Forwarded from the Strawbs e-mail list:
To: Witchwood@yahoogroups.com
From: andy@maisondeau.freeserve.co.uk - Sept 30
Set list:
A Glimpse of Heaven
Shepherd's Song
Hangman and the Papist (with Tony Fernandez)
Saturday 29th September saw the 10th anniversary concert of the Classic Rock Society. Rick Wakeman's New English Rock Ensemble were headlining with several other contributions beforehand. The venue was a school hall, standing only; not much of a problem except that the doors opened at 7.00 pm and the show finally finished just before midnight! My legs definitely aren't as young as they used to be....
The show was due to start at 8.00 pm. The hour beforehand passed quickly enough, with a lot of worried looking technicians and engineers searching with torches for an apparent electrical fault. After much checking of connections they looked none the wiser, or happier, but nevertheless Martin Hudson of the CRS took to the stage on time and welcomed everybody. He then went on to introduce one of the society's directors and its president: Dave and Rick ("a strawb and ex-strawb") explaining that it had been fifteen years since they had last played in public. Dave took to the stage, plugged his guitar in ready to start and then noticed that Rick was still chatting to Martin. "Late as usual!" was Dave's observation.
`Glimpse of Heaven' sounded as good as ever, the keyboards complementing the acoustic guitar perfectly and the song was well received. Unfortunately Dave had broken a string during the song.
"Some things never change", mused DC.
"Same guitar that he used fifteen years ago" suggested RW.
"Same strings, but on a different guitar" retorted DC.
Rick asked Dave if he would like another guitar and then promptly left the stage in search of one, returning immediately with a broom suggesting that DC should improvise! RW left again returning moments later with a guitar. This proved difficult to operate and help had to be sought to find the on/off switch for the pickup. During this interlude DC made some comment about RW always using a broom and tidying up in the studio, so much so that he used to wear an apron. Rick reminded Dave that on one occasion he had been wearing much less. Dave then told the story of RW, the worse for drink, recording in the nude (which I knew about) and how following that, suitably embarrassed, he later went fully dressed to another part of the studio to meet up with the band, engineers etc. only to discover that they were now all stark naked! (which I didn't know about).
Anecdotes over and the guitar sorted, the excellent `Shepherd's Song' followed. The Cousins/Wakeman version seems to sound better every time I hear it, and tonight was certainly no exception. I had expected, and hoped, that it would be included in the set and it was a privilege to hear it performed live. All too soon we were into the final song. Tony Fernandez joined them on stage and the familiar opening strains of `Hangman' filled the air. The guitar led
the way. As the song moved towards its conclusion the combination of the driving keyboards, relentless drum beat and guitar provided the perfect backing for DC's vocals (which were in fine form throughout). Again the song was extremely well received, but all too soon the short set was over as DC and RW took the deserved applause of the crowd and left the stage.
The rest of the evening, for the record:
DC and RW were followed by a similarly short set from a uillean pipes player (whose name I can't recall : Troy??) and accompanying keyboard player. Dave Whetton then sang three of his songs to take us up to the main event.
RW and the NERE played a range of material; some well known pieces (extracts from `Journey', `6 wives' and`Arthur') from Rick's extensive repertoire as well as newer items from `Return to the Centre of the Earth' and, according to him "probably the most obscure track I've ever recorded : `The Phantom', which was requested by Oscar" (Rick's youngest).
The band played for nearly 21/2 hours and were excellent. The guitarist, bass player and vocalist were new to me but all fine musicians (the vocalist had a very theatrical stage presence, or as my wife put it: oozed sexuality - looked to me like he'd spent too long at a school for aspiring rock stars! - but nonetheless had a superb voice for the material). Tony Fernandez was commanding as ever and there was some wonderful interplay between Rick and Adam Wakeman, particularly on `Merlin'; they were obviously enjoying themselves hugely!
Extracts from `No Earthly Connection' led towards the climax, a stunning rendition of `Starship Trooper' from Rick's days with Yes. The inevitable encore concluded with `Eleanor Rigby'; the first time I've ever heard RW's arrangement in the style of Prokofiev with vocals. The show over, all the artistes returned to the stage, except DC who had apparently left earlier.
