LOS ANGELES — The house went dark just after 7:50 p.m. and the thousands of fans in attendance focused their collective attention on the stage at Intuit Dome. Then, from out of the darkness, came a single note – one that serves as distinctive a signature as that belonging to any guitarist in history – and the crowd erupted in approval.

In that instant, which truly lasted just mere seconds, it was like the whole thing felt worth it; fighting the traffic on an incredibly busy night (even by L.A.’s lofty standards), the ticket prices and all the other associated costs of going to a show these days, as well as the years that people had spent waiting for this night to actually happen.

Because that single proud note, shimmering and twisting in ways that these fans have adored for decades, served as the proclamation that David Gilmour was finally back in the U.S.

Following an eight-year break since 2016’s Rattle That Lock Tour, Gilmour kicked off his long-awaited North American tour on Friday at the brand-spanking-new home of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Of course, referring to this as a tour might be kind of an overstatement, given that the Pink Floyd legend is really only playing the Los Angeles area and New York City. Following this Intuit Dome opener, the 78-year-old Englishman moves over to the Hollywood Bowl for three nights – Oct. 29 to 31 – and then it’s off to five shows at Madison Square Garden, beginning Nov. 4.

Given Gilmour’s limited travel plans, it’s no wonder fans decided to trek in from all over the country and perhaps beyond to catch these rare dates in California with the first-tier guitar hero.

And Gilmour would certainly make it worth their efforts as he performed a two-set show that was just absolutely brimming with both great musicianship and songs. The set was split between his own solo material – with the lion’s share coming from this year’s excellent Luck and Strange – and his monumental songbook with Pink Floyd.

He would, however, kick things off with the moody, hypnotic instrumental “5 a.m.” – the first of three numbers from 2015’s Rattle That Lock – before moving into Luck and Strange territory for “Black Cat” and the album’s title track.

The crowd was fairly mellow at the start, matching the mood of the music as they soaked up the new material, but would erupt in joy at the first taste of Pink Floyd as Gilmour and company touched down on the Dark Side of the Moon for “Breathe (In the Air)” and “Time.”

Those numbers turned out to be every bit the crowdpleasers that one would’ve expected going into the show. Yet, who called (in advance) that “Fat Old Sun” – from the often wrongly dismissed “Atom Heart Mother” – would turn out to be the best offerings of set one (and, arguably, the entire show)?

David Gilmour was at the very top of his game as he delivered a powerful, escalating lead on “Fat Old Sun,” which was nicely framed by some thoroughly satisfying and swirling ensemble work from his excellent supporting cast of bassist Guy Pratt, keyboardists Greg Phillinganes and Rob Gentry, drummer Adam Betts, guitarist Ben Worsley and vocalists-instrumentalists Louise Marshall, the Webb Sisters (Hattie Webb and Charley) and Romany Gilmour.

Right as “Fat Old Sun” was setting, Gilmour unleashed yet another sterling standout – “Marooned” – which is indeed a gorgeous instrumental from Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell, yet hardly an offering that’s likely to make a Floyd best-of collection.

In general, the numbers from Floyd’s first two post-Roger-Waters albums – “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” and “The Division Bell” – sounded every bit as strong in concert as the cuts taken from Floyd’s much more widely celebrated run of ‘70s records. Just chalk it up as further proof that the Pink Floyd catalog is solid pretty much from head to toe. (And, no, don’t come at me with “Ummagumma” because I’ll happily listen to the first album in the pair all day long).

After closing the first set with The Division Bell favorite “High Hopes,” Gilmour and friends took a 20-minute break to rest up and then came back to deliver a fantastic nightcap that lasted some 75 minutes and included 10 songs.

It got off to a memorable start with a colossal “Sorrow,” which remains the best reason to own the 1987 Pink Floyd album A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and then the band stayed in the groove as it mixed intriguing solo material (“The Piper’s Call,” “In Any Tongue,” etc.) with solid, though often-neglected Floyd tunes (“A Great Day for Freedom,” “Coming Back to Life”).

For the most part, the arrangements stayed pretty true to the studio versions, even when the band decided to stretch things out a bit or add some extra flourishes. Yet, they’d definitely try something a bit different with one of Floyd’s most cherished cuts – “The Great Gig in the Sky” from Dark Side – deciding to let all four female vocalists harmonize through the number. It was a decent take, yet nowhere near as powerful and engaging as the regular solo tour-de-force rendition – most notably, the one Clare Torry hit out of the park on the original  recording.

Gilmour closed the second set with a run through thee consecutive Luck and Strange tracks – “Dark and Velvet Nights,” “Sings” and “Scattered” – before returning to wrap up the evening in legendary fashion, scaling “The Wall” one more time to give the audience exactly what it wanted in “Comfortably Numb.”

Setlist:

1. “5 a.m.”
2. “Black Cat”
3. “Luck and Strange”
4. “Breathe (In the Air)”
5. “Time”
6. “Breathe (Reprise)”
7. “Fat Old Sun”
8. “Marooned”
9. “A Single Spark”
10. “Wish You Were Here”
11. “Vita Brevis”
12. “Between Two Points”
13. “High Hopes”

Set 2:
14. “Sorrow”
15. “The Piper’s Call”
16. “A Great Day for Freedom”
17. “In Any Tongue”
18. “The Great Gig in the Sky”
19. “A Boat Lies Waiting”
20. “Coming Back to Life”
21. “Dark and Velvet Nights”
22. “Sings”
23. “Scattered”

Encore:
24. “Comfortably Numb”

Follow Derek Tobias at Instagram.com/shadowsandstrobes.