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Rick Wakeman - Out There Tour 2003Last Modified On 03/11/2004Rick Wakeman - Spa Pavilion Felixstowe - 21 April 2003We arrived with plenty of time at what used to be my local venue. The first thing that struck me as I walked in were the blue lights lighting up the stage. They were a good colour and they were nicely positioned with some atmospheric smoke already on.
The next thing was the size of Rick's rig now. It is more like the set up on the last tour with Ashley Holt in 1990. A Semi-Circle of Four sets of keyboards. Two keyboards on Rick's right. Rick's main moog was perched before the next set. This had a camera/projector watching it throughout the show. A Gem and a Roland keyboard were on the 2nd stand. Two korgs on the third. Another Moog was positioned in between the 3rd and 4th stands and there were two more keyboards on Rick's left. Ashley Holt had a small space in front of Rick and he had a music stand so he tended to sing looking towards the left of the stage. Tony's drums were on the left with Lee Pomeroy on bass just in front of him. There were two more keyboards at the back on the right including the Piano set-up with "Candles". In front of these were Ant's Glynne’s two Marshall amps. Just before the show started there was a stiff no Damian warning! Something like "Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the vocalist originally contracted to sing with the band on this tour will, with immediate effect, no longer be performing with Rick and the New English Ensemble." They then announced Ashley would sing instead and gave his credentials. The PA then played the Overture from Return To The Centre Of The Earth as has happened on previous tours. The back of the stage had spinning spirals projected on it. As the overture finished Rick came on stage on a long black and gold long coat. His hair is now getting quite long again. I still find it surprising that he is clean shaven although I am sure he has been like this sometime now. I guess I have just been trained expect a bearded Rick for so many years.
I have to say I was really touched to see Ant back on stage again. Given how UK doctors had written him off with his cancer and he had his last piece of brain surgery in March it was amazing to see him embarking on such a long tour. He played well and really enjoyed the night so I wish him all the best. A 20+ minute version of "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" was the first song of the night. The intro seemed a bit long to me and Rick seemed a bit lost in the mix so I am not sure if there was a slight glitch somewhere. Anyway it was great to have Ashley back on the vocals. I really like Damian as a person and as a singer but I have always felt that his voice is not best suited to Rick's work. He is much better singing his own solo stuff and on Arjen Lucassen's Ayreon and Star One projects. Maria is very much a Damian fan and she was really gutted when he walked out on the tour and she wasn't sure she was that bothered about seeing Ashley again but even she admitted that he suited the songs much better. When Ashley came on both Maria and I thought he looked thinner and healthier than when we saw him in Braintree with Rick. With the lights coming on at the start of the show some red lights were used and these seemed to point right at us in the 2nd row making it hard to see stage. Luckily we either got over it or they were not used that much later in the show. There was a full lighting rig with Varilites too. This tour is apparently put on by a company with Jim Davidson (A UK Comic) as Chairman so it is to him we have to thank for allowing Rick to tour with a full production. As mentioned before when Rick soloed on his right moog the projector was stitched to show what he was playing. Being on the 2nd row I was a bit to low to get the full effect of this but I am sure it was fascinating to watch for people that could see it. When Ashley was not singing he played tambourines.
During Journey Ant's guitar was not very loud but it seemed to get better during the night. It was great to see there was lots of in band humour going on despite the loss of Adam and Damian. There were lots of smiles between Rick, Ashley and Lee and then a bit later Ant and Ashley talking and laughing. I am pretty certain Rick used all his keyboards during Journey. He started on his Left. Moved to the right pair and did "Hall of the Mountain King" on the Front left side.
"The Realisation" and "The Spaceman" from "No Earthly Connection" where next up. Prior to doing this Rick mentioned they didn't remember much about recording the album. They were in a studio next to a vineyard and after 7 weeks they had drunk so much wine the vineyard started sending them wine with their own special label on it.
