
I’ll see jeff beck in concert in Barcelona(22 july) and two days later Robert Fripp. I just hope to see gilmour and Clapton someday.
Cheers
Alberto from Spain
David has worked with a few of the Beatles and Eric Clapton hasn’t he?
[His shared the stage with Clapton a couple of times and done a lot of session work for both Ringo and Paul as well as numerous shows with Paul. - Bjorn]
Hey Bjorn thanks for keeping this sight such a resource and inspiration.These are great clips.All the best to you
[Thanks for your kind words and support Dave! - Bjorn]
Is it Jerusalem from Emerson, Lake and Palmer? I think it is!!
[Yes. Originally it's a hymn written by poet William Blake I think but both ELP and Beck (and several others) did their own version in the 70's. It's become sort of a favorite among many prog bands. - Bjorn]
My two favorite guitarists onstage together…
That video is like a 6 minute orgasm!
Thanks a lot for posting it! i get exited whenever there’s a new blog entry or just hearing that dave’s still playing. by the way, whats with the allesandro amp heads, he also used it for the crisis gig and maybe (correct me if i’m wrong) on an island, he seems to be developing a thing for that one lately.
[He's seen using an Allesandro during recording sessions at Abbey Road but I'm not sure if this ended up on the album. He also used it on a couple of smaller gigs on the tour (TV/special events). - Bjorn]
I’ve had a hard time getting into Becks earlier albums, Rod Stewart’s voice just puts me off.
[I agree to some extent. But give the albums a chance. It's pure classic rock and lots of cool guitar playing. - Bjorn]
Seeing my two favorite guitarists dueling gives me goosebumbs… Thanks for what you do for us! He’s using the Allesandro a lot lately, is it a Hiwatt/Sound City/Reeves clone or something completely different?
[I've never tried an Allesandro but as far as I know these small amps are state of the art with a beautiful clean tone and very loud. The little I've heard reminds me of something between a Hiwatts and a Bassman, which would fit David nicely I think... - Bjorn]
Dont you ust love Jeff Becks reaction to Mr Gilmours (are they pinched)harmonics on the first clip Jerusalem at 40 seconds.Brilliant !
[Yes! Great to see how much they admire each other! - Bjorn]
Saw Jeff in Manchester the other week & he was great! To see my two favorite players on the same stage from the clips above makes me think I got tickets to the wrong venue! haha
Did you see Gilmour at the charity thing a couple of weeks back – with Kate Moss on vocals ?! Havn’t seen anything on youtube, but there were photos from the event in the UK press. David is certainly getting out and about a bit at the moment. I also saw Beck at Manchester – he was superb.
[Haven't seen any film from the event. I understand that the whole appearance was quite impromptu from David. Good to see that he still enjoy playing. Hopefully we'll have a new album some day. - Bjorn]
Thanks for posting the clips, it was a great evening!
Slightly off subject, we have a campaign for Pink FLoyd to reunite to reunite Cyprus. http://wwww.facebook.com/onecyprus
Brilliant site by the way..
Incidentally does David ever use Orange Amps?
[Never seen him use Orange. Some sources - Orange Amps being one of them - claims that Floyd used Orange in the early days but this originates from a couple of pictures of the band using in-house equipment on a festival around 1968. - Bjorn]
GODE GUD!!!! Dette var to 5 minutters “pure heaven”!!!!!!!
Siiinsykt heftig Bjørn! Nydelig side forresten….Innom her hver dag : )
[Takk for det! - Bjorn]
Unrelated to Jeff Beck but I have a ‘65 Fender Twin Reverb Reissue about five years old and it is about time to change some of the tubes if not all including the preamp, etc. What do you recommend for a vintage Gilmourish sound? I know it’s not a Hiwatt but good tubes could help get the sound better as you wrote.
Another amp question: The modifications Hiwatt does to the David Gilmour Signature Series Hiwatt are linking the imputs to make it sound brighter, right? Does a cable pedal connecting the links in front as you described do the same thing? If so it seems too easy to do to bother with getting the signature series anything. Cheers,
[The Twin has 12AX7 seven tubes in the preamp stage I think. I use JJ Electronic tubes in my amp. Always liked them. Linking the two channels is an old trick to get a bit more presence in the tone. The signature series, which are now discontinued, has this feature but you can easily do the mod yourself with a small cable. If your amp has four inputs, link the upper normal with the lower bright and plug your guitar into the upper bright. Set the bright volume slightly lower than the normal. - Bjorn]
Sorry, I meant to write above why bother getting a David Gilmour Signature Series Amp when a custom 50 with a cable linking the input/outputs does the same thing. Is this correct.
