Fans of progressive rock are prepared to experience a glimpse of heaven this Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at Englewood, NJ’s bergenPAC as they ready themselves for a Wakeman and Son concert by the legendary keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman.
Rick Wakeman was born and raised in West London. Intending to be a concert pianist, he left England’s Royal College of Music in 1969 to become a full-time session musician. Wakeman’s early work included playing on recordings by Cat Stevens and David Bowie. In 1970, he became a member of Strawbs, but joined Yes a year later, accompanying lead singer Jon Anderson on some of the group’s most celebrated LPs including Fragile, Close to the Edge, and Yessongs. Wakeman began a solo career in 1973 and his discography currently includes over 100 solo albums including his latest project, 2025’s Melancholia. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The lights dim and the crowd cheers as Rick Wakeman, 76, enters the stage. Taking a seat at the Steinway grand, Wakeman opens tonight’s show with “The Dance of a Thousand Lights” where, accompanied by a prerecorded orchestral track, he plays trills and runs up and down the keyboard as the music swells and flows on this triumphant symphonic rock piece.
The crowd cheers and Wakeman announces, “Back in 1972, I was on tour with Yes in America when, on February 26th, I got a message to say that my wife had given birth to a 10-pound, 11-ounce baby boy.”
Here, Wakeman introduces his 54-year-old son, Oliver, who tells the audience about a song he wrote for his wife “who doesn’t really like music,” explaining that he created it by playing “bits of music” around the house which she said she liked and he included them in the piece. Rapid twinkling arpeggios on the grand piano introduce “LJW,” a lovely new age composition which features rolling melodic runs, rich harmonies, and eloquent expression.
Rick and Oliver talk about how they both worked with Yes before performing a medley of Yes songs entitled “The Yes Suite.”
Opening with the shimmering “Awaken,” Rick plays keyboard before moving on to a synthesized piano version of the Yes folk-rock ballad, “And You and I.” Oliver plays grand piano on the mystical progressive rocker, “The Gift of Love,” and Rick’s rapid synthesizer work is featured on the symphonic “Wonderous Stories.” To conclude the suite, Oliver renders an arpeggiated acoustic piano version of “Words on a Page” before father and son jam together on piano and synth on a rhythmic rendering of the 1972 Yes pop hit, “Roundabout.”
Fans hoot and holler and Rick talks about writing his extended work, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, when Oliver was three years old. Here, the pair performs a medley of two tracks from the 1975 album. Starting with “The Last Battle,” Rick and Oliver play twin keyboards with emotion on this dramatic symphonic rock piece before segueing into “Merlin the Magician” where they perform with abandon on this rhythmically complex rocker to enthusiastic whistles, cheers, and applause.
Oliver tells the story about writing “A November Wedding” for a friend before performing this rapid-fire solo piano composition on the Steinway.
Afterwards, Rick dedicates the pair’s next medley to two people — Dave Cousins from The Strawbs and his father, Cyril Frank Wakeman, “a fantastic piano player,” with whom he would play duets when he was a youngster. Rick plays keys while Oliver is at the piano on the gentle Strawbs folk-rocker, “A Glimpse of Heaven,” and Oliver plays keys while Rick is on piano on a raucous father and son keyboard arrangement of the jazz standard, “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
Concertgoers whistle and cheer and Rick follows up with a highlight of tonight’s program — a selection of excerpts from his 1973 composition, The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Starting off with a marimba-like grand opening on the keyboard, a trilling piano sound gives way to a minor arpeggiated segment, a quick dancelike movement, and a minor-key piano/church organ piece.
Segueing from a flowery piano sonata into a fast-moving jig, Wakeman introduces a ragtime section which leads to a royal march before descending into a rhythmic rocker. To conclude the piece, he executes minor chords which are followed by an arpeggiated waltz prior to playing an organ toccata which leads to the performance’s ultimate dramatic conclusion.
Concertgoers stand and cheer and father and son conclude tonight’s program with excerpts from Journey to the Centre of the Earth where Rick and Oliver perform selections together from this 1974 orchestral rock piece.
Starting out with a gentle tune, the pair segues into a lovely folk-rock melody, and after inserting a snippet of Edvard Greig’s In the Hall of the Mountain King, they conclude with a majestic melody that inspires animated whistles, cheers, and applause as Wakeman and son exit the stage.
The crowd continues to hoot and holler and Rick returns to perform a solo piano version of “Life on Mars?” where the melody calls out on a strong arrangement of this cinematic 1973 David Bowie classic.
Segueing into “The Jig,” Rick and Oliver conclude tonight’s performance on twin keyboards playing this ebullient piece which leaps and bounds as it dances along before The Wakemans bow, wave, and exit the stage together to avid cheers and applause.
As concertgoers make their way out of the auditorium, several share their thoughts on tonight’s performance. Comments Regina from Santa Fe, NM, “I thought it was a great show! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed the arrangements; it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a concert like this where it was just keyboards. Rick and Oliver did a great job — they’re incredibly talented — and I loved the way they sounded together. Their stories were great, too, and I enjoyed myself immensely.”
Chris from Montvale exclaims, “Rick and his son were incredible! I’ve always loved Rick Wakeman, as well as the band, Yes. I’ve seen Yes a bunch of times with Rick and I’ve also seen Rick Wakeman on his own. He’s an amazing musician and his son, Oliver, is incredible, as well. It’s amazing how he can play his father’s parts so accurately.”
Insists Michael from Dumont, “It was classic! Rick is a classic performer and I have a history of seeing him when I was a kid; I go back to the ’70s so I’ve been a fan for a long time. He can’t do anything wrong in my eyes, and Oliver was fantastic, too — I was looking at him and thinking about his father in his youth. It was a beautiful thing.”
Harry from Ridgefield agrees, adding, “Rick is a virtuoso pianist and a virtuoso performer. If you think about his early solo albums, there were no other keyboardists doing what he was doing at the time. I’ve seen him solo and with Yes throughout the years and he still doesn’t miss a beat; he’s amazingly talented.”
Lastly, Lloyd from Wycoff recalls, “I’ve seen Rick with Yes many times and I’ve seen him perform solo many times, but it was really nice having his son, Oliver, here with him tonight — it added a little spark to the show and gave Rick someone to bounce off of,” prior to concluding, “It was the perfect show because, for me, everything Rick Wakeman does is perfect.”
To learn more about Rick Wakeman, please go to rwcc.com. For information on upcoming shows at bergenPAC — including Melissa Etheridge on April 10 and Audra McDonald on May 3 — please go to bergenpac.org.
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