Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Pink Floyd

To say that Pink Floyd’s performances in the last two decades have been sporadic would be an understatement. This said, having only entered into an “extended hiatus” in 2014, the band has never truly ended. Late last year, David Gilmour once again teased that there might be more of the band to come. With his statement speculation began anew as to whether there could be more to expect from Pink Floyd in future.

With relations between the members, while hardly rock-solid, better than they have been in past, the prospect of a reunion seems more than tenable as it’s ever been. Still, Gilmour’s reticence to work with Roger Waters and Waters’ own differences with Gilmour continues to create an age-old impasse. Any one-off of the performances would be exceptional and the prospect of a full-blown Pink Floyd tour even less likely. But all this said, there’s an element of never say never which continues to hang about the Pink Floyd name. The prospect of more Pink Floyd is never entirely an impossibility.

This in mind, Cosmic examines the reasons for and against a Pink Floyd reunion. There are many factors suggesting Pink Floyd may again return. But first, let’s look at the reasons why the group might not.

Roger Waters Does and Doesn’t Want It

If ever there was an incomprehensibly difficult character in the Pink Floyd story it’s Roger Waters. Waters’ position regarding Pink Floyd reunions, to put it simply, is inconsistent. After he left the band in 1985 and legally tried to have Pink Floyd dissolved, Waters has been frequently critical of his former bandmates. And yet, he’s returned to share the stage with them several times.

“Why would I want to do that?” he told one Rolling Stone reporter recently when asked about a reunion. “I can’t think of anything I want to do less than go and sing ‘Set the Controls’ in a pub.” Yet in the same interview Waters talked of a “big meeting” in June 2019 where Waters, Nick Mason and Gilmour discussed “a big peace plan.”

It came to nothing.  “They all hoped that we could kiss and make up and everything would be wonderful in a cozy, wonderful world,” he shared. “Well, it wouldn’t be all that cozy or wonderful for me, because I left Pink Floyd in 1985 for a reason. The reason being that I wanted to get on with my work.”

The Gilmour and Waters Rift

While Waters seems to be on good terms with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, he’s still at odds with Gilmour. Commenting on why the two don’t get along to Rolling Stone Mason has stated: “I think the problem is Roger doesn’t really respect David. He feels that writing is everything, and that guitar playing and the singing are something that, I won’t say anyone can do, but that everything should be judged on the writing rather than the playing… I think it rankles with Roger that he made a sort of error in a way that he left the band assuming that without him it would fold.”

Gilmour has his own take on the matter. “Roger was tired of being in a pop group,” he confided during one of his own interviews with Rolling Stone. “He is very used to being the sole power behind his career. The thought of him coming into something that has any form of democracy to it, he just wouldn’t be good at that… We really don’t have that much in common anymore.”

“I think Roger is very used to being the power,” Gilmour continues, “the sole power, behind his career. And that’s great for him. But I think the thought of him coming back into something that has any form of democracy to it wouldn’t be what he’d be good at… We really don’t have that much in common anymore.”

Talking to The Telegraph Gilmour has continued this train of thought. “Roger and I don’t particularly get along,” he noted. “We still talk. It’s better than it has been. But it wouldn’t work. People change. Roger and I have outgrown each other, and it would be impossible for us to work together on any realistic basis.”

Gilmour’s General Disinterest In Music

Gilmour is not only publicly apathetic about Pink Floyd. When it comes to music the 73-year-old has slowed down considerably.  Roger Waters has even gone as far as to label his former bandmate a retiree, though Gilmour himself would simply state he has no immediate future plans.

Gilmour Likes It Low Key

When it comes to touring Gilmour has stated that he enjoys working on a smaller scale than when he was with Pink Floyd.  “Going bigger was something that I was definitely moving away from,” he shared with Rolling Stone.  “I’ve done those tours. I’ve enjoyed those tours, loved them. But to me, that whole thing was becoming bigger than I liked. I wasn’t enjoying the size of it so much, the lack of connection with people that are a long, long way away from you.”

The Legalities

When Waters left Pink Floyd he did so under the original Band Agreement. This contract stated that while any member was free to leave whenever they wanted, once they did, they left for life. This makes Mason and Gilmour the only two legal remaining members. If any touring or recording, rather than an informal one-off show, was to take place it would be a legal nightmare.  Having Waters, volatile as he is on a good day, perform in Pink Floyd would likely require some kind of complex and ego-bruising conditions on both sides. In other words, it might simply be too much bother for any of the three of them to actually stick around to figure out.