As the house lights came up I reflected on what had been an excellent evening all round. An appreciative audience, evidently not quite capacity but it can't have been far short of it, including a number of families with young children, many of whom were sat on the apron of the stage amongst the monitors. All that remained was to try to move my legs again and walk to the car! I had a quick look at the photos I had taken and then headed home. It had been a good one.
More reviews and some great photos can be found at http://www.strawbpage.ndirect.co.uk/live/couswake.htm
Some Wakeman news from another list
Subject: [PT-Trans] Concert info for our UK friends
On Saturday 29 September the Classic Rock Society is holding its tenth anniversary concert, starring Rick Wakeman's English Rock Ensemble, who have recently toured South America. Opening the show between 8.00 - 8.20pm are Rick Wakeman and Dave Cousins - the first time they have played on stage together for 15 years.
This date was lined up to celebrate 10 years of the existence of the 'Classic Rock Society', based in unfashionable Rotherham, but the best place in the UK to hear about underground groups in the classic and 'progressive' rock domain - even if Mr Wilson is not very fond of their stage backdrop.
First up was Dave Cousins(Strawbs) and Rick Wakeman (ex-strawbs) who proceeded to play together for only about the 2nd time in over 25+ years. Wakeman was briefly a member of the Strawbs before joing Yes for their 'classic' period and I guess that the three tunes that they played dated from this time. Nothing I recognised, but it was pleasant enough. Dave broke a string on the first number and proceeded to tell a few stories of studio antics, while a replacement guitar was found.
After a short break Troy Donockley (Iona) and Nick ??? sang a couple of pleasant tunes featuring Ullyian pipes, then a further break after which Johns Wetton (King Crimson/Asia/Wetton) and Mitchell (Arena) came on stage to play three tunes in acoustic mode. battlelines Emma Heat of the moment.
Then after various Wakeman Cds and DVDs had been raffled, on to the main act - Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble featuring his son Adam on additional keys, Lee Pomeroy on bass, Tony Fernadez on drums, Ant Glynne on guitar and Damien Wilson on vocals. I had feared that besides playing a great deal of old stuff that I hadn't heard for quite a few years, the band would have an old or at least '70's-style' sound. In fact they had a very modern sound indeed and aside from the numerous solos which rick played on a battered old mini-moog there was nothing that made them sound anything other than a very modern rock band .. playing material over 20 years old.
Have to say that the playing was top notch, with some great stuff from all of the musicians involved and Damien's voice fitted the majority of the material perfectly.
'Merlin' featured both Wakemans duelling on those portable keyboard cum guitar things with Rick wandering into the audience (a la Ryo from Spocks Beard) and Adam later posing atop the speaker stack. 'Starship Trooper' wasn't as great as it might have been and 'Buried Alive' didn't make a fantastic encore, but aside from that we had more than 2 hours of great stuff as they played from 9:30 pm to almost midnight.
Setlist (approx): - Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Medley): The Return Overture/ Tales >From The Lidenbrook Sea/The Kill/Ride Of Your Life plus a few other excerpts - Never is a Long, Long Time - drum solo - Arthur Medley: Arthur/Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight/The Last Battle - The Visit from the Phantom - Merlin the Magician. - No Earthly Connection Medley: - Catherine Parr - Starship Trooper Encores: - Buried Alive - Eleanor Rigby
BTW: there is a DVD of a very similar show (from Buenos Aires in Argentina in 2000) available for sale on his website. Charlie
An Argentinean girl who is working in London went to the 10th Anniversary Classic Rock Society show where Rick performed. She says that during Rick's performance with Dave Cousins from Strawbs, when Dave broke the string of his guitar, Rick said: "I think this guy needs another guitar" and went off stage and appeared with ....a broom and gave it to Dave who started brooming the floor. Rick left the stage and left Dave alone. Rick returned with an acustic guitar and gave it to Dave who gave the broom to Rick, so while Dave was tunning the guitar, Rick was brooming the floor. Of course the audience was rolling on the floor in laughter.
This was a very interesting gig for me, Rick Wakeman was playing with a full band which always makes it a special night but I have now done several of these one of Wakey gigs and I am starting to know an awful lot of people.
