By Tim Staskiewicz
How do you play a show in a city obliterated by molten lava and fiery ash just under 2,000 years ago?
If you’re David Gilmour, you ring the ancient amphitheater with pyrotechnics and light it up.
Related: Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Pays Tribute to Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’
Gilmour kicked off a two night tour stop in the ancient Roman city Pompeii on Thursday night (July 7), 1,937 years after it was destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption, and some 45 years after Pink Floyd used the same backdrop for their 1972 concert documentary film, Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii.
While Live at Pompeii had no audience in the amphitheater four decades ago, the first show of Gilmour’s two-night stop was packed with spectators, making history as the first rock concert to be held in front of a crowd there.
“Tonight will be the first time since 79 A.D. that there’s been an audience watching something here,” Gilmour told Rolling Stone in an interview before the show.
Check out some fan footage below, and read the full story now on 100.7 WZLX.
