Vol 5. No. 7 - April 1998 - Concerts
Yes News 4/98 | Alan | Chris | Jon | Rick | Steve | Yestival
By Brian Neeson
Friday 27th February - Newcastle
Unfortunately due to personal circumstances, Roy did not make the trip, so my wife Jean and I collect a friend at the bus station, have lunch and head for the venue City Hall.
They soundcheck "Rhythm of Love" (without Steve) then "Siberian Khatru" when he arrives. City Hall is a very small, intimate venue (estimate 1800 seats) where the audience quite literally is on top of the band. The edge of the balcony actually overhangs the side of the stage. This would be ideal for video taping, but no-one appeared to do so.
Jean and I have front row seats immediately below Jon.
The set is identical to the latter end of the US tour - i.e. "From the Balcony" version. Steve varies his solo a little as usual. Tonight it is "Classical Gas", "Mood for a Day", "Masquerade", and "Clap".
Jon introduces "And You and I" in the same manner as in USA - Eddie Offord, Magic Tea, plus "I remember singing this song here in City Hall 20 years...over 20 years ago." The performance is magical. At the conclusion the audience gives a lo.....oooong standing ovation, and I swear there is tear in Jon's eye.
In some of the songs, like "Heart of the Sunrise", Igor is now adding his own little embellishments. There even seems to an additional penultimate note on the repeated short piano solo, with which he struggled at the beginning of the tour.
"Open Your Eyes" is still followed by the Beatle Bow; "We're still hoping to make Top of the Pops," says Jon. Little did he know that the very show he was gently digging, celebrated his birthday last year - TWICE! In UK celebrating a birthday twice, was previously an honour only bestowed on Her Majesty.
The atmosphere generated by the audience throughout the show is intense, expectant, and full of vivid gratitude that their expectations are being met.
At the end of "Revealing Science of God", as the stage darkens the band are motionless, and the audience are going crazy, I think we are where every Yes fan wishes they were at that moment. I know we are fortunate to be here, and think of those who cannot get to see a show.
A short drive home (3 1/2 hours). The last half hour is in the snow, but we get home safe.
Saturday 28th February - Glasgow
We arrive at the venue very early, hoping to hear the soundcheck. This is truly a beautiful theatre, and as we arrive one of the roadcrew is shooting some video footage of the "Armadillo".
We meet Alan and talk to him backstage. He is kind and tolerant as usual.
They soundcheck....wait for it......."Wonderous Stories"!!! It sounded OK, but unfortunately it is not included in the set. The set is exactly the same as Newcastle, except "Corkscrew" replaces "Classical Gas".
Jon jokes that the Glasgow Apollo has changed a lot since he was last here. The Armadillo is a state-of-the art high amenity facility. The Apollo was a 3000 seat run-down movie theatre (rather like the Beacon in NYC), but renowned for it's remarkable atmosphere. Rick always named the Apollo his favourite UK venue. It was demolished around 12 years ago.
The audience is absolutely silent during Steve's acoustic solo, apart from "Clap" of course. He loves that type of audience appreciation, and gets chatty during his intros. "It's great to be back in Scotland,....and we'll be back again in April at Edinburgh," is met with a chorus of jeers. (You see there is great rivalry between the inhabitants of our two great cities, Edinburgh is the capital, but Glasgow is the larger city, Edinburgh has a nice castle, Glasgow has the better football team(s?).)
"No, No.." laughs Steve "I'm just telling you, because I would like you to be there". We will be, Steve!
Introducing "Clap" Steve says "Here's the song most of you want to hear." A wag in the audience screams "Gaun Yersel, Steve". Roughly translated from the Glasgow colloquial, this means "Fine Choice, proceed with vigour, Steve."
Tonight we are third row, but the seating is set back from the stage, so it seems more like sixth row. As I am usually close to the stage, I don't get the best sound, so tend not to comment too much on that, but it "feels" different tonight. Igor's mix is very prominent, but Billy is barely audible in parts.
"Revealing Science of God" brought about the funniest moment in the tour for me so far. Early in the song Jon missed his cue. The band played on, and added a few bars to let Jon cue back in.
He cued in on "I ventured to talk, but I never lost my place" A few laughs from the audience at the timing of the lyric, then just a few lines later.
"What happened to this song, we once knew so well. Did we forget..." brought ironic applause throughout the theatre. Jon and the rest of the band also saw the funny side. Sometimes I find that little things like that make a show even more memorable. The venue has a large stage, and Chris covers every inch during his solo, playing to the audience adulation, and milking every bit of attention.
Alan does his job perfectly as usual. A gentleman, a fine musician. His role both on and off-stage seems to be generally under-stated. He seems to be the diplomat in the band. He clearly has strong inter-personal skills, dealing comfortably both with media, and inquisitive fans (like me) who try not to impose, but sometimes feel later, that perhaps they did.
The audience rocks to "All Good People", "Roundabout", and "Starship Trooper", but as the seats are set back a little, it lacks a little ....something?? Of course the show was wonderful, but it did not generate the same audience excitement as Newcastle.
