Rick Wakeman at Trading Boundaries in Sussex

It’s not often Rick Wakeman performs to such a small audience, but his short run of shows at Trading Boundaries in Sussex allowed for super fans to get up close and personal – and we’ll have more on Trading Boundaries in a future article…

Rick comes to the stage after playing a short introduction on his dual Korg Nautilus keyboard setup, and then goes on one of his usual speaking tangents – chatting about his family and kids fondly, noting that “They’re going to choose which care home I go into” as he has not a nasty thing to say!

In fact it was a very talky evening overall. Something that sets Rick apart from most artists in the ‘scene’. Having used to be a radio host, he has endless snippets of stories to share, and as a long-time concertgoer of Rick’s – it was nice to hear different details and parts of similar stories.

“I do hope you enjoy the evening, and if you don’t, I hope the dinner was good” Rick concludes before launching into Morning has Broken, a song that the acoustic rendition of is a staple in his solo shows over the last few years.

Rick let us know that the King Arthur record was written while he was in hospital recovering from a heart attack. “I’ve not had another one since because they bloody hurt” he says before playing a melody of said King Arthur suite, showcasing all the best bits in this semi-reduced arrangement where his synths fill out the room with the various layered patches still creating an element of drama within the limited instrumentation.

We then get some quaint stories of his first-ever meeting with the legendary David Bowie – “how many cakes have you played?” David asked him over 50 years ago as Rick describes the mellotron parts he was asked to play as a “piece of cake” before then launching into an emotional performance of Life on Mars.

Authors note: Rick talks about lot about his session work in the 60s in a recent interview on Rick Beato’s YouTube channel that I’d highly suggest watching.

Some of the very rare memorabilia on display from David Watkinson

Time for some artwork perusing during the interval, and Yes memorabilia collector David Watkinson has set up his own exhibit, alongside all of Roger Deans’s historic works, so there was plenty to indulge oneself with during this time. It’s certainly news to me that Yes had a branded hot air balloon for the 1974 Topographic Oceans tour! What a different time.

“Nice wee? I had two!” proclaims Rick before launching back into story mode, with tales of his time in ARW now, the short-lived Yes-ish reunion from 2016. Rick notes that sadly the world missed out on an additional unannounced ‘farewell’ tour due to covid. Oh what we could have had…

Supposedly on that tour while putting together the arrangement for the Yes tracks with Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson, there was a lot of freedom to rearrange certain parts given a lot of the material neither Trevor nor Rick explicitly played on together so they both got to add their own compositional flourishes to the wider discography.

I now I’m almost tempted to watch back the live DVD they released in spite of the grotesque amounts of fake applause and cheering added in post production…

A Yes medley appears, running through The Meeting, You and I, and Wonderous Stories, so I begin to lean back in my chair and enjoy the show.

It isn’t easy to tire of these tunes, despite having heard them dozens if not hundreds of times over the years on record and live. But it’s just particularly special sitting in a room full of uber fans not just of Yes, but Rick Wakeman specifically, hearing and absorbing the nuance of his note choices – and indeed watching Rick lean back himself, close his eyes, and let the music flow through his fingers.

I did get a brief chance to get up close and take a gander at Rick’s fingers from behind, noting his hand posture is sublime, straight yet loose wrists, with very controlled movements that ebb and flow around the keys – even in spite of his arthritis which must make these solo shows painful to perform now.

A couple of Beatles tracks next – Help, and Eleanor Rigby in the style of famous composers as a homage to more old friends, Rick then finished the night with a solo piano arrangement of Journey to the Center of the Earth…

Or at least, Journey how it was originally composed and arranged in Rick’s head as a series of themes that follow after one another in a 10 minute version – before he shuffled everything across to a full band arrangement for the record. This was a new addition to Rick’s live roster, as he mentions having only played it a few times in the USA in late 2024.

Rick Wakeman is a legend, there’s no doubt about it. From Cat Stevens, David Bowie, and thousands more in his session work, to Yes and his solo material – a legacy that is long as it is wide-reaching across the planet – and it’s always a treat to hear him tinkle his ivories and really speak, through his fingers – as well as the stories that come out of his mouth.