It was an over night stay and my hotel was a lot further away from the venue than I expected. It was also too close for me to get a taxi so I had to force myself to walk. I was lead to believe there was a pub selling food on the way so I expected it to break the hike for me. I had tried about 3 places before I finally found one that was serving food and then I noticed Tony Fernandez buying a drink. I had sent him some clips of himself with Rick on TV from over the years after the last gig so he thanked me and invited me to sit with him. By then Adam, Ant and Lee had all appeared too. There was another face I recognised but couldn't place and then half way through the meal I realised it was Dave Cousins. I didn't speak to him but it was nice having a chat with the others.
I then wondered the remaining thankfully short distance to the gig (If I got to a gig there again I will stay there in future). And I recognised a lady I couldn't place. While I was still thinking about that Chris Berry his wife said "hello" so I stayed with them for the gig. I think I was talkative and a bit flippant so it must have been the cider affecting me. I hope it was understood I was playful not rude. Anyway we handed in our tickets and the lady said "Hello Jon" now I was embarrassed. I clearly should remember who she was. I bluffed my way along and then finally I got a clue when she mentioned Rosie from Holland and said she was looking forward to receiving my review of the gig. I then remembered she was the lady who does www.damianwilson.com. She was with Damian's mum and dad again and after the gig kindly drove me back to the hotel. Damian's dad was surprisingly knowledgeable about my recent shoulder operation so I had stories of how to put my dislocated shoulder back in on the way. Hopefully that is a thing of the past now but I am still scared to death by certain arm movements and tales of reductions!
We then went into the venue and had a chat wth Mike Holden who wasn't in a rush for a change. I also had a quick chat with Derek? from Marlborough. I really must try and remember your name! There was talk of bringing the start forward to 7.30 and the lights went down about 7.35. But nothing happened till about 8pm the scheduled time. It was most perplexing and there were several signals to the mixing desk that could have been "OK we are ready to go".
Martin Hudson of the Classic Rock Society came on and welcomed us and then introduced Rick and Dave Cousins. They performed an excellent three song set and because of its newness to my ears this was the highlight of my night.
Glimpse Of Heaven was first with Rick of course on Keyboards (what else?) and Dave acoustic guitar and vocals. During this he managed to break a string. Rick therefore decided to go off and get another guitar for him and came back with a broom. Rick disappeared again and Dave said words to the effect "Rick always leaves me on stage feeling like a lemming and now I have a broom too" Rick then reappeared with Ant's Acoustic guitar. Dave then couldn't work out how to get the volume on, which caused more jokes and eventually a roadie to sort him out.
Rick used the moog on the next one. I knew it but can't recall it's name but it contains the line "They lay together in the long grass making sweet talk."
There was a story from Dave about Rick turning up for a session a bit worse the wear for drink. He asked that the lights should be turned out and then he would say record and start playing they could then turn the lights back on. They turned the lights out and they heard some rustling and then "record". They turned the lights on and there was Rick playing naked as the day he was born. This he found very funny. He sheepishly got dressed and every in the control room took off their clothes so when he went up for playback he was the only one dressed.
They finished with the Hangman and the Papist. Tony Fernandez joined them for this. And excellent it was too!
It was straight into Troy Donockley and Matt? Holland. Troy told us he was going to play Uilleann Pipes and we could think of them as a 500 year old mini moog. The first piece was quite fast. Then Mr Holland sang the next one while Troy played a low Whistle. The final tune was on Uilleann pipes again and was a classic piece that Chris Berry will name for you.
I am not 100% sure I like Uilleann pipes but it was a nice mini set.
Next up was a short gap and then John Wetton. The less said by me on this the better. He certainly didn't warm me up for the main act. It was dreary acoustic performances of 3 songs. I knew the last song from my only Asia album but this version was so depressing and definitely not to my tastes.
The sound at this point had been very biased to the right speaker. Luckily in the gap before Rick they sorted this out.
At about 9.15pm Martin Hudson came back on and talked about the 10 years of Classic Rock Society. He had good go at the fact a lot of fans didn't want to join the society. While I understand it is frustrating for him I don't think it won him any friends amongst those he was trying to get to join. If anything the reaction I got from people was it was just annoying and perhaps even Alienating.
