It's not been the start to 2024 that I had hoped for with the loss of quite a few friends, notable Ian Lavender and Dave Myers, both fellow Water Rats and great friends, but a new 2 word phrase seems to have appeared amongst all of us still here and that's "Above Ground"… and that's where I will do my damnedest to remain for as long as possible as I've still got so much I want to achieve… the upcoming tours are going to be tiring for sure, but I am learning slowly to pace myself a bit better and for that reason have decided that from now on there will be no more Meet and Greets as I think they have run their course anyway. I have always enjoyed meeting everybody and answering some great questions and will retain some great memories of meeting old friends as well as new.
The Return of the Caped Crusader tour was for me, nothing short of fantastic. The band were amazing and performances astonishing and thanks also for the tremendous reviews. The English Rock Ensemble will be out again in the UK in October 2025 for King Arthur and with a first half of different YES pieces performed the ERE way.
The ERE will also be appearing at Cropredy festival this year and we'll hopefully be performing the full-length Journey to the Centre of the Earth. It will be the same line up as the February tour with the exception that Lee Pomeroy is unavailable and so the very able Matt Pegg will be stepping into his shoes.
I have been flat out preparing for America and South America and as these will be my last one man shows in these countries I have been working hard at getting a balance as regards the music. The shows will premier, (I hate that word)!!… Yessonata… a 20-minute piano piece featuring many of the themes and melodies from my times with YES. I will be brutally honest and say that I nearly gave up on the piece as I could never get it as I envisaged until one week ago when I sat at the piano and it all started to click into place for the first time. It brought a big smile to my face as it all started to make musical sense.
On the 17th, the day before I fly to New York, I will be making an appearance at the Talking Pictures TV event at St Albans where rumour has it I am to be interviewd by my good friend Mike Reed and possibly Neil Cronin as well… whoever has the misfortune to be asking me questions I apologise, but am really looking forward to seeing everybody.
I am taking my laptop on tour, but it is so old I don't hold out much hope for being to log on much but I shall try!!…
Bye for now and here's to normality!!!
Cheers Rick