RICK WAKEMAN'S GRUMPY OLD PICTURE SHOW

Rick Wakeman proves that in addition to being a skilful keyboardist he has the talent to be a funny stand up comedian of a very British way. This show of his, as it indeed is, is more of an entertaining nature than a spectacular musical experience. Wakeman also deviates from the typical live setting in that he is the only musician on stage, and rest of the band is featured on a big screen, of course previously recorded. He also has many tracks of himself playing the piano, such as in Judas Iscariot, which is cool and obscure at the same time. Songs that feature his daughter on vocals (An Angel Spoke to Me and Amazing Grace) work much better, and they are both beautiful. Other highlights for me are the ending Six Wives medley, calm new ageish track Sea Horses and rarely heard Birdman of Alcatraz. Rick has some fine moments of interacting with the audience, like when he makes them produce the various bird sounds ('lovely', as they should be) featured on a short part of Birdman. Starship Trooper is also a nice addition to the set, even though it suffers a bit from the band arrangement. Unfortunately there are many weaker songs such as The Jig that feel boring and add nothing in particular to the set. The humor of the cutscenes works most of the time, aside from some maybe too embarrassing moments. Well, at least the man definitely isn't afraid to make fun of himself.