Tonight I went downtown to see Rick Wakeman in concert at The Theatre at Ace Hotel. I must issue a brief correction here, because I had earlier listed the venue as "The Theatre at The Ace Hotel", but as I later discovered, that's not the name. It's "The Theater at Ace Hotel", without the second "The" I included previously. To me, the official name sounds clumsy, like a Cave Man is saying it.
"Hey Mr. Cave Man, could you tell me where Rick Wakeman is performing tonight"?
"Ugg, yes. He play at The Theater at Ace Hotel".
"Okay, thanks very much for the information".
"No probba-lem".
So - it's me again - and I have to say that I like my version better: "The Theatre at The Ace Hotel". It sounds more civilized. Then there's the whole issue of "Theatre" versus "Theater". I suppose the latter is the vulgar, Americanised version of the former, which is likely be the proper English word. Who else but the English would spell Theater as Theatre........but in this case I've been going with Theatre for a while now myself, because it just plain looks cooler than the other spelling.
Finally, and this will be my last grammatical gripe (for this blog at least), I have to go back to the English removal of the "The" in other situations. Why do they say, for instance, that a person is "in hospital" rather than "in the hospital"? Is it really too much trouble to add the "the"?
Or when they are talking about college.
"Where's your son"?
"Oh, he's away attending University".
To me that's only one step above Cave Man speak: "Son at University, first son in Cave Family to attend".
What's the deal with the Brits and the "The" in certain situations? I mean, they have no problem calling a TV "The Telly". That is one situation where we Americans drop the "The". We say we are "watching television" while the English say they watch "The Telly".
So it's all messed up, and I'll refrain from further comment on the subject for now, but I just thought it important to correct the name of the venue at which I saw Rick Wakeman perform this evening. No one is more English than Rick, and yet he - being a man of great humor - might understand what I am getting at. :)
I left for the concert at 5:30pm. The day had been blast furnace hot, 97 degrees but with very little humidity and a low Sun, so it felt more like 102. Now, as you know I love the heat, but not as much when the Santa Ana winds are blowing and the air is bone dry. At any rate, I got to the North Hollywood Metro Station at 6:20. Grimsley was already there. We got on the Red Line subway train and arrived downtown a a half hour later, with plenty of time to walk the 3/4 of a mile from the 7th Street Station to Ace Hotel (notice how I didn't call it "The" Ace Hotel). It was still early, so we hung out in front for a while. Our friend Dennis arrived suddenly on his motorcycle, parking right in front of the box office. We hadn't known he was going, so it was a nice surprise to see him. Dennis didn't have a ticket, though; he was hoping to score one on the spur of the moment, maybe at a discount from an overstocked scalper. So, because it was getting closer to showtime, Grim and I went inside. I hope Dennis got in, too. If he did, he saw an incredible show.
Rick Wakeman came onstage at 8:15pm. The last time I saw him perform a solo show was in September 1974 at the Hollywood Bowl, 45 years ago. I know I've mentioned that before, but it never fails to blow my mind. Rick was only 25 then. Now he's 70. Life, and time, are such a trip.
There was only a grand piano on stage, no other instruments or amplifiers. But that's all Rick needs. His mastery of the piano is so complete that he can take any piece and turn it inside out to develop every bit of melody therein. The evening consisted of Rick's interpretations of songs by The Beatles, David Bowie and Cat Stevens. Many will know that he played the piano part on the original recording of Stevens' "Morning Has Broken", as well as the Mellotron on Bowie's "Space Oddity". Rick has played on dozens of other people's records as well as his own. He's also been a member of Yes for almost 40 years, and he was in The Strawbs as well. If all of that doesn't make him the King Of Prog, I don't know who else to nominate.
Besides the aforementioned hits, he also played selections from his classic 1974 album "The Six Wives Of Henry the 8th", and a beautiful 15 minute medley of Yes music. There are so many harmonic threads running through every piece, because Rick plays every voicing. You can hear the bass part, the vocal melody, the main chord progressions, the counterpoint, and all the little embellishments he adds to make a song into a piece for piano. His playing is liquid. The notes sparkle from his fingers, and as Grim and I remarked later, it's astonishing that his technique is still so fluid at age 70. He's never had carpal tunnel or any of the hand and arm injuries that plague keyboardists, and it is no stretch to say that he could hold his own with many classical pianists.
But - music is not all you get at a Rick Wakeman show. The other thing is stories, all of them humorous (some are laugh-out-loud funny), many are risque. Rick Wakeman could very nearly make a career of being a stand up comedian if he chose, so good is his timing and delivery. So, before every musical piece, he told a funny story that applied to the piece or was in some way related to the making of it. He paced back and forth, dropping bombshell punchlines that had the audience in stitches. When's the last time you laughed your ass off at a concert? Maybe never, right? Because you don't go to concerts to laugh, you go to hear music. But at a Rick Wakeman show, you do both.
It was so incredible to see him again after all these years. I mean, I've seen him with ARW (a version of Yes) two times in the last four years, but never solo since I was 14 years old. Holy smokes and my goodness, y'know? And not only has he still got it, but he was better than ever.
Ace Hotel is a beautiful venue, too, perhaps the most ornate of all the old Downtown Theatres. The show was undersold, so they very courteously moved all the balcony fans (including me) down to the floor level. I was given a new seat about 15 rows back and dead center, 30 feet from the stage. Thank you Ace Hotel!
And thank you Rick Wakeman for a truly magical evening. I hope I don't have to wait 45 years for the next one, haha. :)
Well, that's all I know for now. I am back at work again, settling in at Pearl's for a new cycle. I am gonna head over to the Libe in a minute, though, and I should have a movie for you tonight, so have a great afternoon and I'll see you at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment