Review by Ralph Greco, Jr.
Prog’s caped crusader Rick Wakeman brought his An Evening With Rick Wakeman:His Music And Stories show to Bethlehem in pretty much his loveable “grumpy old rock star” style, or “Grandpa Grumpy,” as he claims his 13 grandkids call him.
Strolling out centerstage in a long jacket and dark sweat pants, Wakeman regaled the audience with an opening story about his first-ever music teacher Mrs. Symes who inspired his latest studio album, A Gallery Of The Imagination. Walking to the piano to play “Just A Memory,” from this release, the irascible keyboardist couldn’t help but add a little ribald note into his description of Mrs. Symes.
And we were off and running. Telling the infamous story about how he was asked to play, and never got paid for his stellar piano contribution on Cat Steven’s “Morning Has Broken,” Wakeman sat at the piano again and gave forth his unique ivory tickling from this classic next.
Into some marriage humor (Wakeman is on his fourth in this regard), he sat at the double keyboard rig set stage left and played “Jane Seymour,” one of a few tunes he played this night from his first solo album, The Six Wives Of Henry VIII.
Yes tunes followed, with Wakeman rolling through a two-song melody of “And You and I,” “Wonderous Stories,” and back into “And You and I,” then he stepped back to the keys set up for a jaunty “Merlin the Magician,” from his 1975 solo release The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table and a deep cut “The Dance of a Thousand Lights” from his Journey To The Centre Of The Earth sequel, Return To The Centre Of The Earth. This one was particularly interesting as a taped backing of string and chorus came through the P.A. system that Wakeman played piano to in what he called a “karaoke version.”
Ending the main set with David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and the always fabulous “Life in Mars?,” Wakeman told us all how much he admired Bowie. He played an encore of the Beatles’ “Help!” and “Eleanor Rigby.”
You won’t get much better than Rick Wakeman telling some stories, offering a dirty joke of two, and dipping back and around to his impressive catalog. As I have always thought when seeing Rick Wakeman, whether playing with Yes, ARW or these solo shows, the man deserves the tag of legend and can still hold a room in rapt attention with his playing and personality.
