Rick Wakeman in Costa Rica - Progressive Rock Music Forum

An evening with Rick Wakeman - Live in San José, Costa Rica 05-02-2005

I am lost for words as I try to write this review, and I can say it’s not an easy task at all for this concert was anything but usual.

For starters, the concert was postponed from Sunday to Monday because most of Rick’s equipment was stranded somewhere at the Mexico City Airport, to which Rick referred to as “Mexican customs officials having a hell of a prog-concert”.

So they announced that the equipment wasn’t going to make it, not even for Monday. Most of us in line felt pretty let down, this only meant we would not be seeing the English Rock Ensemble (NERE) the way God meant us to. But a few of us had faith in Mr. Wakeman’s superhuman piano skills, believing he had to have something up his sleeve.

As we entered to the Melico Salazar theatre, the stage only exposed an old piano, a few monitors and microphones, and a park bench. Rick appeared on the stage and the crowd burst in applause, the keyboard magician was back in town one more time, for the most unusual show ever. For starters, he performed a beautiful piece; his hands hammering the old piano that gave the most clear and crisp sound I’ve ever heard come out of any instrument.

After this Rick sat on the bench, with a translator for those who couldn’t understand English, and addressed the audience saying he just didn’t feel right to bail out, even though he had no equipment at all. So he convinced Ashley Holt to stay for an exclusively acoustic show, to try to make up for the lack of equipment. And thus they both stayed an extra day, while the rest of NERE left, probably to go back to England. It only took them an afternoon to set up the most incredible acoustic live show ever, with many songs a là “Rick Wakeman Live in Concert 2000” show, throwing in a few goodies on the side.

The show resumed with “Catherine Of Aragon/Catherine Howard” and then some songs from “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, this time, with Ashley on stage. Every few songs he would sit back on the bench and share with all of us a short insight on the song’s background, a retrospective of Rick’s life when he was composing and recording each of his classics.

The more than welcome extras included Cat Stevens' “Morning has Broken”. Before playing it Rick stated that he seldom plays this song, due to disagreements with Stevens, but decided to do it for this very special evening. The set continued with “Help!” and “Eleanor Rigby”, and “And You and I” / “Wonderous Stories” for the ever-popular Yes treat.

On went the show with a few pieces from “Myths and Legends of King Arthur”, including “Arthur”, “Guinevere”, “The Last Battle”, and finally “Merlin the Magician”, while telling the crowd how he composed the entire album from the hospital after a heart attack, saying how “The Last Battle” reflected not only Arthur’s story but also his own.

Finally, the show ended magnificently with a song dedicated to Ashley, White Rock’s “Make me a woman”, and then “Summertime”, proving how this “Brit” can play some fine Jazz as well.

Rick himself said that he has never done an acoustic-only show like this ever before, and said he most likely never will again. We Costa Ricans have been honoured by this special event, which gave us an intimate view into Wakeman's life and career. We await the return of the magician and NERE.