Rolling Stone Magazine
July 17, 1975

WAKEMAN'S MYTHIC ICE CAPADES

Rick Wakeman
Wembley Empire Pool
London
May 30th, 1975

by Paul Gambaccini


Lerner and Loewe were the
first to suggest that the Knights
of the Round Table sang and
danced. Rick Wakeman is the
first to suggest that they did it
on ice.
  In an evening that literally
had to be seen to be believed,
Wakeman performed his en-
tire _Myths and Legends of
King Arthur and His Knights
of the Round Table_ album to
the accompaniment of the
New World Symphony Or-
chestra, the English Rock En-
semble and the Nottingham
Festival Vocal Group. The
musicians huddled together on
a circular stage in the middle
of a chilly rink while skaters in
medieval costumes acted out
the plot around them. At one
point 20 maids and maidens
joined the ice drama, but no-
body fell, not even when men
dressed as knights on horse-
back engaged in swordfights at
both ends of the arena.
  The music sounded better
Iive than on disc, since the
starchy narrators reading their
dull lines were far less con-
spicuous as a visual minority
than when dominating the
sound on record. Orchestral
passages that won welcome
new attention were further
blessed when a malfunction in
the vocal mikes caused distor-
tion in the speeches without
seriously affecting the instru-
mentalists. The orchestra and
the vocal group were both
highly professional and occa-
sionally poignant to their ac-
companiment to the action.

   But, as preoccupation with
sex and campery characterizes
New York excess, so silliness
marks English overemphasis.
It was enjoyably distracting to
watch a home movie made by
Wakeman and his friends out-
side their local pub while le-
gions of musicians played
their way through *Merlin the
Magician,* and thrilling to
watch a chorus line on ice. Yet
it was obvious that Wakeman
was enjoying the icing more
than the cake, a situation only
overcorrected when his *little
number* of an encore turned
into the 40-minute-long _Jour-
ney to the Centre of the Earth_.
   Wakeman faces a dilemma:
This show, as well as his live
presentation of _Journey_,
proved his skill at packaging a
pleasant evening*s entertain-
ment. But he*s done so at the
expense of attention to his
music. That four knights on
skates could command one*s
senses while scores of musi-
cians made an ignored din just
ten yards away said little for
the appeal of the music itself.