Well, he sure gave good interview – but the gig itself was a little silly, a little sad. I loved hearing a bit of his solo piano playing – dude can fucking play! – but the jokes. Oof. Suddenly it wasn’t Rick Wakeman it was nearly Roy “Chubby” Brown. But hey, that’s his legacy and his era and his way. The humour was a bit lost over here – you could see him struggling to try to tell stories and jokes that might work. I wish he’d stuck to the stories he does in interviews. You get all the madness of the curry-story, the drinking, the prog-bollocks, but you also get those charming tales about creating magical music with the likes of David Bowie and Cat Stevens. Things like And You And I and Wondrous Stories were pretty special in the context of solo performances though. It wasn’t all bad. Just as Wakeman’s career isn’t. But it was certainly about highs and lows. Oh and he played something by The Strawbs too, not just Yes.
Stubs is an occasional feature here at Off The Tracks – looking back through the ticket-stub box and remembering how the show went down.