I need to hear this piece again as there seemed a lot of reworking going on in this one. For instance Ant seemed to play a completely new guitar solo. I couldn't follow it at all. It seemed highly unmelodic to my ears but perhaps I need more time to get accustomed to what I was hearing. That is one thing I find with Ant's guitar. He can be quite crunching and I guess Steve Via "modern" to my ears. Ashley seemed to have two volumes loud and louder! Even on a quiet section he still seemed to be belting it out. He was actually left at normal volume in the mix when the rest of the band were quieter perhaps he would normally be turned down a bit. Catherine Parr was next and this was pretty much a standard recent live performance of this. Rick had to make some big leaps around kit on this one and again used nearly all his keyboards again. At one point Rick seemed to solo with his left hand on the moog. Unfortunately the keyboard was too quiet to hear. I will have to try and watch out for it again tonight. (Lucky Me!)
The first half ended on "Out There". Erik Jorden was on the spare keyboard. Lee Pomeroy turned on his bass's flashing lights. They seemed to be screening footage from the DVD on the back of the stage but again I struggled to see this. This version of "Out There" was completely instrumental. Rick mainly tripleted on most of the lead vocal areas but Ant took over lead vocal on his guitar for quiet section. I have to say that by the point I was wondering about the crowd. It was not as big as it could be which is a shame. I did get a poster pack but I am in an area without a local date as such so my efforts were limited. I am also rather shy so it took me all my courage to even ask about putting a poster in the local Virgin. It didn't help they didn't have any obvious place to put it. But the manager did take one and it got easier for me. I hope this promotion worked better in other towns. Back to the crowd not only was the place perhaps only 2/3rd full but the crowd seemed dazed or engrossed. I couldn't decide. They certainly seemed quiet. Although they applauded as usual there seemed to be no atmosphere. I was also amazed at the end when no one seemed to wait for Rick's autograph. Perhaps I was in the wrong place. There was a 20 min interval and then Tony started off the 2nd half. This time his opening drums were for White Rock. Yippee. I have to say it seemed a little sluggish compared to how I remember it and didn’t seem to have the impact I expected for it. The back projection was of the "White Rock" official Olympic film, which was nice. It was the Toboggan section for those that don't know.
White Rock went into "Searching For Gold" for a couple of phrases. Ant and Lee then left and were shortly followed by Rick. That left Tony doing his Drum solo. I thought that was strange timing for a drum solo really and it was quite long. Maria is more into drums than me but I haven't remembered to ask what she thought yet. Tony had three DDrums in his kit as well as normal acoustic ones. The lighting for the solo was very good unless you hate strobes! This again merged into the next song, which was King Arthur. Something was really tickling the band in this one. Ashley seemed to have a problem with his mic at one point but I couldn't decide if he was just putting it on for the bands amusement. "Dance Of A Thousand Lights" was next with nice lighting. They used white lights on a mirror ball and Purple light on Rick over on his pretend Piano. They also had various projections going on.
I think "Cathedral of Sound" was next although my notes are poor at this point. Rick had introduced this using Ashley's mic and he attempted to really tighten the Mic for his tall height. When Ashley returned he struggled to undo it or at least that was the gag they decided to perform. Erik was back on Choir for this one and Ashley sang it. Again I have to say this sounded more suitable for his voice than it does for Damian's on the CD. It sounded very No Earthly Connection. Having said this Ashley was not perfect on the song. Actually as he got to end of the lyrics he was pretending to shoot his lyric sheet and giving Rick "you B******" looks.
At one point Ashley conducted Erik on the Choir, which creased up Rick. Then at another he went into boxer mode because the beat felt a bit like the Rocky theme tune. There was a full band intro by Rick at this point. Ashley had actually done one a bit earlier but it wasn't as comprehensive.
To end the set they did "Merlin The Magician" with Ashley on the vocals that were never on the original. Rick did a Keytar solo and went into the crowd as usual. He sat behind one bloke and he didn't even turn round to see. I just don't understand some audiences. Rick picked a lady to go on stage and for once it was one that didn't seem to be too worried. Unfortunately Rick didn't get the Keytar into Piano mode at the right point so he had to run into his main kit and find the quickest Piano sound he could get. The encore was "Starship Trooper" with Ashley on vocals. During the first "Time Can Remember" section he seemed to lose it completely and Lee started helping him out. On later ones I wondered if he had it correct but for once the vocal mix was too quiet. Ashley certainly took the section at a deeper pitch than normal.
Lee took a solo at the start of Wurm. I then noticed Erik and Stuart Stanway had joined in. Ashley was again highly playful during the Wurm section. When Ant was out in the crowd doing his bit Ashley decide to pretend to play one of his other guitars. Then once Ant was back he pretended to play Rick's other moog.