There was a raffle and then it was time for the main event. And what a cracking show it was!
The hall was a typical English school assembly hall. It was about 50 feet wide and I guess 80 feet long. There was no sign of advertising so I guess it had sold out.
For a school hall it was an amazingly good presentation. Rick had subtle dry Ice most of the show and the lights were really effective.
Adam was brought forward to Rick's level which is unusual for recent times. Overall the set up was very symmetrical. Tony and Damian were in the middle. Ant was on the far right although he often went to the centre for solos. Lee was on the left and even plays his bass left-handed!
The band are really interacting well with each other Lee in particular seemed really up for exchanging smiles with anyone that was looking. I had an usually good view of Tony and it was fascinating watching the faces he pulls as he plays in general but especially when trying to put someone off.
For the first time in years Rick wore a cape for a UK performance. I thought it might only be for the first song but he kept it on all night except when he played the keytar.
The set seems to have been shuffled. So tonight after the return intro tape we went straight into Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.
Never Is A Long, Long Time was preceded by Rick introducing Lee. He claimed Lee was the best bass player he had played with. Lee then paid him. Rick then looked how much and then he corrected himself and said 3rd best.
Before King Arthur Rick introduced Tony Fernandez and then unusually he got a drum solo for the intro.
The Visit was next and was good fun as usual. Ant got his intro before this and Rick said how he had got all his hair cut off while in Canada.
Next Rick introduced Adam with his golliwog hair and claimed that the day before a child had gone up to Adam asked if he was a tramp.
Merlin the Magician had the usual Keytar dual between Rick and Adam. Adam is a lot better at showing us what he is doing than Rick. At first I thought it was because Rick was facing left and therefore his hand is to the back of the stage but even when Rick is alone and playing he still tended to be less visible. Perhaps it is because of the Lead. Rick still end up wondering off into the audience and then as he returned he grabbed someone to be his keyboard stand for the final frantic section. Unusually Rick did this back on stage so everyone got a good view. Previous it has been in the crowd.
No Earthly Connection was next.
This was followed by Catherine Parr, which seems to be a favourite of Rick's whenever he and Tony are playing in a band set up. Rick actually mentioned how Tony had heard what the song would be for his audition so he had learned it. Unfortunately Rick had heard that Tony had heard it so he changed the song and Tony's face was a picture. He still played well though and hence got the job.
To end the main set they played Starship trooper. Adam was on Keytar again and I think he briefly came into the audience but I could be wrong. He certainly went and stood on top of the left hand speakers. Ant felt jealous so he went and joined him. Adam returned to his keyboards and Ant then wondered into the crowd. Damian as at previous gigs had gone off into the audience and I had completely forgotten about him until I heard someone shouting behind me and he suddenly burst through encouraging people to clap on his way back to the stage.
They did two separate tracks in the encore, which is unusual for Rick in a solo setting at least.
First it was Buried Alive and then to finish it was Eleanor Rigby with Damian singing and a nice three way exchange of solos between Rick, Adam and Ant on acoustic guitar.
The sound tonight was excellent from my central position. Occasionally one of Rick's keyboards was a little lost but most of the time everything was quite clear. I was quite surprised actually as the speakers were sat on the floor to the front of the stage rather than on it.
Tonight's gig was standing and if I had been fit and well I suspect it would have made nice change. Having to stand though was an absolute killer for me and to be honest I was really struggling to keep surviving after Starship Trooper. I also found trains from Ipswich to Rotherham a lot of hassle on a Saturday. It is not and easy route and on Sundays it is even worse so I am not sure I would want to go there again which is a shame as the Classic Rock Society has some good gigs. I am not sure I would even make the effort to see a standard Rick gig there again. I suspect it would depend how long it was since I last had my fix of Rick with band. It was an excellent but extremely tiring night. I am thoroughly glad I made the effort and it was good to see Rick and the band with a professional presentation. It is funny I probably think this is the best gig I have seen in ages most times I see Rick with the band but once I start thinking about it is probably only since the previous gig. I guess Fowey was slightly disappointing for me so it is definitely best band gig since Marlborough and I feel the band are performing a lot better as a group since then.
