Perth Concert Hall
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| Rick Wakeman - Perth 2015 |
April 14th 2015
Not a whole lot really to say about this one, other than
it was a hugely entertaining evening spent in the company of the redoubtable Richard
Christopher Wakeman and his big black shiny Steinway. The modest looking set list may suggest a
short gig, but Rick’s lengthy between-song banter meant he was actually on
stage for almost an hour and three-quarters.
His anecdotes, covering his music career from a five-year
old obsessed with the breasts of his well-upholstered first music teacher to his
performance of the Six Wives album at Hampton court in 2010 (the DVD of which
almost had to be scrapped due to narrator Brian Blessed salaciously embellishing
his script more than somewhat), complemented the music perfectly.
Rick’s ramblings were humorous, informative and downright
bawdy in equal measure, but never less than engrossing. I for one was amazed to learn he had appeared
on Countdown for eight years. Christ,
how did I miss that?
It was man and piano for most of the evening,
although strings on backing tapes were utilised on both the opener – Pachelbel’s
Canon in D – and also on his own composition Dance of a Thousand Lights. The recording worked well on the former I felt,
but just cluttered up the latter which I should much rather have heard naked,
so to speak.
We were treated not only to a rendition of the first tune
Rick ever performed in public – a nine note
epic entitled Put a Monkey on a Stick
- but also a piece he introduced as The Nursery Rhyme Concerto. This took the format of a series of nursery
rhymes, each performed in the manner of a recognised composer: Ravel, Mozart etc. All very silly, but made even more so by the
interjection of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star played in the style of Les Dawson –
bum notes and all.
The instrumental arrangments of David Bowie’s Life on
Mars and Cat Stevens’ Morning Has Broken were a delight, but for a fat old
Progger like me, the highlight was his take on Wondrous Stories – which was
just…ahem…wondrous.
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| Rick Wakeman - Perth 2015 |
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| Rick Wakeman - Perth 2015 |
Set list
Canon in D
Put a Monkey on a Stick/The JigCatherine Howard
Morning Has Broken
And You and I/Wondrous Stories
The Nursery Rhyme Concerto
Dance of a Thousand Lights
Life on Mars
Eleanor Rigby
Encore
Merlin the Magician
I do like when artists like Mr Wakeman, with a bit of history in their back pocket, take the time to reminisce and share their memories.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very enjoyable gig.