I have put some photographs of Rick's show in Liverpool last night on my webpage
The show was in aid of four Cancer related charities largly the Clatterbridge Centre who helped Rick's Mum during her illness. It was a entertaining show with Rick, Adam, Fraser, The Flint Male Voice Choir, the Merseyside Youth Orchestra, Glenys Carroll, Bobby Davro and a couple of comeians.
Rick, Adam and Fraser played "Eleanor Rigby" and a very good version of "Jane Seymour" later Rick played the "Nursery rhyme concerto" on the Grand Piano. Most of the night was taken by the guests. As the evening was running behind my guess is that Rick chose to cut down on his slots rather than the guests. Although I would have liked to have seen more of Rick (after all that, and the good causes it was supporting, was what persuaded me to drive the 300 mile round trip) it was a very good evening and everyone I was near said how much they enjoyed it. I thought I was being a bit optimistic hoping for a sneak preview of part of "Return to the centre of the Earth" but I would have kicked myself if it had happened and I was not there.
I just received the message below from a friend. Thought the list might be interested to read that Rick is performing After-dinner entertainment. I did not know he did this.
[Keith wrote: My boss came into work this morning and he told me about a dinner he attended on Friday evening. The organisers were Southern Electric.
He told me about a guy called Rick Wakeman who entertained the guests with some piano and after dinner jokes etc. My boss is completely in the dark about who YES are never mind Rick! And they're my client too! Oh well, you can't win them all!!! Strange that a Classic YES member should end up in this kind of environment after the halcyon days of the 70's.]
*****************
Nic Caciappo wrote: These are what are known as "corporate gigs." The money is quite substantial and good promotion. I know that even the Rolling Stones, Bruce Hornsby and Billy Joel have done some.
In a message dated 98-06-16, you write
"I've received word from a very questionable source of the lineup for 'Return'
Keyboards: Rick Wakeman, Adam Wakeman
Vocals: William Shatner, Chaka Khan
Narrator: Joe Pesci"
LOL!!! Very Good!!!! When it was announced there was some Wakeman news coming up in 2 weeks (this was months ago), while waiting about 4 weeks for the news I came up with this. I hope you enjoy it:
*********
Rick decides to put out only one solo cd this year. It saves all his die hard fans thousand of dollars and they all become rich in the stock market, and move to the Isle of Mann. Everyone lives happily ever after. Of course everyday one of these fans asks Rick if he's ever coming back to Yes and Rick says no. Again!!!
Rick then says he's planning solo projects with Jon, Trevor, Chris, Alan, Steve (yea, right), Tony, Bill, Pat, Sherwood, Downes, Horn, Banks, his sons Adam, Oliver, his wife Nina, The Wop, Ashley, Stuart Thorneycroft, Candy (his secretary) and his caddie. After a long year and nine months in the studio and just in time for the new millennium, Rick releases a 20 piece box set entitled "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes, The Solo Projects". Along with the individual discs with each musician, Rick plays Catherine Howard with each musician in a different way. (I bet you didn't think there was 20 more ways Rick could play Catherine Howard, did you?). Stuart Sawney (the guy who programs the drum sounds on Rick's recent releases) gets mad and quits because Rick once again uses a real drummer on his recordings.
Rick gets all 20 musicians together to go out on the road. They decide rather than do their individual songs they'd do a new magnificent piece called "The Epistles" (all 1467 of them). The tour is a huge hit with the critics but a financial disaster because of the length of the show. It takes 2 -12 hour sets to do a rendition of each Epistle. The promoters never come up with the promised money and the tour is put in Limbo.
Which coincidentally was the name of the sequel cd. "In Limbo" is recorded and produced on a shoestring budget at Bajonor House and is a huge success. Rick is back on top of the world and "In Limbo" becomes #1 on the Rock charts, the New Age charts, the World Music charts, the Christian charts, and the R&B charts. Along with the College music charts and the Country music charts.