Anyway, hats off to Beck, David and this great website. Thanks in advance for being such a great resource. Takk (I assume that means thanks).
[The signature series is now discontinued because Hiwatt never really had a deal with Gilmour. I'm not sure if these amps featured any other specifications than the linked input but David's amps are modified several times over the years for the best performance. As I said in the previous post, you can easily do the linked inputs mod yourself. Cheers! - Bjorn]
I’m almost ashamed to admit it – but I only knew vaguely the name “Jeff Beck” and didn’t really know the man or his music. My music formative years were in the late 70’s early 80’s, and by that time he was doing his fusion stuff which a young punk like me wouldn’t have been interested in. I didn’t grow up with a guitar in my hand and only came to it now in mid-life.
A month ago my local video station ran the “Live at Ronny Scott’s” show, and I thought, I should really check this guy out. After all, he’s got a Strat model and a humbucker named after him. I was expecting just another good but conventional/heard-it-before rock/blues gunslinger.
Oh. My. God.
Obviously, by being on this site I admire Gilmour. And my pantheon includes Santana, SRV, Hendrix, Clapton – the usual. But I gotta say, and I don’t want to start a religious war here -this is just my personal opinion – none move me like Beck. And he does things with that damn strat that I don’t even UNDERSTAND.
I’m at work and YouTube is blocked. I think I’ll have to skip out early and check this one out at home.
[I've been following Beck on and off for some time and he always amaze me. I have never really covered all he's done but the little I know is outstanding. No one plays guitar like him. If you haven't already check out Roger Waters' Amused to Death album. Beck plays lead on most songs. In my opinion some of his best work. Cheers! - Bjorn]
1:00 to 1:30 on second vid… Is he nearly dancing??? That’s ok for me, but please, watch out for the cable!
Thanks for the vids !
[LOL! - Bjorn]
Hi, Bjorn.
Great videos!!!
Amazing to see those giants playing together.
It would have been great if David had guested at Ronny Scott’s, so we could have this on DVD…
I must say that I found out this version of Jerusalem quite different from ELP’s. And I haven’t heard any Jeff Beck previous recording of this song. Do you know any source?
Another question: you mentioned that David have played with Eric Clapton a couple of times. I have never heard anything about that, but it got me really curious!!! Do you remember when and where that happened? What have they played???
Cheers,
Luciano
[I'm not sure if Beck has ever recorded Jerusalem... but perhaps someone here knows his catalogue better than me. As far as I know, the only time Eric and David has played together was during the encore at the Cowdray Ruins benefit concert in 1993 as a part of the all-star band featuring most of the 1987-94 Floyd members. Not sure what they played. - Bjorn]
Off Topic
Bjorn, I don’t know if you have any experience with pedals from Officially Licensed Circuits. I recently bought and assembled the kit for the “Dr. Watt” which is a solid-state “interpretation” of the DR-504 preamp.
http://www.olcircuits.com/olc_drwatt.html
I don’t have an actual Hiwatt/Sound City/Reeves (or the soundproof room I’d need to enjoy it fully in) so I can’t say how true a reproduction it is – but with the gain up it does have that “Miles and Miles” sound. And with the gain (aka “volume”) turned down, at bedroom levels it gives a nice Gilmourish voice to my ultra (too?) clean but non-Gilmourish SS amp , and un-harshes my Muff. (THAT sounds weird, but I know you know what I mean).
[I've never tried this one but I've read a couple of reviews... good and bad. Need to check it out! Thanks for the info :) - Bjorn]
This is awesome. Between this and the 1992 Gilmour/Stewart recording of “In A Broken Dream” found here.
It’s been a great Gilmour week!
