Rick Wright's Death and Pink Floyd's Final Performance Before 2008

The last time Pink Floyd performed together before Rick Wright died was at Live 8 in London’s Hyde Park on July 2, 2005. It was a one-off reunion with all four members (Wright, Gilmour, Mason, and Waters) after decades of bad blood, and it ended up being Wright’s final appearance under the Pink Floyd name. No new recordings followed that show—just the 2008 tribute album The Endless River would arrive later using old Wright tapes, but that was after he was gone.

When Wright died of lung cancer on September 15, 2008, the public response was characteristically quiet. David Gilmour put out a short statement calling him “the gentlest and most talented man” and said the band’s “