Yes Review

[BarryL]

I saw Yes in concert in Toronto on Friday night. It's probably about the seventh or eighth time I've seen them live. It was the classic line-up of Anderson-Wakeman-Howe-Squire-White. No second guitarist required.

It was great to see the band live again. I'll see them again next time. I love this band.

The good:
1. The band was great to see. Everyone looked healthy.
2. Jon Anderson wasn't wearing white from head to toe. He was wearing black.
3. Anderson played much more accoustic guitar accompaniment than in previous efforts.
4. Steve Howe actually looked like he was enjoying himself. He was even interacting with the other band members.
5. Rick Wakeman. Nothing more need be said.
6. The Accoustic set. This was interesting to listen to, but the boys need to rock. It got kind-of boring.
7. The band played a good cross-section from their albums, but of course nothing from Tempus Fugit and Talk. Surprisingly, they didn't play anything from The Ladder or 90125.
8. The set included Turn of the Century and Wonderous Stories.
9. The band played for at least 2 1/2 hours.
10. Other than the low volume (see below), the sound quality was excellent. Good stereo mix, which you usually don't hear at concerts.
11. It was like a 35th Anniversary tour. A good cross-section of songs, includine Your Move, South Side of the Sky, and And You And I.
12. Very surprised that they played Minddrive from the second Keys to Ascension disk.


The Bad:
1. The volume was incredibly low at the start of the concert. When we arrived, the band had already started (Going For The One). My wife said to me, it looks like it's started, based on the fact that the arena was dark. I said, no way, based on the fact that I didn't hear ripping guitars and pounding drums. She was right. It wasn't until well into the second set that I thought they had pumped the volume to decent rock concert levels.
2. Soon The Light as the second encore. Pretty lame. Given they played Roundabout in the accoustic set, I expected a rocking version of Owner of a Lonely Heart.

I would say that there were about 7 or 8 thousand people out to see them, which is excellent, IMO. Good cross-section of fans, but mostly baby-boomers. People were singing along and dancing, and playing air drums and guitars in their seats. It was great to have 10th row floors, dead centre.

Thanks FA, for giving me the better set of tickets. It was a great birthday gift.

[Dave_G]

Rumor has it that they will play the entire 90125 album and Big Generator, back to back, when they tour with Dream Theatre.

I love Yesmusic but you have to wonder about their management and all. But I guess they need dough like everyone else does.

I would guess it costs a fortune to put on all these shows, pay all the workers, etc., plus being from another country too. It amazes me that they can still do this stuff day in day out.

Dave

[Troy]

Thanks for the post Barry.

How was the Roger Dean designed stage? Overrated?

[BarryL]

Thanks for the post Barry.

How was the Roger Dean designed stage? Overrated?

I don't know how the stage was rated by others. I haven't read any reviews.

It was nice to have something on the stage other than just background pistache. The stage stuff was inflatable, which makes it easy to move, but it looks cheap. There was a kind-of crab-like design overhead with a central four-point star and two claw-like protrusions out the side. The band played underneath this. It was white and black, so it reflected nicely the colours of the lighting as they changed. They lowered this down close to them when they played their accoustic set to make it appear more intimate.

There were also two other inflatables. The one stage left behind Wakeman and Squire looked like a giant inflatable soda can with hands reaching out. The large blob stage right looked like a large blob. They were only vaguely Roger Dean-ish. If he actually designed them, then I think he did a rather lousy job. There were also these large buckets around Alan White's drum kit that looked like they were made of plexiglass. These had lights in them, and looked really neat when they were lit up. During Ritual, they swung forward around the drum kit and there were hydrolics connected to what looked like kick-drum mallots that were pounding these buckets, which I suppose were drums. It wasn't obvious that they were actually making any drum sounds though. At the same time Squire was beating on tympani and Anderson was pounding on cymbals. During this time White was playing a rather lame drum "solo."

The stage design was nice to have, and looked good under the lights. But if you saw them in 1973 or 1974, they had great stages designed by Roger Dean that held the lights used in the show. I guess it's too expensive to lug extra tons of lighting around.

I'm sure there will be a 35th Anniversary DVD coming out after the tour, so if you don't get to see them, you'll have to wait.

BTW, one of the dissappointements I forgot to include in my list is that while Howe was having fun, I thought his playing was the worst that I can remember. It's not that it was bad, but it wasn't up to Steve Howe standards. He seemed to be a bit sloppy too often. However, when he played his accoustic solo, he was stunningly precise without any screeching of strings as he moved up and down the fretboard. It's a minor complaint and didn't distract from the great show. Just an observation.

[Dave_G]

If you log onto nfte.org, they elaborate about the stage, balloon thingies, those drum things, and all.

Too bad I missed them, I guess.

Hell, I've missed so much stuff anyhow I can just keep on adding to the list.

I'm running out of concert energy, when I was younger I never figured that I would be wishy-washy about going to concerts, but I am real wishy-washy these days about them. It's just not that important anymore.

For instance, another fave of mine, Kansas, was just here, but it was a big outdoor festival thing, daytime, hot as heck, etc., so I missed that one too.

But I will go see The Musical Box anytime. They are great.

Regards,

Dave

[Troy]

Thanks for the scoop.

People seem generally underwhelmed by the set. Dean seems washed up to me. BradH and I have discussed this recently when he showed me some recent stuff of his that looked like it was out of a Dr. Seuss book. Nothing wrong with Seuss at all, but I was expecting that Dean loose-tightness and it just aint there anymore.

[BarryL]

If you log onto nfte.org, they elaborate about the stage, balloon thingies, those drum things, and all.

Too bad I missed them, I guess.

Hell, I've missed so much stuff anyhow I can just keep on adding to the list.

I'm running out of concert energy, when I was younger I never figured that I would be wishy-washy about going to concerts, but I am real wishy-washy these days about them. It's just not that important anymore.

For instance, another fave of mine, Kansas, was just here, but it was a big outdoor festival thing, daytime, hot as heck, etc., so I missed that one too.

But I will go see The Musical Box anytime. They are great.

Regards,

Dave

I only go to concerts if I think it's worth the entertainment dollar, if it starts and ends at a reasonable time, and if I can get good seats. I find that a lot of the older players that I know show up in smaller bars and clubs, so the price and proximity are much better. Usually the hours are later though. For example, Kings X is in town on Wednesday. I have to find out what time they play. It's probably about $20 bucks to see them, but if they don't start until 11:00, I'm not interested.

[BarryL]

Thanks for the scoop.

People seem generally underwhelmed by the set. Dean seems washed up to me. BradH and I have discussed this recently when he showed me some recent stuff of his that looked like it was out of a Dr. Seuss book. Nothing wrong with Seuss at all, but I was expecting that Dean loose-tightness and it just aint there anymore.

I bought some bone-china mugs from his website with famous Yes covers etched into cobolt blue images on the mugs. I was disappointed that they were only 10 oz. mugs when they arrives - more like tea cups. But I really like them and I'm glad I bought them. They are unusual and unique, and remind me of...Yes!

I suppose that Relayer was his last really innovative cover. The first Steve Howe solo album was always one of my favorites. Now he's into images that defy gravity (floating rocks, trees, etc.)