Rick Wakeman - Marlborough - 26 August 2000 From: Jon Hinchliffe [jon@praying-mantis.com] Aug 27

Well what a great month August has been for me concert wise. First I saw Praying Mantis and then tonight Rick Wakeman with as a six Piece band. Possibly with the exception of Ayreon who don't play live anyway the best two acts I would like to see. Tonight was really great. Marlborough College Memorial is basically a large lecture hall. I believe it holds about 600 and it was close to capacity. There were about 12 rows steeply banked in a semi-circle around the Stage. To my surprised the stage wasn't in the Wakeman with Wakeman format. Rick was more centre stage with the normal bank of 6 keyboards in pairs forming a horseshoe. He also had a Moog on the right-hand corner. Adam was off to the left and situated further back. The guitarist Ant Glynne was on the right and the bass player Lee Pomeroy to the left. Tony Fernandez on drums was on a riser behind Rick. For the first time that I can recall he was on his old faithful acoustic drum set and not on the Electric one he normally uses with Rick. I must admit I think I preferred this one. I was also interested to spot he plays the drums with one stick up and one stick down in his hand. I can't recall seeing too many drummers that don't hold them both up. Perhaps it was the type of music I listen to.

The first thing I noticed was that Adam and Tony still enjoy having a laugh together while playing. Adam and Lee also seemed to enjoy the way Ant was very much into pulling poses when setting forward to play solos. I wasn't quite sure if I liked his playing or not. I was certainly thrown by it during the King Arthur the first track. As the night wore on I got used to his style and figured it was probably as Rick told him anyway.

Damian Wilson was on vocals. I know his voice from the Ayreon albums. He has a very strong voice and I think he is better on the more gentle songs like King Arthur. I wasn't as keen on him on the faster vocals. I possibly still prefer to have had Chrissie Hammond singing but then she is my favourite Rick vocalist. Damian was pretty spot on all night. I suspect he forgot how Ride Of Your Life went though and he said something about having another week to learn the songs better when I was chatting with him after the show.

When Damian wasn't singing he remained on stage a fair bit standing between Rick and Adam and watching Rick soloing close up. He seemed as fascinated as us at the master at work.

The set list was excellent three tracks of Return and One of Phantom Power. I couldn't believe my ears when Rick said they were going to do something of Phantom. Phantom is on of my favourite Rick albums and very underrated especially as it is no longer available. The crowd were pretty indifferent when Rick announced the track but they certainly responded well at the end. Apparently I have Oscar Wakeman to thank for The Visit's inclusion. Rick wanted to do a song he hadn't played before and that was Oscar's favourite.

The set was King Arthur (Overture, King Arthur, Lancelot) - Very good but much as normal Never Is A Long Time - I wasn't sure how well this worked. I was impressed the guitar did the parts of the Riffs played by the Orchestra quite well. Rick wore his glasses on all the Return tunes. I can't recall if they were need for The Visit too but I find it interesting he isn't confident of remembering these new tunes.

Catherine Howard and Aragon - Fairly standard versions to my memory The Visit - Rick and the Guitarist took turns at solos on this. I thought it sounded pretty good. Ramon Ramedios was in the audience it might have been interesting to have him come up on this one. There were some songs on the album where Ashley Holt (I wonder where what he is doing now), Ramon and Chrissie all sang. I thing this was just Ashley with Chrissie backing on the album but Ramon might have joined in on a reprise or something.

Excerpts From Journey - I was pleased not to get the full thing. That was one of the downers for me of when I saw Rick and the Band before. It is just too long and I prefer the variety of using the time for more pieces.As it was we got 15 minutes of the main bits that spring to my mind when I hear the piece.

Set 2
Catherine Parr - On the set list it had Jane Seymour in brackets at the start but I don't recall hearing it and I certainly remember thinking during the set that Rick might do it as first encore with just Adam as accompaniment before doing a final song with the whole band.

