JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE PUNCHLINE

He added his timeless piano flourishes to Bowie’s ‘Life On Mars’ and Cat Stevens’ ‘Morning Has Broken’, and cut his teeth with the Strawbs, but Rick Wakeman will be remembered primarily as the keyboard maestro in the definitive line-up of prog-rock icons Yes... and the caped crusader whose ambitious 1975 live staging of The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table — featuring a massive cast of musicians, chorists, an orchestra and ice skaters — bankrupted him.

    The Grumpy Old Picture Show tour, however, sees another side of Wakeman. Partly a concert that showcases his legendary skills on the ivories, sometimes interacting with ‘faked live’ footage of his band, the English Rock Ensemble, and our mutual friend, guitarist Gordon Giltrap, the show is also a vehicle for 59-year-old Wakeman’s talents as a stand-up comic — a feat he pulls off with surprising conviction.

    If you can imagine Benny Hill on keyboards, playing ‘Eleanor Rigby’ the way Prokofiev would’ve written it, or ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ with the grace of Les Dawson, then you might be one-fifth of the way towards understanding the kind of evening that was in store for TPi when we caught Wakeman’s show at the Palace Theatre in Westcliff-on-Sea.

    Ian Barfoot, Wakeman’s sound engineer, accurately describes the comedy as “1950s schoolboy toilet humour” and he should know — he’s been pushing the faders for the artist since 1986, when he was asked to supply a PA for him at a gig in Peterborough, the engineer’s hometown.

    “It all went wrong from there,” he said. “I’ve sacked myself a few times, to do other things, but always returned.”

    The current show is heavily reliant on the timelined synchronisation of video projection, run by Chris Wright from Classic Pictures, and a vast library of sound effects and pre-recorded clips, all stored in Pro Tools and cued by Erik Jordan, who doubles as keyboard tech.

    When it came to choosing a digital console that could control both FOH and stage sound, and provide the necessary automation for this kind of show, Barfoot opted for Allen & Heath’s iLive solution.

    “Looking at it, even just on paper, made me consider it, but as soon as I saw it in the flesh and heard what it was capable of, I made my mind up,” said Barfoot.

    “I don’t need a high channel count — with Rick’s mic and keys, and the Pro Tools tracks, I probably use a total of 26 — but I do need bags of flexibility without compromising on the sound, and the iLive is probably the best-sounding digital board I’ve heard.

    “I took one out last October for about 10 dates, just to test it, and when I was told about the spring tour, I insisted I have the iLive again simply because it makes this job possible.
    “The support from Allen & Heath has also been great and whenever I had some minor teething problems at the early stages of using the desk, there was always someone there to assist.”

    Barfoot commented that he is currently just “scratching the surface” when it comes to taking advantage of the wide range of the iLive-112’s onboard facilities.

    “I’m using it in a theatre environment, which I believe wasn’t the main intention for the desk,” he said. “But I think it’s probably the most ideal theatre board I’ve come across — at the very least in terms of its small footprint.

    “It’s got so many show memories, everything’s recallable, it’s quick and very easy to navigate. And if you’re not super-technical or good with menus, which I’m not, it’s perfect. It’s like a digital board for analogue people.”
    
PA SYSTEM
For most shows on the tour, a small Turbosound Floodlight PA was used — part of a system supplied by North Yorkshire’s Viking Sound & Light that also included Nexo PS15 active stage monitors. The Palace Theatre gig, however, saw the house Electro-Voice rig in use, In other cases similar to this, Barfoot would occasionally augment the resident systems by using the Turbo cabinets as fills.

    The PA was looked after by Andy Edgar from Viking and the crew was completed by bus driver Neil Tate. Lighting equipment and operation was supplied by each venue.

    Just before Wakeman took to the stage, Barfoot made one further observation: “It’s really funny — you get some people who only know Rick from TV’s ‘Countdown’ and didn’t know he could play. Others who turn up expecting to hear a keyboard masterclass are absolutely stunned that he’s such a comic talent!”

    For those who would rather see Wakeman without the jokes, he is planning a live re-working of his 1973 classic The Six Wives Of Henry VIII in the appropriate setting of Hampton Court Palace in May 2009.

    Meanwhile, a DVD of the Grumpy Old Picture Show is now available from all discerning stockists.
Mark Cunningham
TPi
www.allen-heath.com