Why Rick Wright Almost Said No to Live 8 — and What Changed His Mind

Rick Wright was the member who hesitated most when Bob Geldof started calling about Live 8 in 2005. (It was 2005, not 2002 — Geldof had originally floated the idea a few years earlier but the real push came that summer.) Wright had been fired from Pink Floyd during The Wall sessions in 1979, and though he’d returned as a hired hand and later a full member again, the old wounds still sat under the surface. He told friends he didn’t want to go anywhere near David and Roger in the same room, let alone on stage.

What flipped him was the charity mission — Geldof’s pitch was about using the band’s power to raise awareness for global poverty — and a quiet conversation with David Gilmour. Gilmour reminded Wright that this wasn’t a tour or a cash grab; it was a one-off, it mattered, and it might be the last time the four of them ever played together. Wright relented, and the result was the famously emotional reunion at Hyde Park, where Wright’s backing vocals and keyboard swells gave songs like “Comfortably Numb” a warmth that many fans say the 1980s lineups lacked.