May

Gilmour Wins Ivor Novello Award

On 22 May 2008 at the Grosvenor Hotel in London, Dave Gilmour was awarded an ‘Ivor’: an Ivor Novello Award for his Lifetime Contribution to British music. The award was presented to him by long-time friend and a man who deserved one himself: Robert Wyatt. That the winners were nominated by fellow songwriters made the award a real recognition of Gilmour’s talent by peers. On the red carpet prior to the event along with artists like Gabrielle, Mick Hucknall and Gary Barlow from Take That, Gilmour spoke of the importance of the Performing Rights Society who were responsible for collecting royalties from radio stations and other sources every time one of his songs was played.

August

Polar Music Prize

On 26 August 2008 Roger Waters and Nick Mason travelled to Sweden to receive the Polar Music Prize awarded to Pink Floyd for their exceptional contribution to music. The Polar Prize had been founded by ABBA manager and lyricist Stig Anderson in 1989; previous winners include Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles and Paul McCartney. Not only was the award handed out by the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, but the band were also awarded one million Swedish crowns, which worked out at about just over £100,000.

September

Richard Wright Dies

On 15 September 2008 Richard Wright passed away at his London home aged 65. He had been secretly battling cancer since his diagnosis in December 2007. Obituaries in the media paid full tribute to his trademark organ drones, texture and melodic runs, songwriting and even to early control of the sound effects that panned around auditoriums via early Azimuth co-ordinators. Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour were united in their emotional statements about their former collaborator and friend. Although quiet and sometimes almost invisible, musically, especially up to 1975, he was the Dark Matter that held the Pink Floyd universe together.

Gilmour’s Live In Gdansk

Dave Gilmour’s Live In Gdansk (2008) had been scheduled for release well before the death of Richard Wright, and its official release a week after Wright’s death was a fitting tribute to him. Wright’s restrained synth playing in the opening to ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ is a particular highlight. The album is a live recording of the last concert in Gilmour’s On An Island tour in 2006 which took place in front of 50,000 in the Gdansk shipyards to celebrate Poland’s 1980 revolution. With a 40-piece string orchestra providing backing for some tracks Gilmour was not only showing solidarity with the Polish movement that began in the shipyards but also with his own and Floyd’s compelling back-catalogue.

October

Gilmour Wins Q Award

David Gilmour received his award for Outstanding Contribution to Music from music magazine Q on 6 October 2008 at the Grosvenor Hotel in London’s West End. He took the opportunity to pay tribute once again to Richard Wright, saying ‘he deserves this just as much as I do. You could say...

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