The reason why David Gilmour doesn’t tour too much

The guitarist and singer David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1967, two after their foundation and in the following decades became a fundamental part of their sound, becoming one of the most influential guitarists in the world. The group is one of the best-selling of all time with an estimated amount of more than 250 million records sold worldwide.

But when the band was still active Gilmour already released his solo debut in 1978 and six years later the second album, which was called “About Face” (1984). It took him 22 years to release “On an Island” (2006) and almost a decade to release his most recent album “Rattle That Lock” (2015).

His last tour happened in 2015 and 2016, since then he didn’t tour anymore. During his career, the musician never toured that much as a solo act, so why he doesn’t go out more often like his ex-bandmate Roger Waters?

The reason why David Gilmour doesn’t tour too much

Well, the reason is actually simple, David Gilmour doesn’t tour that much because he usually likes to tour mainly if he has new material to show to the fans and promote. That’s why his biggest solo tours only happened after he released a new solo album. Also of course, he doesn’t need to worry about money since he has an estimated net worth of about 180 million dollars. That could certainly be much bigger if he had toured a lot during the past decades like Waters did. The bassist and singer has an estimated net worth of more than 310 million dollars. Although his fortune is linked to the fact that he was Pink Floyd‘s main songwriter, he also made a lot of money touring constantly in the past decades.

But after almost a decade without touring he might finally come back soon. The reason is that he is currently working on a new album that will probably be announced in 2024. For almost a year his wife and lyricist Polly Samson has been posting photos of him in the studio. Those images show him working with bassist Guy Pratt, who was part of his last album. Also the famous session drummer Steve Gadd and Gilmour’s daughter Romany, who often sings at home with her father.

He doesn’t want big long tours anymore

Already in 2015 when Gilmour was promoting the album “Rattle That Lock”, he said he wasn’t interested in long tours anymore. Gilmour said he didn’t have the desire to travel and play in many different cities. He also said that his age was one of the main reasons. At the time he was 69 and now he is close to 80. The guitarist will celebrate his 78 birthday in 2024.

He said in an interview with Relix magazine in 2015: “I’m not a young kid anymore. I’m 69 and I just don’t feel the desire to travel around dozens of cities. I think most of my audiences are much younger than me. (So) I kind of think they can travel to me rather than me having to go to them quite as much. I don’t want to do a big long tour.”

He continued:

“I want to really enjoy a shorter (tour), playing in really nice places. In rooms I can control well sound-wise and really enjoy myself. That will be better for the people who come to them. I don’t want to do a long, arduous tour. I’ve done plenty of those. I’m kind of done with it,” David Gilmour said.

Meanwhile, Roger Waters has been touring solo playing mainly Pink Floyd material since he left the band in the mid-80s. After the band became inactive in the mid-90s he was the one who filled that void left by them. Waters had been the only possibility the fans had to regularly hear the band’s classical material.

During the last years the band’s drummer Nick Mason also decided to go on the road and fill another gap. Which was the band’s early material, which wasn’t performed by Gilmour and Rogers. Called Saucerful of Secrets, his band is focused on albums made until the early 70s. They mainly play tracks made before “Dark Side of The Moon” (1973).