Sat, Oct 16, 2021 | 8 pm
COVID Precautions: For this event, masks will be required inside the venue, as well as proof of full vaccination. Unvaccinated patrons must provide documented proof negative PCR test within 72 hours of the start of the event, or a negative antigen test taken within 48 hours of the start of the event. Thank you for your cooperation.
Co-presented with The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center
Read The Day’s Rick Koster interview with Rick Wakeman
After 18 months of lockdown in the UK, Rick Wakeman is finally able to announce the long-delayed follow-up to 2019’s sell-out The Grumpy Old Rock Star Tour with – The Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour!
Recently recognized by Queen Elizabeth II, as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Wakeman returns to his roots with a concert packed with virtuosic piano performances and hilarious anecdotes inspired by his 50-plus-year career creating progressive rock extravaganzas.
Repertoire will range from his solo works and his stints in the band YES through to his early days as a session musician playing keyboards on such classics as David Bowie’s Life On Mars, plus surprises like his unique interpretations of Beatles’ hits and many more memorable tunes, adapted for the grand piano. And all of this glorious music is punctuated by riotous reflections on his life and the people he’s met along the way. As he himself often observes, life is rarely dull when Rick Wakeman is around!
Professional musician, keyboard player, songwriter, broadcaster and raconteur, Wakeman’s career started as a much-in-demand session player, who performed on recordings by David Bowie, Elton John, Lou Reed, Al Stewart and hundreds more artists. His big break came in 1971 when he joined YES, who went on to become the most successful prog rock band in the world, but Wakeman has also always gone his own way outside the framework of that group.
In the Seventies, he achieved chart-topping success with solo albums such as Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the RoundTable, which cumulatively sold over 10,000,000 copies in North America alone. He has written several film scores, amongst them two for director Ken Russell (Lisztomania and Crimes of Passion) and two ‘Harry Palmer’ movies starring Michael Caine (Bullet To Beijing and Midnight in St Petersburg), and in the UK, has built up an impressive reputation as a witty guest and host on shows like Grumpy Old Men, Countdown, Watchdog and the comedy cabaret show Live at Jongleurs. His wickedly irreverent acceptance speech when YES was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 nearly brought the house down!
That same year, he made British chart history when his Piano Portraits record became the first solo piano instrumental album to enter the UK’s Top 10 on release – a feat he then repeated with last year’s Piano Odyssey. Both records feature tunes that have a special connection with Rick’s personal musical journey and his subsequent tours, in which he performs a selection of tracks accompanied by hilarious memories and anecdotes have been instant sell-outs in the UK.
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