Reviewed by Marc on 15 Aug 2008

Being a long time Prog fan, it may be surprising that Coming To Town: Live in Katowice is my first encounter with Oliver Wakeman, son of Prog legend Rick Wakeman

Like his father and older brother, Oliver Wakeman is a keyboard player. The comparaison with the Old Grumpy one does stop there though. The music offered by The Oliver Wakeman Band ows nothing to classical or symphonic rock, so in no way does it ressemble Yes or daddy's solo work, a good thing in my humble opinion. I would clearly put the band's music in the Prog Metal camp, close to what band's like Arena or Ayreon gives us. Oliver Wakeman's style of playing is also much closer to Clive Nolan than to his father's, and his stage presence is not at all flamboyant. Perhaps he went to the Tony Banks school of stage performance (lol). As a player he is quite good, many tracks featuring some keyboard solos that he does with no apparent difficulty. In fact all the musicians are excellent, even though Paul Brown on bass and Dave Wagstaffe on drums take on a discrete role. Paul Manzi on lead vocals and David Mark Peace on lead guitar are great performers (very much in a Metal style of playing and looks), and get to shine quite often.

The concert on Coming To Town: Live in Katowice is very good and the filming and recording are excellent. If you are Metal Prog fans, and into bands like Arena and Ayreon, you certainly won't be disappointed by this DVD. Highly recommended indeed.