The nine-show ride was supposed to launch this month with HAYLEY SANDERSON (BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing” vocal queen) belting tunes. Cue the sad synth solo. His team dropped the official word: “It is with great regret that Rick Wakeman has to postpone… Please hold on to your tickets – they’ll work for the *eventual* comeback tour. P.S. His October U.K. gigs with the English Rock Ensemble? Still on. Priorities!”
Quick Wakeman survival recap (*sips tea*): 76 years young, six kids, hepatitis, pleurisy, cirrhosis, a highway crash, pneumonia, a nervous breakdown… and he *still* outlived prog rock. Legend.
The axed U.S. shows promised piano-and-voice reworks of deep cuts. Fun fact: This would’ve been Rick’s FIRST tour with a female singer. He gushed earlier: “Hayley is great to work with… opens up opportunities for new arrangements.” Translation: *Finally, someone who can hit the high notes he wrote at 3 AM.*
BUT FEAR NOT! The caped keyboard crusader’s U.K. tour “The Return Of The Caped Crusader Pt. 2” – because sequels *always* slay – storms in October. Catch him blasting “The Six Wives Of Henry VIII” and “King Arthur” symphonic madness from Oct 12 (Aylesbury Waterside) to Oct 29 (Bristol Beacon). Bring a goblet.
Side quest: Before YESSified fame, Wakeman was rock’s busiest hired gun, tickling ivories for DAVID BOWIE (“Space Oddity,” “Life On Mars” – yes, *that* riff), CAT STEVENS (“Morning Has Broken,” which every Gen Z brunch café has ruined), MARC BOLAN, LOU REED, and even ELTON JOHN (before the feathers eclipsed pianos).
Post-YES? Dude went full Renaissance Faire with orchestral concept albums, capes, and enough synth solos to power a spaceship. But these days? He’s chill – just a piano, stories about the time Bowie almost set a studio on fire, and maybe a wink about that one prog rock incident we’ll never speak of. Rock on, Rick. Rock on.
