By DJ Astrocreep
It’s rare I get to go to too many shows in my home town these days, with Manchester being such a hotspot and so close. This year actually marks 35 years since I sang two solos for my school in the Philharmonic Hall, so it feels almost like going home to catch Rick Wakeman live – finally – for the first time.
This review is both one of the easiest and one of the hardest I have ever had to write. With no support bands – not that someone like Wakeman has any need for them, with the sheer back catalogue that he possesses – and only a handful of songs to comprise the set, there is a lot less than usual to write about without repeating myself ad infinitum. Add in no phones or pictures during the set (so no notes or action shots) and the coverage is a little harder than usual, even if the subject matter is very easy to enjoy.
I arrive a couple of minutes into the first song, as my taxi takes considerably longer than it normally would, but I quickly settle down on my seat, already aware of just how glorious and perfect the venue is for the sheer guitar and keys wankery already flowing around my ears. It’s a short first set, running at about 30 minutes and comprising just a couple of songs, finishing on ‘And You And I’. There was something extra special to come though…
When an earlier than expected interval arrives, I take the opportunity to ask a friend who works at the venue the rough stage times and am delighted to hear the second half runs for an hour. What I wasn’t prepared for was quite what we would get… the whole of ‘Journey To The Centre Of The Earth’ – as it was first envisaged and written and not released as until 2012 – comprising the full hour of the second act of the performance and rightfully earning a standing ovation from all of in the audience. We get a one song encore, which gives each instrumentalist of the band a chance to shine and featuring an excellent solo from the bass, guitar and both Wakeman and his fellow keys player, including a keys-off between them both, with each solo earning great applause in turn.
Let’s talk sound now. The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall was designed and built for clarity of sound. It’s a venue that suits artists such as Wakeman down to the ground, with such delicacy of sound in between such thunderous layers at times proving both a heady contrast and a showing of quite how intense progressive rock can be, without needing to go into anything remotely heavy. A sense of almost overwhelming with the beauty of the music coupled with the immaculate layering of sound, even in this live forum, that makes Wakeman such an enduring on the live circuit.
A sumptuous showing.
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