Rick Wakeman Rocks Phoenix

by Kevin Wierzbicki

Rick Wakeman - October 22, 2024 - Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix

It's always a treat to see Rick Wakeman in concert, whether it's with Yes, Yes spinoff groups ARW (Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman), Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe or in a solo performance. Rick's performance in the music theater at the Musical Instrument Museum was a solo show, which many believe is the best way to experience his talent, and the show was made all the more dear by the fact that this was a final chance to see Wakeman in this format --- he's retiring from solo performances when his current tour is finished.

At 6'3" tall Wakeman makes for a striking figure on stage although he no longer wears the capes (although two audience members did!) and exotic getups that he fancied in his earlier days. Coming on stage with a bit of a hobble, Wakeman explained that he was still recovering from a double hernia operation and that "things below the waist" were still "a bit tender." Back when Wakeman was a member of Yes his stage set-up sometimes included lots of keyboards, so many that he encircled himself with them and dashed back and forth between them as the need arose. It was a much simpler set up this evening, two small electric keyboards and a grand piano, and that was all that Rick needed to play a career-spanning set that drew mostly from his solo albums.

Wakeman's well-known sense of humor was on display during the show and as an introduction to cuts he would play from his 1973 album The Six Wives of Henry VIII he joked that while the infamous English king got rid of his wives by beheading them, he simply gave his exes houses. Sitting at the electric keyboards Wakeman played "Jane Seymour" with its gothic overtones and "Catherine Howard" where parts of the melody reflect the majesty that must come with being a queen. Rick moved to the grand piano for a medley of two David Bowie cuts, "Space Oddity" and "Life on Mars?" Wakeman is not a singer and his entire show was instrumental but it is likely that when he played the Bowie cuts lots of fans were singing along in their heads; "Can you hear me Major Tom?" Wakeman played on Bowie's original versions of those songs and said that he played on about 30 of David's songs altogether, adding that Bowie was the best person he had ever worked in the studio with. In speaking of his other session work from the late 1960s through the early '70s Wakeman said that he completed about 2000 gigs as a hired gun for the likes of stars like Elton John, Lou Reed and Black Sabbath, also noting that there were times he was hired to play on cuts that he called "real crap."

Mid concert Wakeman moved back to the electric keyboards and played a selection of songs from his The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table album, a lengthy ("about four hours," he joked) medley of the fanfare-including "Arthur" along with "Guinevere," the frantic "The Last Battle" and the circus-like yet sublime atmosphere of "Merlin the Magician," all of which he had adapted for solo performance. Wakeman's one nod to his time with Yes was an impressive one as he played "Yessonata" on the grand piano; the cut is a compilation of snippets from many of the Yes songs that he played on. It was easy to recognize the homage to "Roundabout" during the song but not so easy to pick out others; no matter, the piece was nothing short of spectacular. The final piece of the show was a tribute to the Beatles as Rick played a medley of "Help!" and "Eleanor Rigby" with the latter being sped up to a breakneck pace. The last music of the evening came in the encore where Wakeman played excerpts from his Journey to the Centre of the Earth album. To a standing ovation from an adoring audience Wakeman said goodbye to the crowd, likely for the last time.

Wakeman's tour continues through early November and the remaining shows are listed here.

Upcoming shows at the Musical Instrument Museum include:
Nov. 4, 2024 - Cimafunk
Nov. 8, 2024 - Jon Cowherd Trio
Nov. 9, 10 & 11, 2024 - T Bone Burnett
Nov. 12, 2024 (two shows) - Sweet Honey in the Rock
Nov. 13, 2024 - Robbie Fulks
Nov. 14, 2024 - Monty Alexander
Nov. 19, 2024 - Tom Paxton and the Donjuans (Final tour)
See a complete listing of upcoming MIM shows here.