The show ended with the end of "Out There" being played on CD. It might be a different track and I have it down wrong. Overall an excellent night and the best production I have seen with Rick. I think Damian has kind of shot himself in the foot by walking out on the tour, as the show is probably better with Ashley. Having said this I know Ashley is not everyone's cup of tea and he does occasionally miss notes. He does have a lot of power though and I think this is what Rick's songs need. I don't think he will ever replace Jon Anderson in Yes though if Startship Trooper is anything to go by.
I feel very disappointed that the crowd in Felixstowe wasn't what it could be. I wonder if all the one-man shows have had an effect. Certainly there have been bigger audiences there for Rick. I also wonder if playing Colchester tonight is a bad move. We often joke about bad routing of tours but it does make sure audiences don't overlap. I have a spare ticket for tonight as Maria's daughter originally wanted to go but has changed her mind. I tried giving it to a friend’s dad at the gig last night but he doesn't feel he can get out for another night on the trot. If tours crisscross the country and come back to an area at least people have a bit more time to save for a ticket and are not quite such a burden on resources such as babysitters. Rick Wakeman - Leisure World, Colchester - 22 Apr 2003I didn't make notes for this one and I didn't get round to writing up while I could still remember. The main things I remember are the intro lighting sequence didn't work for the Return Overture and there were a couple of other lighting problems during the night. I of course was able to see which jokes were pre-planned for each gig and which were genuine. Tonight Ashley "pretended" to play Ant's guitar but didn't go into Rick's keyboard area. He had more room on stage tonight so he tended to give Lee a bit more company. In the 2nd half Rick appeared in a cape. He didn't do this the first night.
This was the first time one of our children had gone to a gig with us. Liam really enjoyed the show and is trying to talk us into taking him again. He was too shy to go and talk to Rick so Rick kindly went and talked to Liam. Tony Fernandez joined in and they had a chat about Football. Actually Rick was discussing football after the gig the night before at Felixstowe too. He is clearly still mad on it. Leisure World was not full to capacity. The was a lot of space on the side but I have to say it was probably as full as I have seen it for any Rick gig and they were a much more responsive audience.
Rick Wakeman - Cliffs Pavilion Southend On Sea - 19 May 2003This was my third date of the tour and we were really looking forward to it. We weren't to be disappointed this was the best show we had seen for several reasons. It was a good omen, when the pre-show announcement about Damian being replaced by Ashley was made, the crowd actually cheered. I could be wrong but Ant's hair seemed longer than at the last gig. Rick's looked a bit lank. Rick wore different stage clothes tonight. He wore shimmery gold cape and white under suite for the first half tonight. This certainly goes down well with old fans of Rick. Growing his hair and wearing capes seems to be showing Rick is trying to play to the audience. Sadly I believe the audiences won't be enough for the tour to break even. This is really disappointing but then the posters were not over strong on pushing the fact it was Rick and a band. I guess fans not liking a one man show might have not bothered this time. It amazes me the number people asking the merchandise stand what band Rick used to play with. I checked why the person next to me was at the gig. He apparently tends to go to most 60's gig. I am not sure what made him go to Rick but he knew he was funny. At the end of the first half I asked how it was for him and he commented "he doesn’t do short pieces does he?!" but he did seem to think it OK. The camera on the keyboard was on a wider setting tonight so both of Rick's main keyboards when on the moog could be seen well. The screen seemed higher up above the band tonight so I was able to see the projections better than on the previous nights. Sometimes the projections were lost slightly in the lighting. Also I noticed on "Starship Trooper" they had a really poor slowing down of the screen rate switched on making it a little pointless watching it. I couldn't decide tonight if there was some new lighting. There were some half circle lighting effects on the on background which seemed new to me. Rick was still in good spirits. He really started having fun in No Earthly Connection. I get the impression Lee is one of the catalysts for the fun making on stage. He always seems to be happy, smiling and looking for an opportunity to interact with the others. Tony seemed to throw in an extra few drum beats on his d-drums during No Earthly Connection and this had Rick really laughing. Another thing I noticed this time was Ashley was the one controlling the end of the song. In the past everyone seems to have taken their cue from Rick. During "Catherine Parr" Rick seemed to adjust the sound on his Rick's Left hand keyboard via the Moog on his left. Is it likely that the Moog would be