Rick Wakeman’s highly valuable and irreplaceable musical equipment was stolen just before his solo performance. Luckily, his Yes bandmate Geoff Downes lent a helping hand to him. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Tom Sutcliffe, Wakeman revealed his stolen equipment and explained how Downes came to his rescue.
While his Grumpy Christmas Stocking tour continues, Rick Wakeman got several of his musical equipment stolen. Thieves broke into his van carrying his keyboards, cabling, and other invaluable items from Frankley Services on the M5. However, Wakeman didn’t lose his spirit and went on to play a piano show at Birmingham Town Hall the following day.
“This is for my one-man main show,” Rick Wakeman told Tom Sutcliffe about the stolen items. “There are two Nautilus keyboards and a Kronos keyboard. I have to say that Korg has been absolutely brilliant. They even opened up at six o’clock in the morning, my engineer drove down, and we managed to get some cables.”
Revealing the equipment he lost, Wakeman continued, “We lost a lot of what we call Rack mounts, that stuff is really quite important, all our monitoring equipment, and a very rare piece of kit, of which I think there’s only probably three or four in existence. Amazingly enough, my good friend Geoff Downes in Yes contacted my manager and said, ‘I’ve got one.’”
He then gave more details about the equipment Geoff suggested giving him, saying, “It’s called a Sycologic. It’s from the 70s, quite a rare bit, and very few people ever used it. I use it a lot, and it’s a major part of my rig. Geoff, bless him; he called him and said, ‘I’ve got one,’ and he drove from Wales today to take it to the office.”
In his recent tweet, Rick quoted his son Adam’s tweet that listed the lost equipment and asked for the help of his followers. The keyboardist wrote, “Thanks, Adam. Somebody out there must know the low-life scum who are happy to steal the tools of a man’s trade. So if by any chance you do, please write to me in confidence on my official website. Thanks.”
Although Rick Wakeman lost valuable equipment in the Frankley Service theft, he still performed in front of his fans the next day. Moreover, Geoff Downes contacted him upon hearing the news and drove to his office to bring him a Sycologic, a major part of Wakeman’s solo shows. So, Geoff stood by his bandmate’s side, even if it was for his solo career.
thanks Adam…..somebody out there must know the low life scum are who are happy to steal the tools of a man's trade and so if by any chance you do , please write to me in confidence to the website https://t.co/WpMLrkAjso thanks https://t.co/BzOg2vEHXi
— Rick Wakeman CBE (@GrumpyOldRick) December 9, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK1li0Vi4D0
