Saturday, August 11, 2012

Intimacy With Rick

Blast from the past!
Legendary keyboard maestro, composer and songwriter Rick Wakeman is coming to enthrall NZ in three very special one-man shows this October.
Wakeman – reknowned for such unique conceptual albums as The Six Wives Of Henry VIII – was last seen here 37 years ago, when he performed Journey To The Centre of the Earth with the Auckland Symphonia at Western Springs.
For those who were born yesterday, Wakeman is probably best known for his role as the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band YES, but prior that he also played with the Strawbs.
Fast forward to 2012 and Wakeman returns for a trio of concerts in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch from October 6-8 known as "An Intimate Evening With Rick Wakeman". This one-man show is described as "an entertaining evening with Rick performing on a grand piano interspersed by ludicrously ridiculous, albeit true, funny anecdotes".
Wakeman's clocked up a serious catalogue of musical plaudits: 50,000,000 record sales around the world (that’s right: 50-MILLION!), including more than 150 record and CD releases, soundtracks for more than 25 films, and more than 4,000 world-wide concert performances. He's been a session musician with Al Stewart, Elton John, Lou Reed, John Williams, Cat Stevens (Rick's the one playing the classic piano piece on Morning Has Broken), Marc Bolan, Mary Hopkin, Black Sabbath, and David Bowie.
After the success of YES (without Rick Wakeman) in Auckland earlier this year, it'll be great to have Wakeman here: as he only does a few of these very intimate shows a year, kiwi fans are very privileged.

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