[Cool! I've never heard this actually. Great playing by David! You can hear the red Strat with the EMGs, the Tube Driver and chorus. Typical setup for the period. - Bjorn]
I recommend “Blow By Blow” by Jeff Beck, beautiful album and amazing playing. Also, the album “Truth” is great
It’s interesting to see them together. Jeff Beck would not have been a good fit for Pink Floyd, as Bob Fripp would not have been a good fit for Yes or Genesis (these cases were actual possibilities…Beck to replace Barrett and Fripp to replace Banks (Yes) and Hackett (Genesis)).
At the stages of their careers when these opportunities were open to them, both Beck and Fripp were solidly in leadership roles and would not have been good side players. To be a great musician, I believe that one must be both. Both Fripp and Beck have learned over the years, how to subvert their own musical aspirations for the sake of the overall.
David Gilmour has always been able to do this. His position in Pink Floyd required him to be able to both lead and follow. It’s rare to find someone with this flexible temperament.
Now, what I really want to see is David and Alex Lifeson playing together! Now that they’ve become personal acquaintances, hopefully this will happen someday.
[I agree. Beck wouldn't have lasted long in Floyd... or Floyd wouldn't have lasted long with him. I'm not really sure whether they actually asked him or if it was just a desperate wish but I'm glad they decided on David :) At the time David was used to play rhythm in several bands and he was far from being the guitar hero that he later became so I guess it was only natural for him to "stay in the shadow" and find his place in the band and the music. - Bjorn]
Thanks again for these great articles and tributes regarding Gilmour, Bjorn. They are required reading for Gilmour-worshipping players everywhere. I have a suggestion for your next future article. I would be extremely grateful if, as with reverb and compression, etc., you wrote a blog/feature about the do’s and don’t’s of delay and how to achieve the perfect all-purpose Gilmourish delay using a variety of popular delay pedals, etc. This seems to be the one thing on your site that is somewhat overlooked or possibly it’s something that should be more common sense that I simply lack LOL. Thank you.
Cheers!,
Alex
[Hi Alex! Thanks for your kind words and suggestion :) An article about delays is certainly on the list and it's a topic I get a lot of questions about. Cheers! - Bjorn]
With Tal Winkelfeld at the bass, great player!!
I would love to see David do something with Mark Knopfler too.
They both have very interesting tones and sounds, and I thing a collaboration between the two would be awesome.
~Pavan
Bjorn,
I just watched the Gilmour/Beck videos and it some amazing stuff to listen to, Beck for some reason reminds me more of Hendrix than Gilmour for some reason, different touch on the guitar maybe? Another thing, I have to tell you how great Identity is, it’s so nice to listen to some music that is carefully crafted and hasn’t fallen victim to the “loudness war” that is currently going on. Colours and Sounds That I Hear are my favorite songs on the album, while the Gilmour influence is obvious it also reminds me of Brothers In Arms era Dire Straits. Keep up the great work!
(Thanks a lot for your kind words Eric! Glad you like our music! I’m very influenced by Gilmour… no point in hiding that :) But I’m glad you hear other influences and nuances in my playing as well. I listen to a lot of different guitarist from many different genres, Knopfler definititely being one of them, and I like to blend all kind of stuff into my own style and playing… :) – Bjorn)
fantastic stuff. good to see david out and playing with others.
Bjorn,
Sorry for being off topic again but I just got the Callaham S bridge and brought it down to my guitar guy to have it installed, I have a 2007 MIM Classic Player 50’s strat, do you think he’ll have to do any major drilling or cutting to to install it? I’d feel kinda queasy if the bottom of the block was sticking out the back of the guitar or something like that lol. Anyway I’m definately excited about it, I’ve got the Fender 69’s installed so it should be a pretty nice setup by the time it’s through.
[I think it will fit nicely. As far as I know the CPs have the same specs as the Classic and Vintage series. Only difference is the MIM Standard Strats. - Bjorn]
I need a Cowdray Concert 2002 (on audio or video) with David Gilmour, Ringo Starr, Roger Taylor and others. Please, help me to information!
[Not sure if it excist but check out Yeeshkul. - Bjorn]
now guys you really got me down to my knees,
my two best ever guitar players foolin’n around together
in happiness, nothin could be better for my 60th anniversary
thanks an awful lot, you made my day
Cool stuff!!
Seriously, who dresses Jeff Beck?!