It Wouldn’t Be Same Without Rick Wright

Keyboardist Rick Wright, while not a technical member of the band since legally being ejected during the recording sessions for The Wall, was an important element of Pink Floyd. Following his passing in 2008 many fans have asserted that any gathering of the other three members just isn’t the same. Others, of course, would point out that Floyd has survived several personal changes throughout the years.

Gilmour though would disagree. “He is just as vital as anyone else to this thing,” he once shared of Wright. “He creates a whole sonic landscape in all the things that we do. That is something you can’t reproduce anywhere. No one else does it quite like him.”

They Don’t Need The Money

George Harrison once quipped that the only reason the Beatles would get back together would be because they were all broke. Like the two surviving Beatles, Pink Floyd’s former members are hardly strapped for cash. Waters is worth an estimated $310 million, while Gilmour is believed to have $160 million in the bank. Mason enjoys his own estimated personal fortune of $150 million.

AND YET. And yet there are several factors suggesting that despite all the talk, the band might just want to get back together. After all, they did reunite for Live 8 and later shared the stage at a Syd Barrett tribute concert. Furthermore, Waters has performed with Gilmour at a Palestinian charity concerted in 2010 and just this year popped onstage to play with Mason.

Mason Wants Pink Floyd To Play Glastonbury

“I’ve never played Glastonbury,” Mason shared in 2017. “It would be fun to do it.” Waters, who has played the festival before, is also eager to return to the UK’s biggest music festival, although perhaps not specifically as a member of Pink Floyd.  “I did Glastonbury once,” he recently shared. “It was really cold… But there were a lot of people and it seemed very jolly and I liked it. Yeah, I would do it again.”

Mason Wants To Do In General

Mason is more than happy for it to happen. But while he gets along with both Waters and Gilmour, he tends to keep his head down when it comes to group politics. “I gave up,” Mason once told media outlet AZ Central. “After 20-something years, I was absolutely tired of waiting for the phone to ring with Roger or David going, ‘C’mon guys, let’s get the band back together.’ I thought, ‘Forget that. It’s not gonna happen.’ I really got to the point where I thought I could never work again.”

The Band Already Work Together

Despite Gilmour and Waters’ differences Pink Floyd’s legacy projects have continued to bring them into close proximity. Whether it’s curating their box sets or art exhibitions there is a good working relationship between the camps, even if Waters and Gilmour are not directly communicating. In this sense, band relations are at the highest they’be been since Waters’ exit.

Waters Is Willing To Play Ball

As Waters’ revelation of “peace” talks suggests there’s certainly some willingness on his behalf to make amends. With the 50^th anniversary of the band’s most iconic albums approaching, no doubt there is, as much as Waters would deny it, a creeping twinge of nostalgia which might just calm his fiery attitude enough to make it happen. Gilmour likewise.

It Might Not Be As Pink Floyd

An alternative would be the three playing in some form which isn’t exactly Pink Floyd. Mason, expressing hope of some kind of reconciliation, has stated: ” I don’t think we’re going to tour as Pink Floyd again. But it would seem silly at this stage of our lives to still be fighting.” A reunion could be unconventional, but this is after, all, a group with a long track record of less than conventional performances.

The Music

Pink Floyd has never been about commercial success, concert attendance records or industry accolades. It’s about the enthusiasm and drive of its core members. If Waters and Gilmour could rekindle some kind of creative interest it might happen.

Charity

If there’s one thing that reunites Pink Floyd unlike anything else, it’s a good cause.  Waters is a bleeding-heart humanitarian, and so too has the greater good swayed Gilmour. Presented with a worthy cause all three have demonstrated they are more than willing to put their differences to perform a one-off concert.

Gilmour Is Enternaing The Idea Of An Album 

Gilmour recently shared via the band’s official Lost Art of Conversation podcast that there is still a trove of unused Floyd material waiting to be worked into an album. While this wouldn’t involve Waters, it seems possible that another Endless River type release is under contemplation. And were it to occur the Gilmour-Mason Pink Floyd might just be on hand to promote it.

It Would Be The Biggest Tours Of All Time 

While the money isn’t a motivator the glory might be. Pink Floyd once held the record for some of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, they’ve long since slipped away, with only their Division Bell Tour ranking in the Top 30. Despite their lapse in the touring stakes, The Dark Side of The Moon remains one of the best selling albums of all time. 2023 will mark the album’s 50th anniversary…