Why David Gilmour Said He Might Reunite With Pink Floyd One More Time

Few band breakups in rock history have been as publicly fraught—or as enduring—as that of Pink Floyd. At the center of the divide remains the long-running conflict between David Gilmour and Roger Waters, whose creative tensions helped define the band’s later years. Both have consistently ruled out any possibility of a reunion. Yet in 2022, Gilmour briefly set that stance aside for a singular cause.

A One-Off Reunion for Ukraine

On April 8, 2022, just weeks after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Pink Floyd released the charity single “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!”—their first new music in nearly a decade. A physical release followed in July, featuring a newly recorded version of “A Great Day for Freedom” from The Division Bell as its B-side.

Gilmour framed the release as a deliberate effort to support Ukraine using the band’s global reach. Despite previously declaring 2014’s “Louder Than Words” as Pink Floyd’s final statement, he reconsidered in light of the crisis. “I thought this could be something that we use our platform for, for enormous good,” Gilmour told Rolling Stone.

A Different Kind of Pink Floyd Lineup

By 2022, Pink Floyd’s surviving members included Gilmour, Waters, and drummer Nick Mason. With Gilmour and Waters still estranged, Mason was the only other core member to participate in the recording.

The track’s most striking addition came in the form of Ukrainian musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk, frontman of BoomBox, who had left his touring career behind to join the Ukrainian military. His a cappella performance of the traditional anthem “Oh, The Red Viburnum in the Meadow” became the foundation of the song.

Gilmour was introduced to Khlyvnyuk’s performance by his daughter-in-law, Ukrainian artist Janina Pedan, after it circulated on social media. The clip left an immediate impression. “That piece of singing immediately got me thinking of turning it into something,” Gilmour said in his 2022 Rolling Stone interview.

Rekindling Purpose Through Music

While the collaboration amplified Khlyvnyuk’s voice on a global scale, it also offered Gilmour a renewed sense of direction. Confronted with the limitations of responding to a distant war, he found a way to contribute through music.

“I felt the frustration of not being able to do anything,” Gilmour said. “And Andriy coming along with this piece of vocal helped to free me from that to some extent that I could actually put my abilities and reputation towards doing something concrete for that particular nation at this particular moment.”

Despite the project’s impact, Gilmour has maintained that it does not signal a broader reconciliation within Pink Floyd. For now, the band’s brief return stands as an exception—one driven not by nostalgia, but by urgency and humanitarian purpose.