Rick Wakeman set for Birmingham Town Hall

Musician and TV?entertainer Rick Wakeman tells

why he's too busy to slow down.

Legendary keyboardist and television personality Rick Wakeman says he will never retire as he prepares to take his UK show An Evening with Rick Wakeman to Birmingham.

The 62-year-old Londoner will visit Birmingham Town Hall on Sunday (September 18). And as he prepares for the one-man show in the 1,086-seater venue, the former Yes star says he gets a great buzz from more intimate gigs.

"I once played Glastonbury and hated it. Then I played AbbeyFest 2011 in Bury St Edmunds and it was great. I thought this is what festivals used to be like," he says.

He said the idea for his latest show sprung up quite by accident when preparations for a gig in Costa Rica went awry.

The grandfather-of-six said: "The idea came when I turned up for a gig in Costa Rica and the band's equipment didn't turn up.

"The organisers said they would kill me if I didn't do something and they had a piano so I said I would do a bit on piano and tell some stories.

"We said anyone who wanted their money back was welcome and we only had four people out of around 3,000 ask for their money back. I try to space out the 'Evening With' shows so they're not like a tour and they stay more like one-off shows now because I really enjoy doing it that way."

Wakeman has clocked up 50 million worldwide record sales from performing with acts including David Bowie, Cat Stevens and Lou Reed.

He is best known as part of the progressive rock band Yes and as a keyboardist for Ozzy Osbourne, before taking on a solo career.

He said: "I played on around 2,000 records between the mid-60s and 70s but there are some bits of music that make little hairs stand up on the back of your neck, like Life on Mars, Space Oddity and Cat Stevens, as well as some of the stuff I did with T Rex's Marc Bolan."

Wakeman has plans afoot for another series of Watchdog, a 'Grumpy Old Rockstar book', another tour with former Yes frontman Jon Anderson and concerts in Slovakia and South America. That is on top of running his own radio production company and record label.

Asked whether he would ever relax his hectic schedule, Wakeman added: "It's nuts at the moment but I'm lucky because I still get a buzz from playing stadia as well as the one-man shows, which are a lot harder because you have to think about everything.

"But I'm 62 now and I've decided at 65 I will slow down, but I could never retire – I would drive my wife Rachel mad.

"I haven't had a holiday for four years and I get up at 5.30am and I'm rarely in bed before midnight. I would not know what to do with myself."

Tickets for Sunday's show are £25 from www.thsh.co.uk