LONDON, December 7, 2025 – The music world has been plunged into stunned silence tonight as David Gilmour, the ethereal voice and stratospheric guitar behind Pink Floyd’s immortal sound, revealed he has been diagnosed with terminal stage-4 pancreatic cancer. The 79-year-old British icon received the devastating news only eleven days before the opening night of his highly anticipated Luck and Strange world tour, scheduled to begin at the Royal Albert Hall on December 18.
In a handwritten letter posted to his official website and Instagram at 9:17 p.m. GMT, Gilmour confirmed the diagnosis with characteristic grace and unflinching honesty:
“I’ve spent my life trying to turn pain into beauty through music. Now the pain is mine alone, and it’s time to finish what we started. The doctors have been clear: weeks, not months. I have chosen to forgo aggressive treatment. Instead, I will take the stage for as long as my body allows. These shows will be my farewell, my last long solo, my final note under the lights. I ask only that you let me play it my way.”
The cancer was discovered after Gilmour collapsed during a private rehearsal aboard his floating studio, the historic houseboat Astoria, on November 26. Initial blood tests raised alarms; a full scan at The Wellington Hospital in St John’s Wood revealed an aggressive pancreatic tumour that had already spread to the liver and lungs. Specialists at the Royal Marsden described the progression as “exceptionally rapid,” confirming the disease had likely been advancing undetected for up to a year.
Sources close to the family say Gilmour’s decision to refuse chemotherapy and immunotherapy was immediate and unwavering. “He looked at Polly, looked at the kids, and said, ‘I’ve had the most extraordinary life. I’m not spending whatever time is left being sick in a hospital bed. I want to feel the Strat in my hands, hear the audience breathe with the music one last time,’” a longtime band member told BBC News on condition of anonymity.
The Luck and Strange tour, announced in September to overwhelming demand (every date sold out within minutes), was to be Gilmour’s most ambitious solo outing since 2006’s On an Island. Rehearsals had been described as “magical” by those present: new arrangements of Pink Floyd classics like “Comfortably Numb,” “Wish You Were Here,” and “Time,” alongside tracks from his acclaimed 2024 album. Tonight, the tour’s future hangs in the balance, yet promoters insist the Royal Albert Hall run (five consecutive nights) will proceed exactly as planned, with Gilmour personally overseeing every detail.
Within minutes of the announcement, #DavidGilmour and #OneLastSolo began trending worldwide. Fans gathered spontaneously outside the Royal Albert Hall, laying flowers and candles beneath the venue’s famous steps. In Los Angeles, Roger Waters (who has not spoken publicly to Gilmour in nearly a decade) issued a brief statement: “David’s guitar changed my life and the lives of millions. Tonight there is only love and respect. Play on, old friend.”
Nick Mason, Pink Floyd’s drummer and Gilmour’s bandmate of 57 years, posted a black-and-white photo of the two teenagers rehearsing in a Cambridge living room in 1967, captioning it simply: “See you on the dark side of the moon, whenever you’re ready.”
Tributes poured in from across generations. Brian May called him “the truest poet of the electric guitar.” Ed Sheeran wrote, “Everything I know about space in music I learned from David.” Coldplay’s Chris Martin, visibly emotional during a radio interview, said the band would dedicate their upcoming Mexico City stadium show to Gilmour and play “A Great Day for Freedom” in his honour.
At his medieval farmhouse in Sussex, Gilmour is said to be surrounded by his wife Polly Samson, their four children (including son Charlie, a regular member of his touring band), and his four children from his first marriage. Close friend Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music has flown in, and Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd’s bassist since 1987) confirmed rehearsals will resume tomorrow, “because that’s what David wants: music until the very end.”
Ticket holders for the Royal Albert Hall shows have been informed that all five performances will go ahead “unless David himself says otherwise.” A portion of proceeds will now benefit the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and pancreatic cancer research. Secondary market prices have skyrocketed past £25,000 as fans around the world scramble for what may be the final chance to witness a man who once made a guitar sound like the universe breathing.
As London’s winter rain falls tonight, the city’s iconic Battersea Power Station (immortalised on the cover of Pink Floyd’s Animals) has been lit in deep crimson and blue, the colours of Gilmour’s signature Stratocaster. Across the Thames, the O2 Arena (where Pink Floyd played their last full concert in 2005) followed suit.
David Gilmour has spent six decades bending notes into eternity, turning loss and longing into some of the most transcendent music ever recorded. Now, with the clock mercilessly ticking, he prepares to step onto the stage one final time, not to defy death, but to embrace it on his own terms, under the spotlight he helped illuminate for generations.
The guitar that cried on “Comfortably Numb,” that soared through “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” that whispered across the canals of Venice in 2006, will soon fall silent. But tonight, the world holds its breath, praying for one last, infinite solo.
David Gilmour plays the Royal Albert Hall December 18–22, 2025.
Whatever happens, the sky will never sound the same again.
