Rick Wakeman - The Return Of The Caped Crusader (2025)
-----------------------------------------------
with the English Rock Ensemble

Venue: Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton, UK
Date: 23rd October 2025

Quality: Pretty good for an audience recording I reckon - you be the judge, check the sound samples.

Full artwork included.

Processing Notes
----------------
Recording Location: Circle front row central (in line with Rick). Using blu-tack I was conveniently able to mount my Zoom H5 recorder at an angle of 45deg on the shelf in front of me (great!) This was my first time using this particular setup so I set the recording levels on the low side - it worked great and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Lineage: Zoom H5 Wav 44.1 16bit -> USB -> SoundForge (Split) -> TLH SB align and Flac encode (Level 8)

In SoundForge, I applied a very light normalisation to lift the overall volume. I slightly reduced the applause (-2.5db) on just the left channel due to a slightly over enthusiastic clapper. The applause balance sounds great now and doesn't detract from the performance. I also removed a few 'dead' spots between songs to take out the various rustlings of a sweet packet - fortunately my neighbour only did this between songs so all good! :-)

The obvious break for creating CDs is between Parts One and Two.

General Thoughts
----------------
What a fabulous show. I was particularly excited to see 'King Arthur' performed by a male rock vocalist for the first time in a long while and I was not disappointed. I'd only purchased my tickets a couple of weeks beforehand and was very surprised to secure a central seat in the front row of the circle (see pic). In fact I was directly in line with Rick (centre stage) and just seven paces or so away from the main sound desk to my left. I even had a handy shelf in front to position my Zoom H5... perfect!
The band was flawless and you can hear Rick extolling their virtues in the 'Band Intros' section in Part Two. As usual Rick was magnificent and his arthritis clearly didn't affect his playing much. His son Adam was imperious throughout and his 'Keytar' solo in the first section of 'Merlin', performed whilst standing atop the left speaker stack was something to behold - truly a 'chip off the old block'.
Dave Colquhoun and Lee Pomeroy were both on top form and duly acknowledged by Rick. Adam Falkner, a recent addition on drums was also masterly, which is of course not easy given some of Rick's time signatures!
Having 'grown up' with these albums it is very interesting to see and hear how they are interpreted and presented live some 50+ years after their original releases and of course, using the latest technology. In particular, these live versions easily lend themselves to improvisations and the band members certainly take advantage of this. The three female backing singers were fabulous and their harmonies really lifted the pieces. This is especially prevalent on the various 'Lady of the Lake' sections, and credit here goes to Hayley Sanderson for the captivating vocal harmony arrangements.
As for Jesse Smith well... brilliant, just brilliant! Worth the price of admission and, in my opinion exactly how King Arthur was meant to be sung. Especially good as he'd apparently only had a few weeks notice to practice the material and join the tour!
The band were incredibly tight and appeared to be having so much fun on stage it was not just infectious, but engaging, enthralling, wondrous and nostalgic all at the same time. I have to confess to having a tear in my eye on more than one occasion (e.g. Guinevere) which is not surprising given that I don't think there will be many more if indeed any, full English Rock Ensemble band shows like this. This would be a great 'live' bookend to finish on if this is indeed the case.
Overall, the concert sound was great although as usual for a live performance it takes a little while into the first song of each set for the mix to 'settle'. I think 'Catherine of Aragon' suffered a little from this and certainly 'Arthur' as this was the first time the main vocal mic was used e.g. it takes a while for the clarity of Jesse's vocals to shine through. This was at least the case listening live, less so on listening to the recordings so that's great!
As a first time out using this Zoom H5 setup everything worked perfectly and I'm really pleased with how everything turned out. I think this is a great recording and I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did :-) Cheers!

Part One - The Six Wives of Henry VIII
--------------------------------------
01. Intro (2:10)
02. Catherine of Aragon (5:31)
03. Anne Boleyn (10:14)
04. Jane Seymour (5:59)
05. Anne of Cleves (8:15)
06. Catherine Howard (10:30)
07. Catherine Parr (10:01)

Duration: 52m 41s

Part Two - King Arthur
----------------------
08. Band Intros (6:21)
09. Arthur (7:44)
10. Lady Of The Lake / Guinevere (7:18)
11. Sir Lancelot And The Black Knight (5:36)
12. Sir Galahad (6:12)
13. The Last Battle (10:05)
14. Encore Break (3:10)
15. Merlin (15:47)

Duration: 62m 16s

The Band
--------
Keys: Rick Wakeman
Keys: Adam Wakeman
Guitar: Dave Colquhoun
Bass: Lee Pomeroy
Drums: Adam Falkner

The Vocalists
-------------
Lead: Jesse Smith
Backing: Jo Marshall
Backing: Sara Davey
Backing: Jo Goldsmith-Eteson

Narrator: Ian Lavender (in absentia)

Support the artists and buy their stuff - I do.

Relayerx9 on Dime
October 2025

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: