A Big Name in Rock Plays Unique Show—for Bears

Rock halls and stadiums are one thing. Keyboard legend and former Yes member Rick Wakeman just added 150 rescued bears to his list of audiences. Wakeman, 77, set up a Yamaha grand piano inside Animals Asia's sanctuary in Vietnam's Tam Dao national park, performing new pieces he composed for the moon bears living there, reports the Guardian. (See a video here.) The longtime animal-welfare advocate aimed to spotlight the illegal bear bile trade, in which bile is extracted from bears' gall bladders for use in traditional medicine. The animals are kept in brutal conditions all the while. "We're here really to celebrate the rescued bears ... (but) it's also a reminder that there are still a lot of bears that are in captivity that need to be saved," wrote Wakeman, per CNN.