controlling the sound of another keyboard too? An example of Lee looking for fun was during this song he went up to Rick's rig and seemed to egg him on for his solo run's. Rick was finding it amusing. Lee was also the screen as well as the Rick in person. Actually I noticed during this that video frame rate was not keeping up with Rick's fingers. I don't think it was a special effect just that it wasn't the normal rate we are used to watching. I hadn't noticed before but Ant is a bit of a face puller when soloing so he clearly feels what he is playing. During "Out There" I got the impression we were seeing new animations. I guess it is possible I just didn't remember them all but I had noticed the clips were being repeated a lot at previous gigs. Ashley is now singing on "Out There" but he is not taking the same vocal lines. He has had to adjust it to suit his style and range more. Rick still seemed to enjoy it though and was visibly singing along. I also got the impression there were more sound effects being playing during this song now. To be honest I am a little baffled at the choice of "Out There" as a closer for the set. I guess I am just not keen on the song. I think I preferred it instrumental to with vocals on CD or live. For the 2nd half Rick returned in a black suit under the cape he wore in the 2nd half at Colchester. In "White Rock" I noticed Rick was watching the film projection as he played. I haven't noticed him take any notice of it before. This venue was by far the best for seeing the projections so perhaps Rick had watched it before but it wasn't noticeable. Given Rick plays music while visualising images I wonder if watching the film would be a help or hindrance to his playing. With exception of the two new songs Ashley is now singing to the audience rather than Lee and the music stand. Ashley now sounds pretty good throughout "Cathedral Of The Sky". This song got a really good crowd reaction too! During Rick's walkabout with the keytar Rick grabbed a drink while soloing away. The lady he chose as a keyboard stand tonight also got the hang of it straight off and this seemed to give Rick more time to solo and show off. To my amazement Rick got a half audience standing ovation at the end of the main set. It is amazing how audiences in different areas react differently. In my notes I have it written down that for the encore Rick was back to his first cape. As it has taken me a week to finish writing this review and I am completely blank on weather this was the case or not. I am certainly surprised to read it. Lee didn't turn on the flashing lights on his base tonight. I wonder why? Ashley was also a lot better on Starship Trooper tonight. In fact he didn't have his music stand on stage at all for the encore. There was a new feature for Wurm. Ash is now bought a guitar case on stage from this he gets a blow up guitar. While Ant is out in the audience Ash is really having fun on stage. When Ant came back Ash went into Rick's rig again but the time Rick was prepared for him. He had collected a blow up hammer from behind his kit at the start of Wurm. As he soloed perfectly he was bashing Ashley on the head with it. During Ant's Wurm solo I got the impression it sounded a lot like Trevor Rabin's arrangement on a 90125 Yes show that was shown on the BBC. The band got a full standing ovation for this song. It was really nice to be in such an appreciative audience. After the show we hung around as usual. Rick was longer than normal coming out and one lady got quiet snappy with Mike Holden on merchandising because he said Rick normally comes out after about "ten minutes and it was now 16minutes!" I grabbed a word with Ant and he said how he was really enjoying the tour and he felt like a had found the real Ant again after the traumas of last year. I was really pleased to hear it. Rick Wakeman - Fernham Hall, Fareham - 29 May 2003I am not sure what my write up of this one will be like as I have seen a 2nd gig since then. We were not booked to see any more Rick shows but Liam had really enjoyed the show he had seen. With it being half term there was no reason why my daughters could not come either. They had fancied it before I booked Liam to see a show with us but their mum had booked them tickets for Westlife and S Club for their birthday’s and things didn't work out. We originally eyed up Peterbough as the gig to go to as an extra but at Southend Mike had mentioned the tour would be filmed at Fareham. We thought therefore it might be nice for the children to see a gig that would later be released. Unfortunately the venue was switched but never mind. Fernham Hall is a nice little theatre and had sold pretty well. It had some flat seating and some tiered seating. People tended to go for the tiers so the side seats at the front were empty and we got third row seats on the right hand side. Our view was slightly restricted but I got a different perspective on the show which was nice. Something looked different about Ant's hair tonight so I wondered if he had had a haircut. I guess I will have to wait for my photos to return. Mike Holden was sounding extremely tired on the merchandise stall tonight. You could certainly tell it was the end of a long tour. Malcolm didn't seem too unhappy but