After the show I meet more people Charles Farrell from Powerplay magazine spotted me and again put my memory to shame by reminding me we had meet at a Praying Mantis gig. Chris someone that I had meet at a Mostly Autumn gig also came and said hello.
Then over breakfast the next day I did my customary thing of asking the only other person in the room how and why they had ended up in the same hotel and it turned out she had been to the gig and enjoyed it too. It also emerged she had come from Braintree which is where I last saw Rick. For some reason I mentioned I got there by train and that I it was pain going back on a Sunday and she offered me a lift since Braintree is near Ipswich. I thought I might as well have the company and it would save me hanging round so I meet and made friends with yet another Wakeman fan. We are clearly a very friendly group of people.
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From: Wayne Smith [wayne@mmmix.com]
In case anyone else on the list was there, the delay was caused by the failure of the main light rig and a hasty replacement of power sources.
Yes Jon, I was there too :-)
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From: CHRIS BERRY [BerryCM@Cardiff.ac.uk] - Oct 2
excellent review of the gig. I loved the Dave Cousins/Wakeman thing, it was very powerful....
The final pipe piece was an arrangement of the chorale from Finlandia by Sibelius!
The last John Wetton piece was 'Heat of the moment', but a very doleful rendition of the same. It was interesting to hear it, but I'd rather see him with a whole band.
What blew me away was the fact that for Rick's set, the mix and sound was more or less perfect for 95% of the time, a near miracle really. It was a bit like listening to an album and being at a concert at the same time. And the playing was just getting better and better. It is the 4th time I have seen the ERE (Marlborough, BA, Fowey and Rotherham) and each time they have made a step forward in terms of their performance. I can't wait to hear them play tracks from their album they are preparing at the moment.
Fantastic evening......
From the Strawbs mailing list:
To: Witchwood@yahoogroups.com
From: lescotton@nordenmicrolink.co.uk - Oct. 3
Subject: [Witchwood] Re: Cousins and Wakeman at Rotherham
Rick Wakeman is a good friend of the folks at Bamford Chapel, a church about a mile from here (north of Rochdale, UK). I hear Rick is a (born again?) Christian these days, and met them through the church. Anyway, it was the Chapels 200th anniversary about 18 months ago, and also one of the folk's birthdays....Rick arranged a surprise concert at the chapel, and wrote a unique one-off album just for the occasion, which he performed live. He then presented them with a studio recorded CD of the work, or should I say THE CD, the only copy pressed!! Quite a gift I'd say.
I got back the remainder of by Braintree photos today. So if you are curious to see what Ashley Holt looks like now you can check out http://www.hinchliffe.org/jon/wakey7.shtml
I have still got sixteen shots in my camera but most of my photos of Rotherham as back. If you want to look go to http://www.hinchliffe.org/jon/wakey8.shtml
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From: Jon Hinchliffe [jon@praying-mantis.com] - Oct 17
There are now 8 more pics on my Rotherham review at
http://www.hinchliffe.org/jon/wakey8.shtml.
With many thanks to Mike Clarke and Oliver Wakeman, I have some 20 + pictures available from the 3 Ages of Magick album release party, held in London last July 3. Go here to see. http://home.maine.rr.com/aaaragon/launch.htm. I have a suspicion there is at least 1 list member there in the audience...
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From: Wayne Smith [wayne@mmmix.com] - Oct 12
> OK Wayne, Where are you hiding?
In 2 of the pictures: In "Audience - SRO!" top left hand side, and un "Audience - view from backstage" second from the right at the back Just as a point of trivia, in the first one, the tall guy in the white shirt I'm talking to, is Rick's publisher and Return's executive producer Frank Rodgers...
If anyone had seen a website at the URL www.rickwakemanportugal.com regarding 2 shows in Portugal, please note that these are NOT happening. I cannot emphasise enough that if you do not read it on rwcc.com then it isn't confirmed...
It's my pleasure to inform you that the first polish website dedicated to Rick's artistic work has just been created. http://www.wakeman.kompit.com.pl. The page is for all Rick's fans in Poland. I would like to ask for any meritorical notices as far as the stuff on the page are concerned. Greetings from Cracow.