Gilmour played the entire On an Island album during this concert.
It's the final Pink Floyd-related recording to feature
Richard Wright, who died on 15 September 2008, one week before the album's official release. Also notably, this concert took place approximately one month following the death of
Syd Barrett. Gilmour and his band were backed by the
Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Zbigniew Preisner.
Leszek Możdżer was featured on piano as a special guest.
Editions
The six different available editions of Live in Gdańsk are:
Two-disc edition containing the concert on CD
Three-disc edition containing the above plus a DVD featuring 114 minutes of concert footage, plus a 36-minute documentary
Four-disc edition containing the above plus a 5.1-surround sound mix of On an Island and 11 extra audio-visual tracks taken from various TV appearances[7]
Five-disc deluxe edition containing the above plus an extra CD containing 12 bonus live tracks from the 2006 tour[8] as well as a wallet of memorabilia.
Five-LP vinyl edition containing the whole Gdansk show, including "
Wot's... Uh the Deal?" and a bonus LP containing 2 Barn Jams, "On the Turning Away" and two songs from Live at Abbey Road.
iTunes edition containing the entire album, plus various region-dependent audio and video extras.
The DVD that comes with the three-, four-, and five-disc sets allowed the purchaser to download 12 additional tracks free of charge via a web-pass. (As of May 2010, this content is no longer accessible.) These tracks included all 12 tracks on the bonus CD included with the five-disc version, and the song "Wot's...Uh the Deal?" that was performed at the concert but not included on the album itself. The bonus tracks were released one per month as follows:
This version contains the two CDs above and the following DVD:
DVD (Disc 3)
120-minute film of the Gdańsk concert.
"Castellorizon"
"On an Island"
"The Blue"
"Red Sky at Night"
"This Heaven"
"Then I Close My Eyes"
"Smile"
"Take a Breath"
"A Pocketful of Stones"
"Where We Start"
"Astronomy Domine"
"High Hopes"
"Echoes"
"A Great Day for Freedom"
"Comfortably Numb"
"Wot's... Uh the Deal?" (end credits)
Gdańsk Diary – a 36-minute documentary.
Web-pass to download 12 additional live tracks recorded during the European tour and "Wot's...Uh the Deal?" (which was omitted from the album due to lack of space).
Songs performed at the show but omitted from the DVD:
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond"
"Speak to Me"/"Breathe"
"Time"/"Breathe (Reprise)"
"Wot's... Uh the Deal?"
"Fat Old Sun"
"Wish You Were Here"
Four-disc edition
This version contains the three discs above and the following DVD:
The Deluxe Edition also contains a 20-page booklet (the other versions have a 12-page booklet) and these items of memorabilia:
Reproduction postcard
Ticket
Backstage pass and artist's pass
A large double-sided poster
A
guitar plectrum (a replica of the plectrums used by Gilmour on the tour)
Seven photographs
Vinyl edition
The vinyl edition of the album is no longer in production.
LP 1:
"Speak to Me"
"Breathe"
"Time"
"Breathe (Reprise)"
"Castellorizon"
"On an Island"
"The Blue"
"Red Sky at Night"
"This Heaven"
LP 2:
"Then I Close My Eyes"
"Smile"
"Take a Breath"
"A Pocketful of Stones"
"Where We Start"
LP 3:
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond"
"Wot's... Uh the Deal?"
"Astronomy Domine"
"Fat Old Sun"
"High Hopes"
LP 4:
"Echoes"
"Wish You Were Here"
"A Great Day for Freedom"
"Comfortably Numb"
LP 5:
"On the Turning Away" (Venice, 12 August 2006)
"The Blue" (Live from Abbey Road, August 2006)
"Echoes" (Acoustic) (Live from Abbey Road, August 2006)
"Barn Jam 166"
"Barn Jam 121"
Plus a 20-page booklet and a web-pass that allows a single download (mp3) version of one of the tracks from
Disc 5 of the Deluxe Edition.[9]
iTunes edition
"Speak to Me"
"Breathe"
"Time"
"Breathe (Reprise)"
"Castellorizon"
"On an Island"
"The Blue"
"Red Sky at Night"
"This Heaven"
"Then I Close My Eyes"
"Smile"
"Take a Breath"
"A Pocketful of Stones"
"Where We Start"
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond"
"Astronomy Domine"
"Fat Old Sun"
"High Hopes"
"Echoes"
"Wish You Were Here"
"A Great Day For Freedom"
"Comfortably Numb"
"Wot's... Uh the Deal?" (except US and Canada)
and the following:
"Wearing the Inside Out" video (from the Mermaid Theatre)
"Take a Breath" video (from Live from Abbey Road)
"Speak to Me/Breathe/Time/Breathe (reprise)" [10:41] video (from Gdańsk) (US and Canada only)
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond" [5:12] partial video (first verse onwards) (from Gdańsk) (US and Canada only)
Digital booklet
Promotion
UK Television
Gilmour guested on
Jools Holland's live TV show Later! Live.... with Jools Holland on
BBC2 on 23 September 2008, originally to promote the new live album, performing the songs "Astronomy Domine", "The Blue" and "Fat Old Sun" but with the
death of Richard Wright on 15 September he changed his set to "
Remember a Day" (one of Rick Wright's contributions to the A Saucerful of Secrets album) and "The Blue" (a track from On an Island to which Wright contributed organ and vocals).
On Friday 26 September 2008,
BBC Four held a David Gilmour Night, showing part of the Gdańsk concert and "Gdańsk Diary" documentary.
US Television VH1 Classic ran parts of the Gdańsk concert on several nights in late October. The programme includes songs omitted from the DVD: "Speak to Me" / "Breathe", "Time", "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", and "Wish You Were Here".
US Cinemas
Selected US cinemas gave showings of the "Gdańsk" concert during release week. This showing also included songs omitted from the DVD: "Speak to Me" / "Breathe", "Time", "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", and "Wish You Were Here", though the theaters' did not show "Echoes".
US Radio
Westwood One aired a world première of the "Gdańsk" concert the weekend before release and included new interviews with David Gilmour.
DavidGilmour.com
Since the announcement of the sets release, Gilmour has had certain songs up on his site that vary, including "Fat Old Sun" and "Wot's... Uh the Deal?" in low quality.
Polish Baltic Philharmonic –
orchestra ("Castellorizon", "On an Island", "The Blue", "Red Sky at Night", "This Heaven", "Then I Close My Eyes", "Smile", "Take a Breath", "A Pocketful of Stones", "Where We Start"; orchestra arrangements by Zbigniew Preisner except those by Michael Kamen below)
Michael Kamen – orchestra arrangements ("High Hopes", "A Great Day for Freedom" and "Comfortably Numb")
Igor Sklyarov – glass harmonica ("Shine on You Crazy Diamond", Venice performance only)
^"Czech Albums – Top 100".
ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 41.Týden 2008 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 13 November 2020.