After a few postponements since 2021, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Rick Wakeman finally came to town this past Friday night. What is being dubbed as the Grumpy Old Rock Star tour, Wakeman brought his charming wit and his classically trained musical talent to a sold out crowd to the Electric City in Buffalo, NY. This is rumored to be his Farewell tour as well, as Wakeman is now 75 years old.
Wakeman came out and addressed the crowd thanking them for coming to the show before going into “Jane Seymour,” a track off his 1973 solo effort ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ album. Wakeman made a few jokes about his health. He said, “he recently had a hernia surgery and that his physician said he told him that he had to lose 20 lbs. So, Wakeman responded by telling the audience he got a haircut so that will help a lot (which drew a lot f laughs). Wakeman talked about his meeting with David Bowie and how it came to be with him playing on “Space Oddity.” In fact, Bowie even asked him to Join the Spiders from Mars but Wakeman just committed to join YES earlier that same day. Wakeman played a few Bowie tracks in his honor, “Space Oddity” and “Life on Mars?” Wakeman also talked about his love of King Arthur growing up. He read many books on his and was infatuated with learning all about him. His next set of songs was a medley off of the album ‘The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.’ There were a lot of YES fans in the audience and Wakeman kept them happy with what’s was called “Yessonata.” The term, came up by his manager, was a medley of a selection of YES songs that he played in one stance. Wakeman closed the set with a different arrangement of some Beatles classics in “Help!” and “Eleanor Rigby.”
Wakeman kept everyone’s attention with his candid humor and memorizing playing behind both the piano and keyboards. I can honestly say, I really appreciated this show for what it was. A man, with just a few words and his ability to mostly communicate with his fingers tickling the ivories. A job well done!
Setlist:
Jane Seymour
Catherine Howard
Space Oddity/Life on Mars? (David Bowie covers)
King Arthur Theme/Guinevere/The Last Battle/Merlin the Magician
Yessonata
Help!/Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles covers)
Encore:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
We would like to thank Chip Ruggieri from Chipster PR for the credentials to review the show.
