Rick Wakeman Six Wives of Henry VIII pics

Mrs P and I went to the second night of Rick Wakeman performing the Six Wives of Henry VIII at Hampton Court palace yesterday.  What a superb prog day out!  The tickets included entry to Hampton Court itself so we spent the afternoon wandering round the courtyards and rooms taking in the history and building the atmosphere.

The stage was right in front of the main entrance to Hampton Court and the impressive light and stage show was made even more spectacular by the palace being lit up.  Rick and the English Rock Ensemble performed along side a full orchestra and choir (who did all the mellotron and choir parts!)   Brian Blessed was brilliant at the narration, which told the full story of Henry and his marriages.

We had great seats 8 rows from the front, more or less right in front of Rick's keyboards.  It was a very entertaining evening with everything you would expect from a Wakeman prog extravaganza right down to the glittering capes!

High spot of the night for me was the performance of Jayne Seymour.  Rick left his bank of keyboards to be greeted by two of Henry's six wives who exchanged his up until then red cape for a golden one, after which he climbed a set of illuminated stairs to what we thought was a bit of scenery, only for it to be revealed as a huge great pipe organ.  The organ sound for the solo was amazing - with the bass notes rattling the seats.

Anyway, enough writing, here's some pics:













Full set at the usual place:

http://www.myspace.com/neilpalfreyman


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Listening to: Rick Wakeman - Catherine Howard



Edited by Neil Palfreyman - May 10 2009 at 12:34

I never knew Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves drank... Stella Artois!

Great photos, wish I'd gone now.

Awesome pics, i'm jealous

Being a big time YES fan, I have seen Wakeman oh so many times, but he is ALWAYS AWEOME! He made Yes back in 1975, when I saw Yes over 4 times! I am so glad you enjoyed the show. I also saw him once solo in South Africa back in 1982.

Sorry for being pedantic, but that useless piece of lard Henry the 8th only ever married twice, the other 4 were lovers. So now i proclaim this piece "Henry the great piece of fat, with 2 wives and 4 lovers".

why-do-i-bother wrote: Sorry for being pedantic, but that useless piece of lard Henry the 8th only ever married twice, the other 4 were lovers. So now i proclaim this piece "Henry the great piece of fat, with 2 wives and 4 lovers". Final question is how and why?

This is my very first post on this forum, even though I've been visiting this site regularly for over a year. I was fortunate enough to attend to this concert too (and very fotunate indeed, since I live in Mexico and was able to include this show on my Holyday trip to Europe), only I went to the first date. I must say I enjoyed the show very much, Rick being one of my favourite artists, and 6 wives one of his best albums. Yet, I must say at some times I felt the orchestrations didn't sound quiet right; still, the choirs were always great. I would say Anne Boleyn was particularly well interpreted, as well as Catherine Howard (it's got a beautiful melody inserted near the beginning) and Jane Seymour (with added Chorus and orchestrations to a great effect). Anne of Cleves was rather a desapontment, the drums just couldn't make justice to the originals from Alan White.
     The show was pretty well done, Rick entered the stage acompanied through the palace's gates accompanied by his 6 wives, all clad in costumes from that age, and was greeted by some trumpets that began the first song, Tudorture, never heard before (rather nice song). The theme of this song was repeated later on with defender of the faith (another new song, but far too long and repetitive). As told before, during Jane Seymour, a Pipe organ was assembled towering on stage (for it had not been there before, for it wouldn't have allowed the sight to the Palace), so that Rick had to climb some rather long stairs before seating before the keyboards (as a fun anecdote, during this performance the wind was a bit strong, and it started blowing Wakeman's papers with the notes, so he had to put them back on their place while playing, only to throw them away when he was unable to do so). As a matter of fact, I'm not really sure that was a real Pipe organ, or just some keyboards with the "ornament" of the pipes for the show. Anne Boleyn was the last wife to be played, and at the end a grand piano was brought on stage for the performance of "the day thou gavest lord hath ended", also towering on stage so that Rick had to climb the stairs. The very last song was another "new" one, Tudorock, wich had the same theme as Tudoverture and Defender of the faith, but with excerpts of the wives inserted. It was rather cool.

     Before the performance of Rick, we got a performance of the English Chamber Choir and of the Acoustic Strawbs, which were good (but I would have loved to hear Wakeman play piano with them). I was able to buy the album on the show, so I've heard the show many times since and can remember it well, and I hope I can get the DVD soon.
     Well, I hope I didn't bore you too much with this my first long post.

As a matter of fact there is a reason for this concert taking so long, and it is all told in the program that was sold at the concert. In 1973, Wakemans Manager asked him if he wanted to do a concert of the album to launch it, and Wakeman answered that he wanted to do the concert, at Hampton Court Palace. They wrote the letter, and the answer they received suggested that what Rick was asking for was tantamount to treason, and the Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall were offered. Yet Wakeman said that if he couldn't do it an Hampton he wouldn't do it at all. So it took him 36 years to have his dream fulfilled (and surely many of his fans dream too!).