Oatley sees Rick Wakeman live

[Oatley1]

It's been a good year for seeing old fading rock stars - in May I saw Jethro Tull for the first time, and now last night I saw Rick Wakeman up close and personal.

Who is Rick Wakeman I hear you ask? He is the keyboard player for the band 'Yes'.

Who are 'Yes' I hear you ask? They are a progressive rock band who have been around since 1969.

What's progressive rock (or Prog Rock), I hear you ask? It is a style of music that fuses blues-based rock with elements of classical music, jazz and ethnic or world music. The songs are usually quite lengthy, and dwells on more unusual subject matter, instead of the usual boy meets girl, boy loses girl, moon blows up for no apparent reason.

Anyway, back to the concert. It was very intimate, just Rick pretty much solo, with a piano and 2 keyboards, and occasionally a vocalist joining him onstage to sing some of the vocal parts. The pieces were all stipped down, many of them in the form of a piano recital.

All the usual songs were there: excerpts from 'Six Wives of Henry VIII', excerpts from 'King Arthur', and a nice suite from the 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' album.

And in between songs, he would recount some very funny stories of his life on the road - one that had him and his band drunk on stage in Seattle in 1976, with different members of the band playing 4 different songs at the same time for 11 minutes, an exploding organ, musicians disappearing through a hole in the stage floor, and getting the best review of his career from a Prog Rock hating critic had me rolling around the floor in gales of laughter.

A very enjoyable evening overall, and I am glad I went to see him.

 

[fisheggs]

Sound like you're "close to the edge".

 

[Oatley1]

Yes, and I gotta say I was feeling very "fragile" after it!

 

[Vonbloodbath]

Those in the UK may also know Rick Wakeman as the garishly jacketed presenter of "Live at Jongleurs".

Glad you enjoyed it. I had the opperchancity to see the Pixies live on Sunday, and it too was a gig to remember. Minimal banter, but awesome tune after awesome tune. Never thought I'd get to see them live, and really, really pleased I did.

VB

 

[GKarsEye]

Wow, what an unexpected reminder of my prog fandom days (though I do remember you being fan, Oatley).

I've seen Yes three times (all relatively recently) and Wakeman wasn't with them any of the times. Just a bit of bad luck on my part, as he tends to drift in and out. Hmm, I wonder if I can remember alll the times he's quit and come back:

- Before Yes Wakeman already had a fine reputation for his work with the Strawbs.

- Joined Yes in the early 70s and recorded Fragile, Close the Edge, Tales From Topographic Oceans. The latter project disgusted him so much he quit.
(Other problems involved differing lifestyles and personality conflicts)

- Yes recorded Relayer, a fascinatingly avant-garde-ish album with future Moody Blues keyboardist Patrick Moraz.
(I once blasted Gates of Delirium so loud in my college apt the landlord wanted to kick me out.) Wakeman released solo albums, such as The 6 Wives of Henry VIII, in which each song was named after a wife, proving that even rock 'n' roll can be boring.

- Wakeman returned but the "classic" Yes sound was giving way to a more streamlined approach. The band recorded the surprisingly excellent Going For the One and the horrendous Tormato. Then Wakeman quite again while Yes wandered about directionless and even cut an album with a different singer.

- Wakeman would be absent throught the 80s as a new pop version of Yes (Owner of a Lonely Heart) raved up the world.

- Wakeman was part of the confounding Union tour of the early 90s in which approximately 6,794 current former members of Yes unleashed prog purgatory on the world. Wakeman, Trevor Rabin and Alan White drove around in a Dodge van while the others were in the bus. I don't blame them- I wouldn't want to hang around Jon Anderson either.

- The mid-90s saw a kind of classic Yes lineup reunion and Wakeman decided to cash in on that for a while (Keys To Ascension) then quit again. To my knowledge that was his final involvement.

Total:
Joined and quit- 4 times

Wakeman's most absurd and infamous moment was when he toured with some ice skating thing. And he always had a flair for awesome capes:

 

[Oatley1]

Hey old Mighty,

For a man who has says he has given up his prog addiction, you seem to be very well informed! Hmmm...

The mid-90s saw a kind of classic Yes lineup reunion and Wakeman decided to cash in on that for a while (Keys To Ascension) then quit again. To my knowledge that was his final involvement.

Wakeman did rejoin Yes after the Magnification album and tour in 2002, having seen them in Sydney in Sept 2004 with Rick in tow. To my knowledge, he is still with the band.

Speaking of that 2004 Yes show - you wouldn't believe my luck for that! Having waited to see Yes for 15 years, I finally get to go and what happens? I get struck down by a gastric bug.

I spent half of that gig sitting on the can, and I was so out of it, I have absolutely NO RECOLLECTION of the parts of the show I did see, what with the shivering, shakes and cramping.

Man that sucked!

Gotta say, that Jethro Tull was excellent in May of this year - Ian Anderson may have lost his vocal range, but the music was to die for.