Rick is now rolling in money and needs another band to tour the sequel to "In Limbo". It's a grand piece of music that Rick wanted to call "Dante's Inferno" but at the last minute changed the name because of the negative religious connotations and the constant rumors of him playing "Demonic Music" when he was in Yes. The cd is renamed "Fire at all Levels". He calls the musicians union shop to find some session players. The liner notes read....Vocals & a bunch of weird Chinese percussion instruments---Jon Anderson; Bass guitar, pedals and stair master---Chris Squire; Drums, Mustang, and all of the demon sounds----Alan White; Acoustic guitar (that's right, he only plays one guitar throughout the whole 4 sided cd)---- Steve Howe; Keyboards----- Rick Wakeman, Adam Wakeman, Oliver Wakeman, Nina Wakeman and anyone else named Wakeman that may be distantly related to Rick and has ever touched a keyboard.
The album cover is painted by Roger Dean in his new urban style to attract the young rap fans who Rick feels need to experience his music and to be saved from drugs and alcohol. The cover is painted in typical Dean style with Rick, wearing all white and no shoes, walking across a creek on the Isle of Mann and not getting wet. The cd sell fairly well until someone notices that the cover
of the cd, when held up to a lunar eclipse, spells out the name ....TONY KAYE.... Everyone thinks that this means that Rick Wakeman is dead and Tony Kaye is the piano virtuoso that has put out all these lp's over the years.
Tony takes advantage of the opportunity, closes his pizza shop and tours with 3 relatively unknown musicians and performs Journey to the Center of the Earth using only one hand. All of the old Yes fanzines and mailing lists get front row seat tickets to make available for Tony's fans but a computer hacker named Patricia Morazoni (no one knew what her real name was before the sex change operation) blocks the sale of tickets with a computer virus. The show is a huge flop and Tony returns to the life of a large pepperoni and a 2 litter bottle of Pepsi.
It's now the year 2015 and NFTE (yea, they're still sending) tells everyone that Yes had to cancel their latest tour because the venues would not allow canes and wheelchairs on-stage. They Yes branch of the AARP get in an uproar and petitions the venues with no success and also, once again, petitions the Rock and Roll Hall of fame to allow Yes into it's fold. The Rock and Roll Hall finally enshrines Yes in June of 2016 but the band is immediately banned and barred for life from the Hall of Fame when the stage collapses at the induction ceremony when every past member of Yes shows up on-stage to perform Starship Trooper and Roundabout for the 15,061st time live. What do you think? Think it'll happen? Tom
This was great to read! I will check and see if Rick has heard about it. This could be the prelude to a great moment in Rick's career!
Jacintho wrote: "Ibirapuera Park, Sao Paulo City, Brazil - Sunday June 21, 1998 - The Young Simphonic Orchestra of Sao Paulo presented in Ibirapuera Park ( a huge park in SP, something like Central Park in NY) Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Centre of the Earth."
I had the information of this presentation two days before the show and I went there not knowing what to expect.
I had more, much more than I expected. The Orchestra was in the stage with a Choir and a singer, narrator and rock group.
These are my impressions of the presentation:
I've never heard Journey... live with an Orchestra and, in the very first lines, I already knew that it would be great, and it WAS great! All the people involved really did their work very well. Journey to the Centre of the Earth was played in its full version, all the orchestration parts were very nice, the drummer (a woman!) was excellent as was the bassist. The singer was a man with a good voice, the narrator read his parts in Portuguese (very strange!) and perhaps not very emotional. The keyboardist made all the solos (Moog) just the way they sound in the original. Of course, he isn't RW and there were some harpsichord parts not so precise; but overall he was fantastic! The choir was perfect.
The audience increased very much during the show and applauded enthusiastically at the end. I was marveled! The Orchestra returned twice and played the 1st part and the final part, for an encore.
It was a dream. A fantastic surprise to discover so many people that knows, admire and respect RW work!
I think the things are really changing and this is the perfect time to "Return". I really hope that Rick and you all from the List enjoy knowing about it.
Look at what I found at the following webpage!! Songbooks
-----
SONGBOOKS / SHEET MUSIC
Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Center of the Earth
Rick Wakeman - Six Wives of Henry VIII
He will make a photocopy of these if you wish.