{"id":21914,"date":"2021-11-11T05:30:24","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T10:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=21914"},"modified":"2021-11-11T10:01:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T15:01:58","slug":"long-distance-runaround-rick-wakeman-is-a-true-one-man-show-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/11\/long-distance-runaround-rick-wakeman-is-a-true-one-man-show-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Distance Runaround: Rick Wakeman is a True One-man Show (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

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Wakeman earned a lot of press coverage, and plenty of cover stories. This August ’73 issue of Circus<\/i> is among the earliest.<\/p><\/div>\n

While he\u2019d sometimes explain that there was a good reason for not playing a given tune, other times, he\u2019d take the suggestions under consideration. \u201cI do the old actor’s thing at the end of every show in the dressing room,\u201d he says. \u201cI make notes on how everything went, any piece that I might be able to improve on a little bit, something that might have happened musically, or if someone said, \u2018Why didn’t you play this piece?\u2019 I’d write that down. Then, very much at the end of the tour, when I’m home, I look, and maybe there\u2019s one piece that’s cropped up that people have asked for quite a few times.\u201d And that field research informs the set list for future tours. \u201cI can honestly say that it\u2019s very much an audience-chosen show,\u201d Wakeman says.<\/p>\n

His work in television has sharpened his skills as a performer. \u201cI’ve been doing TV for 20-30 years now, on and off,\u201d he says, \u201cand it certainly has helped.\u201d Wakeman notes that performing solo makes a different set of demands on an artist than does playing within a band format: \u201cWhen you’re with a band, there are pressures to make sure you do your level best to help the band.\u201d And he says that works both ways. \u201cI think that a musician\u2019s job within a band is to encourage the other musicians, and be encouraged by them<\/i>, too,\u201d he observes. \u201cTrevor [Rabin] would often do things that would inspire me to do something I hadn’t done before, to play something a bit different.\u201d He says that Yes guitarist Steve Howe and bassist Chris Squire similarly inspired him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you’re on your own, you really are<\/i> on your own,\u201d he says. \u201cAs part of Yes or ARW, if there was a guitar solo, I could semi-relax. If I had an itch, I could scratch it, and nobody would know. But, when you’re on your own \u2013 trust me \u2013 you can’t scratch it! It is full-on all the time.\u201d All that said, Wakeman insists that he enjoys both kinds of performance.<\/p>\n

At its core, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll is supposed to be about rebellion. Against that backdrop, it\u2019s fair to ask if Wakeman is part of the establishment, what with his CBE and all. With a hearty laugh, he says, \u201cThat’s a great question! I was very proud to get it. I’m a big Royalist.\u201d He believes that the establishment and the rebellious side can coexist. \u201cBecause it’s the rebellion that creates<\/i> the establishment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Wakeman recalls that when his friend (and Queen guitarist) Brian May received a CBE of his own, he climbed atop Buckingham Palace and played \u201cGod Save the Queen\u201d on his guitar. \u201cHow\u2019s that for rebellion and establishment?\u201d the keyboardist asks rhetorically. \u201cMusic and art and fashion have always been a form of rebellion that has an element of tongue-and-cheek, but also a lot of good in it,\u201d he suggests. \u201cSo rebellion in music, as a part of the establishment? Bring it on!\u201d<\/p>\n

Having played, toured and recorded so much over the last fifty-plus years, Wakeman could be forgiven for deciding that he has few horizons left to explore. But Wakeman emphasizes that he is never at a loss for new projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working on a musical with Tim Rice,\u201d he says, noting that the project will consume at least another year or two before it\u2019s finished. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve always wanted to do a ballet,\u201d he says. He\u2019s been collaborating with one of the directors at the Royal Ballet to bring that dream to fruition. \u201cAlso, my wife writes children\u2019s books, and we want to turn a lot of those into musical adaptations and little playlets that schools of all ages can do,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, that’s what\u2019s on our frontier, and that should tie me up until I’m about 104. Then, I’ll start looking again to see what comes next!\u201d<\/p>\n

But for the moment, Rick Wakeman is focused on his solo tour. And in between the songs, audiences can expect to be regaled with amusing tales both old and familiar. One such tale concerning the keyboardist has circulated so long and wide that it has attained mythical proportions. As the story goes, onstage in the \u201870s during some of the more ponderous passages of Yes\u2019 epic-length Tales From Topographic Oceans<\/i>, Wakeman got bored, ordered take-out curry and dined on it while seated behind his huge bank of keyboards.<\/p>\n

While the outlines of the tale are based in fact, Wakeman explains that the truth is a bit more prosaic. \u201cI’ll be brutally honest with you,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn’t at all enjoy playing Topographic Oceans<\/i> on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

During one concert, the band had worked its way to side three, a passage during which the keyboardist found it hard to remain awake. \u201cAnd my roadie at the time, the late wonderful Toby Errington, used to lie underneath my keyboard on the pretense that if anything went wrong, he could fix it. He shouted out from under the organ, \u2018What are you doing after the show?\u2019\u201d Wakeman told him he\u2019d love a curry, after<\/i> the show: \u201cI bowed my head under and said, \u2018I’ll have chicken vindaloo, bhindi bhaji, rice and a stuffed burrata.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He says that a mere twenty minutes later \u2013 by which time Yes was onto playing side four \u2013 \u201cthe smell of curry came wafting up.\u201d He planned to wait, but Errington warned him that the food would go cold. \u201cSo I laid it out on top of the Hammond,\u201d Wakeman says. \u201cChris [Squire] came over and had a pappadum. It woke the front row of the audience up, that’s for sure!\u201d<\/p>\n

Concertgoers today shouldn\u2019t expect to witness Rick Wakeman eating chicken vindaloo onstage. Instead, he\u2019ll play hits, fan favorites and occasional obscurities from his vast catalog of Yes and solo works and beyond. And in between the songs, the Grumpy Old Rock Star is sure to regale audiences with jokes, asides and irreverent \u2013 yet fact-based \u2013 anecdotes.<\/p>\n

You may also enjoy five more of my features based on interviews with Rick Wakeman:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n