Rick Wakeman was onstage from the age of five and looks back with us here on a life of live performance – jazz and blues bands, the Strawbs, Yes – and ahead to this autumn’s tour performing King Arthur and the Six Wives of Henry the Eighth. “I wake up every morning, throw off the duvet and – if nothing else has fallen off – have a great day!” There’s more …

... how it feels when the rock press call you ‘Tomorrow’s Superstar!’ at the age of 24.

… the contract he once had to sign that said “Mister Wakeman will wear at least one of his capes during the performance”.

… seeing the Bonzos in 1965, “Viv Stanshall so paralytic he sang the entire set lying down”.

… being on a packed tube to Gants Hill and suddenly realising he was on the cover of the Melody Maker he was reading.

… Mrs Symes, his piano teacher, who launched his career (aged five).

… his teenage band Atlantic Blues “who ended Wipe Out eight times faster than it started”.

… the day his Strawbs’ Hammond organ solos were applauded by the Telegraph and Times.

… early piano sessions for Cat Stevens, Ralph McTell and Al Stewart.

… aspects of touring that prove “financially non-viable”.

… and how Wolf Hall rebooted the legend of Henry the Eighth.

Plus Atomic Rooster, Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Brown, green PVC trousers and a cape collection that includes “four originals”.

Buy tickets here: https://www.rwcc.com/live.php#ere2025

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Chasing the shade and applying Factor 50 in the wilting heat of this week’s rock and roll news turns the conversation to …

… Kneecap v the Prime Minister.

… will any openly anti-Trump musician find it hard to tour the States?

… the girl who’s listening to all 10,000 of her late father’s albums, one 60-second Instagram reel at a time.

… a bottle of Snoop Dogg rosé, anyone?

… why Carol Kaye turned down the Hall Of Fame.

… Hollywood and “the genius of the system” v the current vogue for applauding individual genius.

… Lottie Golden, Laurie Styvers, Jeannie Piersol and our love for High Moon Records, the Virago of the record business.

… why self-sabotage is a British institution.

… Nick Cave Unisex Clogs? Pet Shop Boys chrome pepper-grinder? Brave new frontiers in pop merchandise.

… Genya Ravan’s I Won’t Sleep On The Wet Spot No More.

… Beau Dommage, Dragon’s Breath, Two Left Feet … Canadian band or voguish craft ale?

Also in the mix … Dawn French, Phoebe Snow, Humphrey Ocean, Alan Bennett and Bridget St John.

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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The Farm are touring again this summer and have just made their first album for 31 years (with the same-line-up). This sparky and wide-ranging conversation with Peter Hooton stops off at the following …

… the advice Mark E Smith gave him when they were interviewed by Select magazine.

… “Suedeheads v Trogs and Greebos”: early ‘70s tribal warfare in Bootle.

… seeing Cockney Rebel, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Genesis at the Liverpool Empire.

… the death of old heroes – “you imagined Bowie was always going to be there”.

… backstage with the Clash in Paris and why they were the Farm’s role models.

… Bill Drummond’s attempt to remodel them “in tracksuits with hard dogs”.

… how the death of John Lennon made him start writing.

… the use of All Together Now as a football anthem – from everyone to Everton to Euros 2004 to a disastrous campaign by the Labour Party - “but the Qatar World Cup was a bridge too far”.

… touring with Mick Jones (“the Pied Piper”) for the Hillsborough 96 Campaign.

… his school band, Breakwind - “the forerunners of Half Man Half Biscuit” – and being in the cast of Oliver!.

…. his guided music tours of Liverpool and the places they visit.

… and why The Farm has “omni-appeal – a band who look like they’re from a street corner”.

Also in the mix: Big Audio Dynamite, Deaf School, Nile Rodgers, Roger Eagle and Cliff Richard on Top Of The Pops.

Buy tickets and the album Let The Music (Take Control) here: https://thefarmmusic.co.uk/

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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