Why Live 8’s Pink Floyd Reunion Ended Up With ‘Wish You Were Here’ Instead of a Wall of Egos

The 2005 Live 8 reunion of David Gilmour and Roger Waters wasn’t a given. After decades of legal battles and public insults, getting them on the same stage required careful negotiation — and the setlist was a major sticking point. Waters originally pushed for songs from The Wall (“Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2,” “Comfortably Numb”), while Gilmour wanted more from Dark Side of the Moon. The compromise was a four-song set that ended up being The Dark Side of the Moon’s “Speak to Me/Breathe” and “Money,” The Wall’s “Comfortably Numb,” and the title track from Wish You Were Here.

“Wish You Were Here” was the only non-Dark Side/Wall entry, and it was chosen precisely because it sidestepped the power struggle. The song’s lyrics — about absence, longing, and wondering where someone has gone — were a perfect, unspoken olive branch between two men who hadn’t played together in 24 years. It also allowed both Gilmour and Waters to share vocal and guitar duties without one overshadowing the other: Waters sang the verses (including the iconic “How I wish, how I wish you