I took in three dates on this tour and as usual I waffled my way through some
reviews. My live shots were all rather disappointing but you might like these
pics.

Rick Wakeman – Sudbury Quay Theatre – 6 March 2000

The Quay Theatre is a lovely little place converted out of a barn or mill or
something. It only holds 125 people and the tickets prices reflected this but
it didn’t seem to put people off. The first night sold out so quick they sold
a 2nd night and I believe that is close to a sell out too.

Pachebel (Cannon in D major) was an unusual for Rick to start with. We got
what seemed like an intro piece of music but half way through Rick came on and
joined in, in much the same way he did with Dance Of A 1000 Lights.

As usual Rick was flexing his fingers a lot and my mum who I got to chauffeur
me to this gig (her 3rd Rick gig now) seemed convinced Rick is having trouble
with his hands. Rick always seemed to flex before and after fast pieced to me.
It did perhaps seem more obvious tonight though and mum thought a knuckle looked
red. It didn’t effect his performance anyway.

Rick started off talking about the suffering in the world and went on to mention
the children brought to see an aging rocker. This lead to a nice version of
Birdman of Alcatraz. Just like it did on the last tour.

We the got a good story I hadn’t heard before about a concert in Seattle when
the band were drunk and had a disaster of a concert only to get a good review
from a critic that has always hated Rick’s performances.

Rick then played two wives Catherine Howard and Catherine Of Aragon. Both were
very good and but I think they were fairly standard arrangements.

We got a few countdown jokes next followed by Seasons Of Change.

Jane Seymour followed the usual story of how the vicar let them record for
free and then got them to make contributions to the various restoration funds.

The standard intro was followed by Nursery Rhyme Concerto

Merlin the Magician was the usual recent audience participation version with
a member of the audience being collared by Rick to hold the sustain peddle while
Rick moves to the Piano. Tonight she was called Val and I have to say she was
the most amusing/lest confident I have seen. As Rick was explaining how the
peddle worked he kept taking his foot on and off it. Unfortunately Val got the
impression she had to pump the peddle so it was a good job Rick made her practice.
As usual Rick made the most of his props. To get Val on stage Rick had to take
her out through a corridor. He of course made out she was trying to leave the
building etc.

Set two started with the KGB story from the church tours. This was followed
by Children of Chernobyl. This disappointed me as I was expecting a Piano version.
It was done on the mock Piano but in fact sounded much as the album. I will
now know what to expect tomorrow and enjoy it as I normally do. It is a favourite
of mine anyway.

There was  another short Countdown story
next

Rick decided link the two Journeys next. He choose to match Dance Of 1000 Lights
with the corresponding point of the original. A good idea I thought. We therefore
got Recollection followed by Dance Of A Thousand Lights. Recollection was pretty
much the greatest hits format and Dance was to the backing tape as on the church
tour. It was good to be able to clearly see Rick’s playing this time. I couldn’t
in the churches since the Piano was at a different angle. I am not sure what
happened near the start of Dance but it either jumped or was rearranged. Perhaps
the Radio edit was being used? It was very noticeable to me and threw my listening
whatever the reason.

The next story was another new one to me about a country airs concert which
was advertised with Rock Concert Posters. As Rick looked out to the front he
was horrified to see the front few rows filled with Hell’s Angels. Rick wanted
to make a run for it instead of doing an encore but as he bowed at the front
a Angel grabbed him and said the Angels weren’t happy. Their favourite was Waterfalls
(of Country Airs) and Rick hadn’t played it. Was it going to be the Encore?!

And you and I / Wondrous Stories was much the same as the Greatest Hits set.

We didn’t get No Prelude to a millennium which was apparently being considered
for the tour.

The story of Rick’s mum and a load of old people going to the 1984 London show
expecting to see a Piano show was told next.

This lead Guinevere and Lancelot and the Black Knight. Very interesting. I
haven’t heard Rick play these solo before and there is a point in Black Night
which on the original version answers back to itself. This sounded very odd
to me because Rick only has two hands and therefore can’t do it the same. It
will be interesting to see how I take to it tomorrow and next week in Felixstowe.

At last Rick has cut done the Intro to Eleanor. We only got half the normal
intro and it was combined with the amusing story off the letter to the radio
station where the DJ thought some was 111 but it turned out they were ill. I
think this was told on the church tour and Help and Eleanor Rigby were the same
arrangements. Obviously without Ramon singing Help

The concert ended on Claire de Lune.

Overall I thought the concert was a good mix of stuff from the last tour and
new stuff. I found the emphasis on Arthur and Henry very interesting. I still
wish Rick could push more from other areas of his career but I can understand
his decision. Talking to the tour crew they weren’t expecting any regular fans
at this gig and I would guess it was a slightly different crowd to normal. They
certainly all laughed as though they were hearing all the jokes the first time.
Mind you I still tend to laugh when Rick is telling the Jane Seymour story and
the vicar says "My word, how unexpected". I wonder how many fans of
the church tours go to the regular tours and vice versa.

