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Rick on the Radio Rick Wakeman - Sudbury Quay Theatre - 6 March 2000 Night 2 - Sudbury Quay Theatre - 7 March 2000 Quay Theatre Concert Tuesday Have dinner with Rick on March 11 |
Rick On Cambridge Red Radio 107.9 FM
From: Chris Smith [cs222@hermes.cam.ac.uk] - March 3
For those of you who live within about 20 miles of Cambridge (UK!) and can pick up Cambridge Red 107.9 FM you can hear an interview with Rick on the Science World programme between 5 and 6 pm, this coming Sunday.
I am going to follow the interview with a Rick Track, I had in mind something from RRTCOTE as it is recent, possibly Mr. Slow, or maybe Ride of Your Life (blind date!) any other suggestions / requests?
Rick Wakeman - Sudbury Quay Theatre - 6 March 2000
From: Jon Hinchliffe [jon@praying-mantis.prestel.co.uk] - March 7
The Quay Theatre is a lovely little place converted out of a barn or mill or something. It only holds 125 people and the tickets prices reflected this but it didn't seem to put people off. The first night sold out so quick they sold a 2nd night and I believe that is close to a sell out too. Pachebel (Cannon in D major) was an unusual for Rick to start with. We got what seemed like an intro piece of music but half way through Rick came on and joined in, in much the same way he did with Dance Of A 1000 Lights. As usual Rick was flexing his fingers a lot and my mum who I got to chauffeur me to this gig (her 3rd Rick gig now) seemed convinced Rick is having trouble with his hands. Rick always seemed to flex before and after fast pieced to me. It did perhaps seem more obvious tonight though and mum thought a knuckle looked red. It didn't effect his performance anyway. Rick started off talking about the suffering in the world and went on to mention the children brought to see an aging rocker. This lead to a nice version of Birdman of Alcatraz. Just like it did on the last tour. We the got a good story I hadn't heard before about a concert in Seattle when the band were drunk and had a disaster of a concert only to get a good review from a critic that has always hated Rick's performances.
Rick then played two wives Catherine Howard and Catherine Of Aragon. Both were very good and but I think they were fairly standard arrangements. We got a few countdown jokes next followed by Seasons Of Change. Jane Seymour followed the usual story of how the vicar let them record for free and then got them to make contributions to the various restoration funds.
The standard intro was followed by Nursery Rhyme Concerto Merlin the Magician was the usual recent audience participation version with a member of the audience being collared by Rick to hold the sustain peddle while Rick moves to the Piano. Tonight she was called Val and I have to say she was the most amusing/lest confident I have seen. As Rick was explaining how the peddle worked he kept taking his foot on and off it. Unfortunately Val got the impression she had to pump the peddle so it was a good job Rick made her practice. As usual Rick made the most of his props. To get Val on stage Rick had to take her out through a corridor. He of course made out she was trying to leave the building etc.
Set two started with the KGB story from the church tours. This was followed by Children of Chernobyl. This disappointed me as I was expecting a Piano version. It was done on the mock Piano but in fact sounded much as the album. I will now know what to expect tomorrow and enjoy it as I normally do. It is a favourite of mine anyway.
There was another short Countdown story next
Rick decided link the two Journeys next. He choose to match Dance Of 1000 Lights with the corresponding point of the original. A good idea I thought. We therefore got Recollection followed by Dance Of A Thousand Lights. Recollection was pretty much the greatest hits format and Dance was to the backing tape as on the church tour. It was good to be able to clearly see Rick's playing this time. I couldn't in the churches since the Piano was at a different angle. I am not sure what happened near the start of Dance but it either jumped or was rearranged. Perhaps the Radio edit was being used? It was very noticeable to me and threw my listening whatever the reason. The next story was another new one to me about a country airs concert which was advertised with Rock Concert Posters. As Rick looked out to the front he was horrified to see the front few rows filled with Hell's Angels. Rick wanted to make a run for it instead of doing an encore but as he bowed at the front a Angel grabbed him and said the Angels weren't happy. Their favourite was Waterfalls (of Country Airs) and Rick hadn't played it. Was it going to be the Encore?!
