ROME, March 17 (UPI) — Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour will return to Pompeii for his first live performance there in 45 years, Italy’s Culture Minister announced Wednesday.
The last time the guitarist and singer played live in the ancient city, it was to record Pink Floyd’s “Live in Pompeii” album in Oct. 1971. But that performance was recorded before an empty amphitheater. The newly announced shows will take place before an actual paying audience.
Italy’s culture minister Dario Franceschini tweeted “Agreement reached. After 45 years, David Gilmour will play again at Pompeii on 7 and 8 July.”
Gilmour’s shows will be staged at the nearby Roman Amphitheatre and not where the Pink Floyd album was recorded. The upcoming dates will be in support of Gilmour’s latest solo album “Rattle That Lock.”
Gilmour is scheduled to play another Roman theater in Verona, Italy a few days earlier.
The amphitheater where Pink Floyd performed had formerly been buried under ash for nearly 1,600 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Pink Floyd’s “Live in Pompeii” is also one of the most popular concert films in rock history.
