Listen to David Gilmour Go Solo and Chrissie Hynde Cover The Beatles on One Night in 1986
On Feb. 9, 1986, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, Chrissie Hynde and Annie Lennox shared a bill at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Photo: Getty Images Music Features David Gilmour
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On Feb. 9, 1986, The Who’s Pete Townshend and Colombian musician Chucho Merchan hosted the Colombian Volcano Disaster Appeal Concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall to benefit a volcanic disaster in Colombia that had occurred just months before. The bill that night featured solo sets from a who’s-who of frontpeople without their venerated bands, including Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Annie Lennox (Eurythmics), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Townshend, who took the stage with his side band, Deep End (and even brought up his oldest daughter, Emma). Gilmour, who had assembled an outstanding band in what was a rare solo performance, played two tracks from his second solo album, 1984’s About Face, in addition to a pair of classics from Pink Floyd’s dark opus, The Wall. During this time, Gilmour and Pink Floyd mastermind Roger Waters were locked in legal battles surrounding contractual disagreements with the band, and Gilmour had begun to explore solo musical pursuits.
Listen to David Gilmour do an emotional “Comfortably Numb” as his set-closer for this unique benefit concert, which was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio show.
Here’s Chrissie Hynde digging into her Pretenders megahit, “Back on the Chain Gang.”
…and returning for a cover of The Beatles’ “In My Life.”