David Gilmour arrived at his unmistakable guitar style quite simply. “I realized my fingers were just never going to go much faster,” the Pink Floyd legend told UCR in an interview this past summer.”

“You’ve got to find your own path in this thing,” he explained. But later, he concluded his thought, “I do wish I could do it a bit better sometimes,” punctuating those last words with a wry chuckle.

The capacity crowd in attendance at the first gig (Nov. 4) of Gilmour’s five-night run at Madison Square Garden likely would collectively find no room for improvement when it comes to the two and a half hour show they witnessed.

You can see exclusive photos from the MSG show below.

The guitarist is touring in support of Luck and Strange, his first solo album in nearly a decade and is performing the whole record, with a variety of Pink Floyd songs interspersed with the new tracks, alongside a few selections from his previous solo outing, 2015’s Rattle That Lock.

READ MORE: David Gilmour, ‘Luck and Strange’: Album Review 

That ended up being a wise move from a pacing and sequencing standpoint. After one particular stretch featuring Luck and Strange’s “The Piper’s Call,” “A Great Day for Freedom” from Pink Floyd’s 1994 album The Division Bell, Rattle That Lock’s “In Any Tongue” and the Dark Side of the Moon classic ,”The Great Gig in the Sky,” an audience member shared his feedback with the person next to him. “If all of those songs are from his new album, that new album is pretty good.”

Initially, Gilmour expressed an “unwillingness to revisit the Pink Floyd of the ‘70s,” when the tour dates were first announced, something which many assumed was related to his ongoing feud with former bandmate Roger Waters. He later softened on that stance, telling UCR that there would be “one or two from the ‘70s” in the set that was taking shape. “But a lot of the music will be newer and younger than 50 years old.”

The set list — and audience reaction — proved that Gilmour wasn’t off-base in turning his focus to some of the lesser-known corners of his catalog. Fan-shot video of the guitarist’s fiery solo on “Fat Old Sun,” from 1970’s Atom Heart Mother has been making the rounds since the tour began — and with good reason. He deservedly received his first standing ovation of the night at the song’s conclusion.

Watch David Gilmour Perform ‘Fat Old Sun’ at Madison Square Garden

Material from The Division Bell, too, was a welcome Inclusion. Particularly, “A Great Day for Freedom,” has made its first significant regular appearances in Gilmour’s solo set lists on this current tour, having only been aired out a handful of times in the early 2000s. “The Great Gig in the Sky” was another stunning moment, with the legendarily emotional vocal improvisations of the original now handled as a quartet by vocalist and pianist Louise Marshall, the Webb Sisters and Gilmour’s daughter, Romany. The trio of singers surrounded Marshall at the piano, accented by candles all around them, with Gilmour off to the side, adding contemplative pedal steel parts.

Anyone who’s ever seen a Pink Floyd or Gilmour concert will know that the visuals play a huge part and that was certainly true at Madison Square Garden. There’s a particular moment in “High Hopes” that without ruining the surprise, marries what’s happening with the video on-screen perfectly with an unexpected added component inside the arena.

It’s no shock that songs like “Wish You Were Here” and “Comfortably Numb” (the latter being the encore and final song of the night) brought some of the biggest reactions with the audience singing every word with substantial volume. But the material from Luck and Strange fared equally well — and “Scattered,” which closed out the second part of the main set with yet another incredible Gilmour solo, is just one of several that made a major impact.

Watch David Gilmour Perform ‘Scattered’ at Madison Square Garden

This week’s concerts in New York are the last in a series of global residencies that the guitar legend began on Sept. 27 in Rome. Italy, where he performed a total of six shows. An additional six dates followed in London, England at the legendary Royal Albert Hall. Gilmour’s current promotional run then came to the United States for his first shows here in eight years, with nine dates spread between Los Angeles and New York City.

READ MORE: David Gilmour Performs in Los Angeles

If Gilmour has his way, fans won’t have to wait as long for the follow-up to Luck and Strange to arrive. During the conversation with UCR, he confirmed that he already had ideas for new music beginning to take shape. “I will definitely be moving onto that in the new year.”

The New York dates continue tonight (Nov. 6) at Madison Square Garden.

David Gilmour Nov. 4, 2024 Madison Square Garden, New York City Set List
1. “5 A.M.”
2. “Black Cat”
3. “Luck and Strange”
4. “Breathe (In the Air)
5. “Time”
6. “Breathe” (Reprise)
7. “Fat Old Sun”
8. “Marooned”
9. “A Single Spark”
10. “Wish You Were Here”
11. “Vita Brevis”
12. “Between Two Points”
13. “High Hopes”
14. “Sorrow”
15. “The Piper’s Call”
16. “A Great Day for Freedom”
17. “In Any Tongue”
18. “The Great Gig in the Sky”
19. “A Boat Lies Waiting”
20. “Coming Back to Life”
21. “Dark and Velvet Nights”
22. “Sings”
23. “Scattered”
24. “Comfortably Numb”