we didn't really bother anyone tonight. We meet up with Marc Harry and his family which was nice and then the children were desperate to get to their seats so we went in and waited. Ashley came on stage in a lively Hawaiian shirt tonight. And Rick's hair was in better shape again. From our position on the right we could see Rick playing his right hand moog from the front as well as on the screen. This was really nice it also allowed me to see Rick changing the settings throughout the songs. At the start of the show we didn't seem to be able to hear Ant too well. We were in front of PA which meant we were getting a sound full of Rick, some drum and vocals but I noticed Ant asking for more on stage too. His amp's should normally have swamped us being on the right anyway. During Journey it was good to see Rick still enjoys the lyrics as much as ever. I was pleased to see my daughters were really engrossed in the show from the off. In "No Earthly Connection" the band seem to have got in the habit of playing "Statues" when the music is supposed to stop. They were certainly doing it earlier in the tour and it is still present. I got the impression Rick started his solo on a different keyboard tonight. Normally in NEC it is the back right one but this time it was the front left one and then to the back right one. I of course could just have failed to notice this every other time. Tony didn't do the extra drumming in the quiet sections of NEC tonight Again Ashley was in charge of signalling the start of the last note and the end of it. I got the impression there were some extra cymbals in Rick adlib bit of Catherine Parr. It was amazing watching Rick's fingers as he builds up on moog and I was also surprised at how much sound adjustment Rick does to the Moog. I have seen "Catherine Parr" many times since I first saw Rick in 1985 and this is probably the first tour where I have really enjoyed it. All of a sudden it has just registered with me. It might help that Maria and I enjoy the fast bit near the start and end of it but I am appreciating Tony and everything about it a lot more. For the start of "Out There" Ash went to the back with Rick to watch the video footage. Rick is definitely watching the video and playing to it on "Out There". I don't know if he needs to pick up on some signals in order to keep in time etc Lee had his Bass lights turned back on tonight. It was a good size crowd but I have to say they seemed a bit lethargic again. I wonder if it is an age thing. I suspect I am still at the lower end of the majority of the crowd. There are a few youngsters about and one or two children but the majority of people still seem older than me. At the end of the first half my youngest Abbie who is 10 wanted to know why it was "called Rick Wakeman when he doesn't even sing!" When she saw him after the show I told her to ask him but I ended up doing it for her. I was curious to see if he would have an off the cuff remark for her but it was a pretty much straight forward answer of he didn't think he should call the band "fat man from" and I forget where. He then got on to joking about how Ashley is the "Former Fat Man of Pop" now that he has lost some weight. Rick's capes were as per Southend although I doubt he changed in the encore. I need my photos back again but I have only just sent them off. He remained in his white suit all night tonight though. The Projector here was lower than Southend again. The main way I could tell was that it was hard to see the lower keyboard freeze frames on White Rock. They were easy to see at Southend. I was curious to see what my daughters would make of Tony's 10 Minute drum solo. They liked the lights but did find it a bit boring. Maria loved it still and Liam has wanted to play drums since we first saw Rick. Having said the crowd were quiet they did seem to react well to the drum solo. In "Arthur" there was some interest off stage on right. When I asked Ant later he said the people on the sound desk had been wearing hats and giving scores at various points during the show. Being on the right I couldn't see too much of "Dance of a 1000 lights" but there was a mirror ball tonight so the lights were nice to watch again. It was about this time in the gig we started thinking seriously about weather we could make Peterbourgh the next night. We may never see another UK Rick show to this standard and the children had heard us wondering about it in the interval and said they wanted to go again. We just had to worry about the cost and a babysitter for Becky again. We did try to interest her the next morning but no she still didn't want to go despite the glowing reviews from the others. I really do prefer Ashley singing on "Cathedral of the sky". He really does a good job on it. At the start of "Wurm" not only did Rick leave his area to sneak the blow up hammer in but he went to the piano keyboard and wrapped up Stuart Stanway in his Cape while playing it. It was a cracking end of show again and a handful of people did stand up to give the band an ovation. Rick Wakeman - The Cresset, Peterborough - 30 May 2003Well I wait a well over a year to take my daughters to a gig and then I take them twice in two nights. Poor bank balance! I can't remember if I have mentioned