And you and I / Wondrous Stories was much the same as the Greatest Hits set.
We didn't get No Prelude to a millennium which was apparently being considered for the tour.
The story of Rick's mum and a load of old people going to the 1984 London show expecting to see a Piano show was told next. This lead Guinevere and Lancelot and the Black Knight. Very interesting. I haven't heard Rick play these solo before and there is a point in Black Night which on the original version answers back to itself. This sounded very odd to me because Rick only has two hands and therefore can't do it the same. It will be interesting to see how I take to it tomorrow and next week in Felixstowe.
At last Rick has cut done the Intro to Eleanor. We only got half the normal intro and it was combined with the amusing story off the letter to the radio station where the DJ thought some was 111 but it turned out they were ill. I think this was told on the church tour and Help and Eleanor Rigby were the same arrangements. Obviously without Ramon singing Help The concert ended on Claire de Lune.
Overall I thought the concert was a good mix of stuff from the last tour and new stuff. I found the emphasis on Arthur and Henry very interesting. I still wish Rick could push more from other areas of his career but I can understand his decision. Talking to the tour crew they weren't expecting any regular fans at this gig and I would guess it was a slightly different crowd to normal. They certainly all laughed as though they were hearing all the jokes the first time. Mind you I still tend to laugh when Rick is telling the Jane Seymour story and the vicar says "My word, how unexpected". I wonder how many fans of the church tours go to the regular tours and vice versa.
Rick was wearing his black jacket from the Church tours again. It seems to have become his favourite after all the colourful ones of previous tours. I don't know that I got as excited about this concert as previous ones but I had had my daughter for 6 hours as she had been ill and 3 hours totally wipes me out. So attending this concert was pure determination and therefore I was a bit tense. With luck as on the last tour I will be in better shape tonight (doubtful the way my body feels now!) . I waited to get a few things signed by Rick again and he amused me by saying I was looking well despite the ME. It's good I can pretend to be normal. He actually gave someone he was signing for a joke from a previous tour. It was the story about a sold out performance where the was an obvious whole in the crowd that was annoying Rick. It turned out that a man's wife had gone into labour 3 mins prior to the concert. The man was back by the interval. He later got something signed so Rick asked if it was a false alarm. He said "I told her she had got 1/2hr and that was it. She knew I had been looking forward to this gig for months!". On another tour Rick meet the wife and amazingly she was feeling a bit guilty about having gone into labour 4 weeks early and spoiling her husbands concert! I hope this doesn't read to bad. I have checked it but I am not functioning well today so I am sure it is still pretty bad. Psion's are great. I was writing most of it on the journey home the rest on my bed while I tried to rest up.
Night 2 - Sudbury Quay Theatre - 7 March 2000
From: Jon Hinchliffe [jon@praying-mantis.prestel.co.uk] - March 8
It is amazing how much your perception of a concert can change when your brain is only 50% dead instead of 90%. I knew a lot of the gig was just going through me last night but I couldn't think how I wasn't "relaxed" enough. The difference was my brain wasn't singing along to the music as much.
I was the seat in front of the seat I had last night and I was picking up a lot more of my surroundings. The concert seemed that much louder and Rick was making the floor boards squeak as he paced up and down. I could also hear the sound of the key movements on the keyboard as Rick played. Tonight's performance seemed a lot better too. I felt I had heard a few false notes near the start last night but tonight I felt there might have been 3 all night. They were certainly spread out too. Rick did flex his fingers a couple of times but certainly not as much as last night. As per the last tour that I saw two dates in two nights on I found it interesting to hear the slight difference in how Rick told the stories. The audience tonight was different in character too. After every story last night someone clapped and the whole place followed suit. Tonight no one started the clapping except on two occasions when only a third of the place joined in.
