Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth

The former caped keyboardist for Yes, nowadays a professional Grumpy Old Man, brings his bombastic, orchestral prog-rock adaptation of Jules Verne's novel to the stage. The original version, recorded live at a sold-out Royal Festival Hall show in 1974, topped the charts and has since sold over 15 million copies. This will be the first full performance since then, so it should be a hot ticket. Combining the original piece with Wakeman's 1999 sequel 'Return to the Centre of the Earth', this show has prolific ’70s album sleeve artist Roger Dean as its creative director, so it should be as spectacularly in-your-face as it is musically overblown. Twiddly, virtousic variations on enormous banks of synthesizers, towering projections and a full orchestra and choir await you. Like Verne's characters entering the crater of Snæfell, you venture forward at your own peril.