this before but and I can't confirm it from tonight’s gig but I have seen Lee has a Moog box on the floor and I am pretty sure it is a set of Bass Pedals. For this gig we managed to get Row 5 seats on the flat section and this time on the left. I could not believe how badly these seats were filled again. The children had no trouble seeing and the view was perfect. The place did seem fairly full though. To my amazement at the end of the show Wayne came up and said "Hello". I was convinced he was avoiding going to any gig I was going to go to. We have had numerous oppertunies to meet over the years but never made it. It was good to see he is a real person and not just an e-mail response :-) The main thing I noticed from this distance was how much clearer and nicer the Varilites were. I assume it was the distance and not a change of set up. They were set to multi beam patterns and really effective. Tonight’s show was being videoed but I don't know how good it will be as I could only spot two camera's. I didn't look hard though. The Cressent is a larger theatre than Fareham and has good facilities in an out of town location. I will have to remember it for future use. During "Journey" the keyboard playing projections were a little lost in the lights. I wonder if the lights needed to be brighter for the filming? Again the band were playing musical statues in NEC. Rick and Lee were also bouncing and bopping around together earlier than normal. I was disappointed to find I still could not see what the sounddesk were doing that was providing such amusement on stage. For the first time on the tour I could see Tony behind drum kit. That made a nice change and I could see how much interaction with the others he gets too. Throughout the first half I was mucking about playing Abbie's leg as a keyboard etc. She loved this and even when I stopped she continued to play the keyboards on her leg herself. I tried to get Zoe to join in but she wouldn't have any of it. I guess at 12 it was not good for her street credibility. I still felt the fun we were having really made the 2nd night special for me. My dad has never paid much attention to any music let alone music I would like so it is a really strange concept to my that my children could enjoy something I love so much with me. Rick seemed to be throwing extra moog notes in "Catherine Parr" tonight. I thought through out the show he seemed to be trying to outplay himself and make the songs extra special. I wasn't quite sure about Ashley's vocals on "Out There" but perhaps I still need time to adjust to the new arrangement. In "White Rock" I was convinced it was a normally a White strobe that was used as the band came back on for the last minute. Tonight however Multi-coloured strobe. During "Starship Trooper" I thought Rick seemed annoyed about something early on. My impression was that he thought he fluffed something but I didn't spot it. Then it seemed like they replayed a section or got something wrong somewhere. It will be interesting to see if "Starship" gets included in the DVD and a shame if not. The night was again excellent and I was really glad to have made an extra show and to have taken the children to it. They really loved it and have talked about the experience a lot. After the show they wanted things signed again. Rick had promised Zoe a new pen the night before because he had used her's for signing. Little did he know she would say she was going the next night though. As it happened he didn't give her a pen but he remembered his promise and apologised to her. There has been a cameraman at all the aftershow signings. I have no idea why he needed so much material. Anyway Liam was desperate to be filmed and deliberately trying to walk into shots etc not realising how bad it looked. However the cameraman noticed when I asked Tony to give Liam a tip on how to start as a drummer and Liam was then videoed having a lesson and being given some of Tony's sticks (signed of course). I think the camera man comment to us that people wouldn't believe we were in different locations because we had been to so many after session signings. That gave Maria chance to mention how desperately Liam wanted to make the DVD. He then suggested that Zoe, Abbie and Liam do a little sketch. Liam had to say "I want to play Drums like Tony Fernandez". Abbie "I want to play keyboards like Rick Wakeman" and Zoe "I want to get drunk like Ash". They had several takes at it. It will be interesting to see if they do manage to make the DVD at all. Regardless they were all buzzing about it and chuffed to bits. I was also amused when Ant gave Abbie a kiss goodbye. The look on her face was a picture. She really looked starstuck. What a shame I didn't get it on film. I would hate to think this was the last time we saw the band playing together but if it was it was great to have managed so many dates and to have taken the children along and for them to have enjoyed it. Zoe and Abbie have even taken a Rick Wakeman video home to watch. I am stunned. Having said that I showed them a clip from Melbourne 1975 and they thought it dreadful and really laughed when they saw Rick and especially Ashley. They much preferred the current band DVD.
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