Eleanor Rigby - This was a vocal version again Buried Alive - I wasn't too sure how this would sound without Ozzy on vocals but Damian sounded really good. 1984 Overture/Hymn/Robot Man - I think this was pretty much as the last time I was the band with Rick and a vocalist. Merlin - This was a slightly strange version. I couldn't work out what I was hearing at the start. It seemed to have a Robot Man feel to it to me. I suspect my brain was just fudge by this time though and it was probably just a funky Merlin with a slightly heavier beat. It then went in to the Lyric version of Merlin. Adam and Rick did their dual again with the two Portable keyboards this was great to see again.

Starship Trooper - This started with the intro from Heart Of The Sunrise. Again Adam came out on the Portable keyboard. It was the only real times I could see what he was doing as Rick's Moog blocked my line of sight of Adam's Rig. Rick was absolutely brilliant at the end of this. I really couldn't believe how well he played the Wurm section. And the band really seemed to enjoy playing so fast so well. Fantastic.

Encore
Jig - To me this was a strange choice for an Encore but then what can you follow Starship Trooper and Merlin with? Damian went off stage and bought a little girl from the front row to dance the jig with him, which was nice. When he got out of puff she wouldn't continue alone so he had to carry on.

Ride Of Your Life - Again I found this a slightly strange encore piece but it was good to hear.

There were no real stories tonight. Just 2hr 15-20 of solid music. The Lee needed a new string on his bass at one point and it took a while to get someone from the crew to come along and take the bass off stage while he placed his spare. Ant also broke a string during the encore as well but he got by with his other guitars.

Oh there was also a bat came flying around during the encore. I think it would have been more amusing if it had come of during Buried Alive, which was originally sung by Ozzy Osbourne. However you can understand a bat's reluctance to show up during anything associated with Ozzy.

There were several members of the Rick Wakeman list in the crowd and it was good to meet up with them. It was a great night out and I look forward to the next time Rick can afford to get a band together to play. I dearly hope someone in South America Records Rick for TV or CD releases. We really need a new recording of Rick with and Band and Vocalist.

The bus route back to Swindon was different to the outward journey and it took us past a large man-made hill (Banbury Castle?) and then some kind of Henge place with large uncut stones laid around. It was nicer countryside too.

Rick at Hearts of Fire From: Phil Jones [phil.jones8@virgin.net] Aug 30

You may recall that I wrote about Rick performing at the Hearts on Fire festival at Glastonbury. On the same bill (the top of it actually) was Cliff Richard.

Now my wife happens to be a member of the Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire section of The Cliff Richard Fan Club. In their August/September newsletter there is an full account of the event, including the following paragraph about Rick's performance.

"Rick Wakeman was tremendous. He did a 50 minute set. He started with 'Morning Has Broken' and went on with 'Catherine Parr' (henryV111 Album), Starship Trooper, Merlin The Magician (King Arthur Album) and his version of Eleanor Rigby was far superior to anything the Beatles ever did with it. The sound he generated was incredible, the speakers were swaying, the ground was vibrating and the people still on Glastonbury Tor would probably have been able to hear quite well. He finished on a quiet note with his favourite hymn (can't remember what it was). Robin said 'That'll take some following'".

Robin, by the way was the compere.

A good review and I am pleased to pass it on to the list with thanks to the Cliff Richard Fan Club.

The comment in the review about Eleanor Rigby is, I think a little unfair. After all, it is one of the great Beatle songs and lots of people, including the fab four, have different interpretations. But there is no doubt, Rick's is a classic in itself. When he played it at Ronnie Scott's is was absolutely electrifying.

The important word in that last paragraph was - interpretation. Rick's arrangement and interpretation of Eleanor Rigby, as I said is, IMO first class. Since I first heard it I have fostered the thought that there might be other pieces which he could arrange to great effect, and I have toyed with what might be (a kind of fantasy Rick Wakeman songbook)

On the official bootleg album there is a version of Paint It Black, which I suppose fits the bill. But what other works might be suitable for Rick's treatment (similar to that for Eleanor Rigby)?

Off hand I thought of House of the Rising Sun, but at the moment I am stuck for other ideas.

I hope you like the review.

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