Watch David Gilmour and David Bowie Perform “Comfortably Numb”

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Surprisingly, David Bowie only made one appearance at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London throughout his whole career. Even then, it was only as a special guest, and it was for a unique two-song encore duet with David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.

More than five hours of video from the 2006 gig documenting David Gilmourโ€™s version of Pink Floyd playing at the famed venue can be seen in the concert film Remember That Night: Live At The Royal Albert Hall. Backstage, Bowie rehearsed two Floyd songs with Gilmourโ€™s band before his cameo appearance: โ€œArnold Layne,โ€ from their 1967 first single, and โ€œComfortably Numb,โ€ from 1979โ€™s The Wall. The singer was seen chatting pleasantly with a camera team capturing what would be the concert film, so itโ€™s safe to assume he wasnโ€™t nervous about performing again two years after the forced cancellation of his Reality Tour in 2004.

In the brief chat, Bowie expressed enthusiasm for a plan to playfully humiliate Gilmour behind the scenes. โ€œIโ€™d say Iโ€™m a big Pink Floyd fan,โ€ Bowie said, as Gilmour joined in on the conversation. โ€œThe first time I saw them, my parents dragged me along when I was six or seven. I saw them at the Marquee I think.โ€

Gilmour laughs, knowing that Bowie was in his teens when Pink Floyd first started to make rounds in the music scene. โ€œSix or seven, I think not!โ€ Later that night, Bowie made a memorableย appearance onstage with the band, and the audience could tell how much the two musicians admired one another.

Check out David Gilmour and David Bowieโ€™s performance of โ€œComfortably Numbโ€ below.

YouTube video