YOU would think that Rick Wakeman had seen it all.

After all he has been making music for over 50 years. This year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and with Yes he was a member of one of the biggest bands in the world.

And yet the success of his most recent album Piano Portraits left him “amazed”.

The album featuring the keyboard maestro performing some of best-known songs became the first solo piano album ever to go into the top10 in the album charts.

“It surprised everybody to be honest,” he said. “For a piano album to sell six figures like it did is ridiculous.”

Next week Rick comes to Blackburn as part of his Piano Portraits tour which will see him perform many of the songs from the album including Life on Mars and Morning Has Broken, songs on which he played the original keyboard parts when they were first released.

Rick’s solo dates come after a successful tour of America with former Yes bandmates Jon Anderson and Trevor Rabin.

“A full band tour is knackering at our age,” said Rick. “Amazingly enough we do have to pace ourselves these days. The management are quite strict with us - we don’t have technicians any more, we have carers!

“But actually a solo tour isn’t as exhausting.

“With a band tour especially in American you get up, do some interviews then pack your bags and get to the airport. You get off the plane, check into the next hotel, go off to sound check, do the show and then you’re off again.

“With Piano Portraits it’s totally different. I drive myself as I hate being driven, I’ll get where I’m going in my own time. I don’t have to worry about anybody else as it’s purely me, a piano and a microphone.

“Once I arrive at the venue I’’ll have a cup of tea and a Digestive, do the show and meet people afterwards then go off to wherever I’m staying, I can pace it however I want. If I want to drive home afterwards I can.

“So touring is much easier on your own but it’s much harder as a show. When you are with a band, the focal point changes throughout the show so that means if I’ve an itch I can scratch it providing I pick my moment. When you’re the only person on the stage you have to let it itch!”

A natural comedian, fans have got used to Rick’s stories between the songs, and he won’t be disappointing them next week.

But he knows that some may be left disappointed when he doesn’t play their favourite song from his massive back catalogue - he has over 100 albums to his name.

“I did sit down and looked at all the pieces that would be possible to do and it’s about six hours of solo piano work,” he said. “That’s just stuff that can be done on a piano which would work well.

“And the answer to your next question is ‘no, I’m too old’ I’m not going to do it.”

But he will try and play as many favourites as possible.

“A fan summed it up for me once after a show when I’d left out Life on Mars,” said Rick. “ I told him I’d played it at a previous show but he said if you went to see Sinatra wouldn’t you want him to sing My Way even though you’d heard it before. He had a point - it was back in the set next night. So I do try.”

Rick admitted that he was particularly looking forward to the Blackburn date on the tour.

“I know the area very well,” he said. “Going way back to when I was at the Royal Northern College of Music, my best mate came from Darwen so I used to come and spend the summer breaks with him.

“I thoroughly enjoyed that because his father was the rep for Thwaites Brewery so we used to go out with him round the clubs and we had a fantastic time.

“I think he ended up as head of music at a school in Blackburn, His name was John McDermott and I haven’t heard from him in years but we were real good mates.

“It would be great to see him again, so if you’re around John, come along to the show.”

Rick Wakeman, King George’s Hall, Blackburn, Thursday, November 2. Details from 0844 847 1664 or www.kinggeorgeshall.com