Rick was wearing his black jacket from the Church tours again. It seems to
have become his favourite after all the colourful ones of previous tours.

I don’t know that I got as excited about this concert as previous ones but
I had had my daughter for 6 hours as she had been ill and 3 hours totally wipes
me out. So attending this concert was pure determination and therefore I was
a bit tense. With luck as on the last tour I will be in better shape tonight
(doubtful the way my body feels now!) .

I waited to get a few things signed by Rick again and he amused me by saying
I was looking well despite the ME. It’s good I can pretend to be normal. He
actually gave someone he was signing for a joke from a previous tour. It was
the story about a sold out performance where the was an obvious whole in the
crowd that was annoying Rick. It turned out that a man’s wife had gone into
labour 3 mins prior to the concert. The man was back by the interval. He later
got something signed so Rick asked if it was a false alarm. He said "I
told her she had got 1/2hr and that was it. She knew I had been looking forward
to this gig for months!". On another tour Rick meet the wife and amazingly
she was feeling a bit guilty about having gone into labour 4 weeks early and
spoiling her husbands concert!

I hope this doesn’t read to bad. I have checked it but I am not functioning
well today so I am sure it is still pretty bad. Psion’s are great. I was writing
most of it on the journey home the rest on my bed while I tried to rest up.

Rick Wakeman – Sudbury Quay Theatre – 7 March 2000

It is amazing how much your perception of a concert can change when your brain
is only 50% dead instead of 90%. I knew a lot of the gig was just going through
me last night but I couldn’t think how I wasn’t "relaxed" enough.
The difference was my brain wasn’t singing along to the music as much.

I was the seat in front of the seat I had last night and I was picking up a
lot more of my surroundings. The concert seemed that much louder and Rick was
making the floor boards squeak as he paced up and down. I could also hear the
sound of the key movements on the keyboard as Rick played.

Tonight’s performance seemed a lot better too. I felt I had heard a few false
notes near the start last night but tonight I felt there might have been 3 all
night. They were certainly spread out too. Rick did flex his fingers a couple
of times but certainly not as much as last night.

As per the last tour that I saw two dates in two nights on I found it interesting
to hear the slight difference in how Rick told the stories.

The audience tonight was different in character too. After every story last
night someone clapped and the whole place followed suit. Tonight no one started
the clapping except on two occasions when only a third of the place joined in.

Rick actually made us wait a little while for the encore tonight. By his quick
standards anyway.

I very spent the last two night trying to work out how the chords move on when
Rick is on the Piano. Every time he presses a peddle it seems to change but
the main rig peddle doesn’t seem to be used in the same way.

Rick also changed the setting in the main rig before playing Clair De Lune.
I will have to find out what is going on but I never remember to ask Rick such
things

(When I got home I phoned up the keyboard player from Praying Mantis’s last
tour for a chat. He has been learning Rick’s techniques etc. As we chatted I
mentioned my little puzzle and he eventually mentioned that keyboard now can
actually play two maybe three sounds depending on the speed of playing or the
pressure applied to the keys. I will have to watch this on the piano at Felixstowe
but this certainly seemed the solution to how Rick does Eleanor Rigby. During
this Rick hits the keys and gets a loud bell sound. There is something called
after touch too but my friend didn’t really have that one worked out yet as
he is still learning to control these patches. IE it is easy to slip into the
wrong sound.)

Rick plays with his eyes shut. Actually I wanted to join him at times but I
dare not risk it since they may struggle to open again. He even seems to change
keyboards with eyes shut most of the time too. If he does look it must be a
brief glimpse with little lid movements.

He seems to use music for about three songs on the Piano. I wonder if he finds
he looses feeling when his eyes are open. Perhaps he shuts his eyes just to
stop them distracting him. I will have to try it on my Sax.

Mum commented last night that he should have a mirror behind his main rig so
the we can be dazzled by his fingers more. He used to use one when playing with
Yes. And the organist that my mum books for the local organ society all use
one. I wonder if Rick thinks it too dated? I am sure the audience would appreciate
it. Oh while I am remembering mum’s comments she wishes he wouldn’t pace around
so much when talking.

Rick has been playing Nursery Rhyme Concerto for several years now and yet
Rick still has to pull out a list to remind himself of the songs he is playing.
He has no problem playing the piece so if Rick does actually reads the list
it shows the strange ways our brains work.

Dance of a thousand lights did have a jump again near the start so it must
be a truncated version.

I understood a lot better tonight what was going on in Lancelot tonight too.
Last night I felt the sounds could have been a little different as it sounded
a bit like the Yes stuff. Tonight I thought it sounded good.

As I say tonight was far more enjoyable for me. I am sure it was only because
of I was less tired. Felixstowe is after my children again. I wonder if anything
in the set will have changed by then and if I can think of anything more to
bore you with. I can’t imagine so. Rick does apparently swap stories or songs
though in order to keep himself on his toes when touring.