Nick Mason: “We should have made more live than” The Dark Side “”

The historical drummer Nick Mason It does not have many regrets compared to the years spent with i Pink Floyd and their career.

But one has it and reminded him of the return to the cinemas of “Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii”, Originally published in 1972.

The subsequent version of 1974 included scenes in which the Pink Floyd were in the studio at work on “Dark Side of the Moon” published in March 1973. That was the only “cinematographic” episode relating to that album. In fact, the Pink Floyd would not have published a live version of “Dark Side of the Moon” up to the concert movie “Pulse“Of 1995, record and DVD released a long time after the departure of Roger Waters (1985). The concert of 20 October 1994 at the ARCLS Court Exhibition Center in London, from which the audio and video record material was extracted, was broadcast on live TV (in Italy it was Rai 2).

Hence the regret of the drummer who says: “We probably should have taken more time, we should have spent more time playing”Dark side“Live and don’t worry about returning to the studio to do”Wish you were here“(September 1975)”, Mason says to Rolling Stone UK. “In fact, we spent a lot of time in the studio and we didn’t have much fun, while we could have brought out things with a little more calm, do more live work on the 1973 album and film it”.

“Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii“He had a great typicality, with the band that performed alone, without the public in the remains of the Roman amphitheater in the archaeological city. Unfortunately the film was not profitable and this may have contributed to the reluctance of Pink Floyd to make another concert film.

“I think we hadn’t realized how good idea was to film the things we did,” says Mason. “Maybe it’s because the film has not yielded anything to us, but it is a real shame that we have not spent a little more to make the equivalent with” Dark Side of the Moon “”.

Since then Mason has returned to Pompeii, performing on 24 July 2023 at the Grande Theater with the Saucerful of Secrets, his band that takes up the first Pink Floyd. David Gilmour also returned to that place with two concerts on 7 and 8 July 2016, which we find in the CD/DVD “Live at Pompeii“Published in 2017.

Last year Nick Mason and associates made a tour of 35 concerts, with a stop at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

For 2025 the drummer does not expect the same type of programming. “In reality we don’t know what awaits us,” Mason, 81 years old, admits. “Probably last year we did a little too much. Everyone was exhausted. We would certainly like to do other things. It is just about finding the right things.”

The re -edition of “Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii” (which will be in Italian theaters from 24 to 30 April) is the first large -scale project since Sony has purchased their catalog for about 400 million dollars. The film was restored by the original 35 mm copies, remastered in 4K, remixed by Steven Wilson and reintroduced “Pink Floyd at Pompeii: McMLXXII“.

Mason is satisfied with the deal of the transfer of rights. “I think I am still convinced that the sale of the catalog was a good idea,” he says. “I think Sony will take care of us. We would spend too much time discussing.”