Keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman CBE is pleased to announce that he will be returning to the US in March and April, with his latest tour, An Evening With Rick Wakeman: His Music And Stories, starting Wednesday, March 15 in Phoenixville, PA.

“It’s always so enjoyable playing in America,” Wakeman comments. “At every show, I see old friends and hopefully, make new ones.”

Wakeman’s set will consist of music taken from across the wide breadth of his 50-year-plus career, stripped back to its roots in arrangements for grand piano. It will include work from his early days as a session player arranging and performing keyboards on hits like David Bowie’s "Life On Mars", through his groundbreaking stint with progressive rock band YES and his own multi-platinum solo albums, plus quirky covers of other acts like The Beatles.  

And this glorious display of keyboard virtuosity will be punctuated by hilarious anecdotes and reminiscences of his life. Renowned as much for his irreverent sense of humour as his musical talent, as he himself says, all of Wakeman’s stories contain an element of truth; it’s up to the audience to decide how much!

In a departure from his previous solo tours, as well as playing a grand piano, Wakeman will also be bringing along a few electronic keyboards to add variety and texture to his set. “I’m looking forward to ringing the changes with the addition of keyboards, which is a bit of a departure from my traditional ‘piano shows’, but will give me the opportunity to vary the setlist.”

With over 50 million albums sold in five decades and an enviable reputation as a wit and raconteur, An Evening With Rick Wakeman: His Music And Stories will be an opportunity to share musical memories and riotous reflections in the company of a true rock legend.

Tickets for all shows will be available through RWCC.com, and each local theatre’s ticketing site.

Dates:

March
15​ - Phoenixville, PA​ - Colonial Theatre​
17 -  Fort Lauderdale, FL​ - Amaturo Theater @ Broward County​
25​ - Clearwater, FL - Capital Theatre @ ​Ruth Eckerd Hall​
27​ - Atlanta, GA​ - Variety Playhouse​
30​ - Bethlehem, PA​ - Wind Creek Events Center
31​ - Atlantic City, NJ​ - Sound Waves Theater @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino​

April
1​ - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theater​
3​ - Red Bank, NJ​ - The Vogel @ Count Basie Theatre​
4​ - Ridgefield, CT​ - Ridgefield Playhouse​
5​ - Huntington, NY​ - The Paramount​
6​​ - New York, NY​ - City Winery​​
9​ - Derry, NH​ - Tupelo Music Hall

Additional performances to be added later.

Wakeman will release his new concept album, A Gallery Of The Imagination, on February 24 via Madfish Music.

The initial idea for A Gallery Of The Imagination stems from Rick' first piano teacher, Mrs Symes, with whom he studied from the age five until his time at the Royal College Of Music. She taught him that music was like painting pictures: that when you play, you are painting pictures through music, an important lesson that Rick never forgot.

Having written a vast array of new music recently, all of different styles, Rick recalled the advice of his beloved teacher and decided to present the tracks for the new album as if they were pictures in a gallery. Just as there are many different styles in an art gallery, so there are many different musical styles on A Gallery Of The Imagination. It contains many clear prog influences, especially in the Moog solos and there are also two solo piano numbers, which reflect Rick’s classical roots and show influences from the Romantic period.  As equally as important is the strong song and melodic influence on A Gallery Of The Imagination with eight unconventional vocal tracks, with Rick’s distinctive descriptive music carefully arranged around the lyrics.

Examples of the variety contained within the album are the fun yet wistful elements in "A Day Spent On The Pier", a track describing time spent at the seaside, written in Southwold and evoked by Rick’s own memories of happy childhood days spent on the helter skelters in Brighton and Clacton and on the pier in Southsea. Rick wrote "The Eyes Of A Child" with his thirteen grandchildren in mind, aware of the responsibility of trying to fix the world for following generations, whereas "Cuban Carnival" celebrates the light-hearted fun times Rick spent in Cuba with his band, the English Rock Ensemble. As listeners take a musical walk through Rick’s Gallery, they will find more than enough to fire the imagination and come up with their own mind paintings whilst listening to his new album.

Fans can get a taste of what’s to come with the first single, “The Dinner Party”, available on streaming services here, and playing below.

Says Rick: "One of my great loves is going to museums and art galleries and seeing all the different types of art, so I thought, why not a music gallery... the Gallery Of The Imagination? People can paint their own mind pictures to the different types of music that are on the album. It is very diverse and for me it works very well because the concept holds it all together."

One of the ideas Rick would like to pursue around album release is for listeners to draw or paint their own pictures or even create sculptures to the music which, in turn, could be displayed.   

"It is a very tactile album," Rick explains. "I’d like to feel that people can actually touch the music."

The line-up on A Gallery Of The Imagination - as with Rick's previous album, The Red Planet - features The English Rock Ensemble: bassist Lee Pomeroy, guitarist Dave Colquhoun, drummer Ash Soan, and on vocals Hayley Sanderson, famous for her work as a vocalist on Strictly Come Dancing, with each artist recording their individual parts in their own studios.

Join Rick for a stroll around A Gallery Of The Imagination – as he says: "a gallery that belongs to everyone."

A Gallery Of The Imagination will be released in the following formats and is available to pre-order here.

• CD (jewel case)
• 2 disc set - CD+DVD inc. surround sound audio & hi-res stereo
• 2LP in gatefold sleeve
• 2LP on clear vinyl in a gatefold sleeve
• Super Deluxe Limited Edition multi format set featuring 2LP, CD & DVD inc. surround sound audio & hi-res stereo plus a 24 page perfect bound book presented in a lift off lid box
• Digital

Tracklist:

"Hidden Depths"
"The Man In The Moon"
"A Mirage In The Clouds"
"The Creek"
"My Moonlight Dream"
"Only When I Cry"
"Cuban Carnival"
"Just A Memory"
"The Dinner Party"
"A Day Spent On The Pier"
"The Visitation"
"The Eyes Of A Child"

"The Dinner Party"

Trailer:

(Photo - Lee Wilkinson)