Pink Floyd in attendance at IMAX Pompeii Screening

Pink Floyd IMAX Pompeii screening took place tonight in London. Nick Mason and Steven Wilson held a Q&A session and theatre goers were treated to watching the newly crafted Pompeii film. Our NPF correspondant Tim bumped into Steven Wilson outside the cinema. There were indications that a 4K UHD home media release of Pompeii is in the works along with new artwork. Watch this space. It would be a shame to create a stunning 4K video and then only share on Blu-Ray at less than 4K.

Who was in attendance from Pink Floyd?

All surviving members of Pink Floyd were in attendance at the event. Band member’s from David Gilmour’s band, and Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets band were also there minus Gary Kemp. Roger Waters left the band in October 1985 and doesn’t get along with David and Polly. He was not in attendance. This was also something of a reunion of Nick and David. Nick told Rolling Stone magazine last month, “I haven’t spoken to David for a while, but I was in Barbados, and Roger was in Barbados, as well, so I’ve seen a lot more of Roger than David recently.”

The premiere of Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII at the BFI IMAX in London was graced by an impressive lineup of attendees. Among them were:

• David Gilmour and his wife Polly Samson, along with their children.
• Nick Mason and his family, as well as members of his band, Nick’s Saucers: Lee Harris, Dom Beken, and Guy Pratt.
• Members of Richard Wright’s family.
• Steven Wilson, who worked on the audio mix for the film.
• Ben Worsley and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell, the creative director.
• Lana Topham, the restoration maestro behind the film’s 4K remastering.

First Release since Sony bought the back catalogue

Asked by Rolling Stone magazine what he thought of Sony having the catalogue and did he have high hopes for it, Nick said, “No, but I think I’m still feeling that the catalogue sale was a good idea. I think Sony will actually look after it better than we would. We’d spend too much time arguing. And I’ve yet to see exactly how it all works, but at the moment I’m thinking this is a good thing.”

An Account of the evening by NPF’s Tim!

Yesterday was quite a day.

Arrived at the IMAX Waterloo in London for the preview; it’s a fitting venue because, at 20-m high and 26-m wide, it’s the largest screen in Britain. Whilst waiting outside I spotted Steven Wilson, the guy responsible for the remix, we spoke, and Steven kindly signed my Blu-ray Audio of his latest recording ‘The Overview’. I asked if there was a reason why the new ‘Pompeii’ movie was not available on home media in 4K?, this was met with a response that there is work underway and new artwork has been requested and it’s a case of watch this space.

After the customary bag checks we were asked to take our seats for a prompt start. Security was quite tight with more than the usual no ‘phone, no pictures, no video instructions being barked at the attendees.

In the lead up to 6-pm, the official start, we were treated to a selection of tracks from ‘The Wall’.

Most seats were taken on time and the venue was half-darkened. At round 6:05 a party of about eight arrived at bottom left and made there way to a block of empty regular seats a few rows in front of me. The recognisable profile of David Gilmour was in the party but several audience members seemed unaware!

The show started with the regular ‘Pompeii MCMLXXII’ trailer and then in full darkness the audio system in the IMAX came alive with the pounding heartbeat leading to ‘Echoes Part 1’. The heartbeat was played without the overlaid 2OO1 style breathing heard on the ‘Director’s Cut’. The arrival of the bass guitar played by Roger added another audio level which coupled with the 4:3 aspect ratio of fantastic hi-res images justified the use of IMAX. Some of the footage later in the movie is clearly showing its age and is lower resolution but the concert, the venue and Abbey Road elements are a delight.

The audience watched transfixed, there were a few half laughs at the ‘apple pie’ and similar humorous exchanges, there was a nod of approval and a murmured ‘Yes’ at the drumstick incident in ‘One of These Days’. The concluding piece ‘Echoes Part 2’ features some amazing audio effects and the high-level rear speakers were given a good workout with the soaring vocals.

Nick Mason and Steven Wilson Q&A Session

The movie was followed by an informal Q&A with the lead question to Nick “Why do you hate pie crusts?”, Nick admits his memory has faded and we were then told one of his daughters convinced Nick to do an on-line Pink Floyd quiz, he was disappointed to only score 56%. The answer to the question “Why so long to revisit this project and release an album?” was answered as firstly the band was always moving forward, secondly the Pompeii project did not neatly fit as it featured three albums. The importance of the piece and its legacy was met with an interesting three-way discussion noting the movie covers the transition from a post-psychedelic band with an improvisional style to a more structured and conceptual rock band. Steven explained the source tapes were essentially four mono feeds ie a single mono feed for the drums, bass, keyboard and guitar. Steven had access to the Paris vocal, keyboards and guitar overdubs and these allowed the new audio to have a live show feel and presentation despite the core recordings made outside with little ambience. A nod was given to Lana Topham, also in attendance, for her work on the visuals. Also mentioned was Adrian Maben who came up with the idea and credit given to him for persuading the band to spend four days in Italy.

The discussions then referenced how all movies of the time seemed to feature the band running up and down hills and a nod was made to The Monkees!

The discussions closed with Steven being asked if there are more recordings that he would like to work on, after a pause the answer was the early stuff, maybe ‘Piper’ or maybe ‘Atom Heart Mother’.

A great evening

Links – Discuss the event on the forum

Photos of Nick Mason’s Q&A

Here are the photos shared by the BFI on their Facebook.

I want to watch the new movie!

Other cinemas around the world will be showing the new Pompeii concert film a week today on Thursday 24th April 2025. Do let us know what your thoughts are about the new version of Pompeii on the forum.

I am really looking forward to watching the film in Liverpool and owning the soundtrack on LP, in addition to the Blu-Ray, to enjoy at home. This time in the band’s history was when Dark Side of the Moon was being recorded and is a key part of their timeline. Pink Floyd IMAX Pompeii is exciting news.

Sources – Rolling Stone Magazine