Rick actually made us wait a little while for the encore tonight. By his quick standards anyway.
I very spent the last two night trying to work out how the chords move on when Rick is on the Piano. Every time he presses a peddle it seems to change but the main rig peddle doesn't seem to be used in the same way. Rick also changed the setting in the main rig before playing Clair De Lune. I will have to find out what is going on but I never remember to ask Rick such things (When I got home I phoned up the keyboard player from Praying Mantis's last tour for a chat. He has been learning Rick's techniques etc. As we chatted I mentioned my little puzzle and he eventually mentioned that keyboard now can actually play two maybe three sounds depending on the speed of playing or the pressure applied to the keys. I will have to watch this on the piano at Felixstowe but this certainly seemed the solution to how Rick does Eleanor Rigby. During this Rick hits the keys and gets a loud bell sound. There is something called after touch too but my friend didn't really have that one worked out yet as he is still learning to control these patches. IE it is easy to slip into the wrong sound.)
Rick plays with his eyes shut. Actually I wanted to join him at times but I dare not risk it since they may struggle to open again. He even seems to change keyboards with eyes shut most of the time too. If he does look it must be a brief glimpse with little lid movements.
He seems to use music for about three songs on the Piano. I wonder if he finds he looses feeling when his eyes are open. Perhaps he shuts his eyes just to stop them distracting him. I will have to try it on my Sax.
Mum commented last night that he should have a mirror behind his main rig so the we can be dazzled by his fingers more. He used to use one when playing with Yes. And the organist that my mum books for the local organ society all use one. I wonder if Rick thinks it too dated? I am sure the audience would appreciate it. Oh while I am remembering mum's comments she wishes he wouldn't pace around so much when talking.
Rick has been playing Nursery Rhyme Concerto for several years now and yet Rick still has to pull out a list to remind himself of the songs he is playing. He has no problem playing the piece so if Rick does actually reads the list it shows the strange ways our brains work.
Dance of a thousand lights did have a jump again near the start so it must be a truncated version.
I understood a lot better tonight what was going on in Lancelot tonight too. Last night I felt the sounds could have been a little different as it sounded a bit like the Yes stuff. Tonight I thought it sounded good. As I say tonight was far more enjoyable for me. I am sure it was only because of I was less tired. Felixstowe is after my children again. I wonder if anything in the set will have changed by then and if I can think of anything more to bore you with. I can't imagine so. Rick does apparently swap stories or songs though in order to keep himself on his toes when touring.
Quay Theatre Concert Tuesday
From: Chris Smith [cs222@hermes.cam.ac.uk] - March 8
I must say, what a superb concert ! The venue was really great - Americans would apply the word "Quaint" to it, or "cute" or some similar synonym (tautology not intentional !).
I thought that the choice of music and stories complemented each other brilliantly, and the whole evening was very relaxed and enjoyable. I have to agree with Jon that the crowd last night were a bit 'stodgy' - I did my best to get people into it a bit more, but to little avail.
I was fortunate to chat with Rick afterwards last night and to pass on my thanks for the impromptu 'interview' he granted us on the radio last week.
I bought a tour programme - I usually do at Rick's tours because they are such a scream - and this one is hilarious. I got home last night (to Cambridge) from Sudbury at about midnight and started reading the programme (yes I know it may sound strange that I read the programme AFTER the concert !) and couldn't put it down.
Anyway, this is a superb tour, the stories (despite ahving heard some of them before) were if anything funnier the second time around, and I thought that Rick played beautifully. The high point of the evening for me was probably the material played from 6 wives (Jane Seymour was fantastic) and Merlin. If you have the opportunity to go and have not yet got a ticket, buy one !
Are you near Manchester UK?
From: Wayne Smith [wayne@rwcc.com] - March 9