Sunday 1st March - Nottingham
We arrive at the venue one hour before the scheduled start, and almost miss the beginning. It is billed to start at 7.45, but as tour veterans we know it will be 8pm. Wrong!!! It starts just after 7.45, and I get to my seat with the band already on stage. As I am front row (again! - thanks Brian V) I have to duck my head as I make my way to my seat just as "Firebird Suite" leads into "SK". The Royal Concert Hall is very like the Armadillo inside the auditorium, perhaps not so aesthetically pleasing on the outside. Of the four songs from new albums which I have seen performed on the tour ("Open Your Eyes", "From the Balcony", "No Way We Can Lose", & "Children of Light"), the one I most treasure is "Children of Light". The Nottingham audience did not get to hear this song.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Shoes (sp?), Steve's engineer tuning the Vachalia, and I know "Your Move" is not due yet.
I turn to a friend 5 rows back between songs and shout "Vachalia". She can't hear me, but I know what's coming, and don't want to spoil it for the others, so I keep shouting "Vachalia". She finally gets it, and Jon announces "Wonderous Stories".
This is a natural song for them to sing in UK. It was by far their biggest hit single, and I am delighted they played it, but I would have preferred "From the Balcony" or "rhythm of Love" dropped.
As you might expect the WS performance was a little rusty, but I hope they keep it in. It will get better.
Steve only plays three songs in his solo tonight... "Classical Gas", "Mood for a Day", and "Clap", so this was the shortest set of the tour so far that I have attended (9 shows).
Still the quality was impeccable as usual.
During "RSoG" Jon and Chris exchange smiles as they approach the flub section from the previous night, but Jon is perfect tonight. His voice is one of the highlights of the tour for me. We know Soon was dropped due to worries about the strain on his voice, but every night he seems to comfortably accommodate the vocal demands of each song.
I travel home on Monday, just in time to catch The Simpsons. Lisa is playing "Classical Gas", and my very tolerant wife who is not really a Yesfan says "Steve played that on Friday"....Is she slowly converting....?
Regards, Brian
From: uli@tallowcross.uni-frankfurt.de (Uli Zappe) (4/6)
I've just heard that the concert in Ravensburg (Germany) on Sunday was canceled due to illness. The concert in Munich, the day before, was shortened in exactly the same way that someone here had already posted regarding another date (can't remember which one): no "From the Balcony" and "Revealing Science of God", concert began early, Yes rushed away in a hurry after the 2:15 concert...
Anybody knows what's going on?
From: Jeff (jdliss@dog.email.ne.jp) - April 12
Short review:
I came to this show on a vacation in Europe (I'm in Amsterdam as I write this -- whew! always hazy here for some reason) as a replacement for missing the Projekct 2 / BLUE show in Tokyo the other day. I was right up front and was deafened by Squire's monitor. Being so close in such a small theater (1500 people maybe, sold out) was an odd experience. I became very casual about being so close to Jon and Chris, things were so relaxed. Seeing an arena show from afar, especially with Yes, you have this otherworldly feeling about the sounds coming from the stage. But being able to see the works so well had a weird effect on me and I was very mellow about exchanging eye contact with the band and expressing pleasure in the music. Trying to introduce "America", I told Jon I was "from America" and he said "What?" and put the mic in my face. There was not the expected fluttering in my stomach as I repeated the message into the mic. And he was like, "He's from America! And this song is called.. America!"
As I said, I was blown away by Chris is more ways than one; Steve was fairly subdued most of the show and impervious to Chris' attempts to rile him. Chris was even more wild and theatrical than I expected from people's reports, and I was even more shocked by the strong accents that he played, strumming and pounding away, lurching. I do have a few criticisms, I guess -- hamming is good until the music suffers, and it did in a couple of places. At least he played while strutting and acting out at the beginning of "Heart of the Sunrise" -- I don't like it when he just stands there and makes you wait. But, never having seen the "Sound Chaser" part of "Whitefish" I was disappointed that instead of playing it for a while, he very quickly just starting dramatically hitting notes in time with pounds from Alan (whose solo was very impressive). My oldest brother often reminisces about the improvisational performances of "The Fish" on the Drama tour as opposed to the "greatest hits" (i.e. Tempus Fugit/ Sound Chaser) that began on the 90125 tour. Have to agree. Although when he did actually play it right for a few bars I was amazed by the wacky fingering of the main riff there. But anyway Squire was 95% amazing and wonderful and despite the fact that my perception of the show was too focused on him for aural and visual reasons, I wouldn't trade it. Though if I were to see another show I'd probably take a few steps back.
The setlist was as usual of late, the variables being: they did Heart of the Sunrise, Wonderous Stories, nothing but "OPEN YOUR EYES" from OPEN YOUR EYES, and certainly no Children of Light. Steve did Mood for a Day -- Vivaldi (Winter) -- a song he introduced as "Wendy and ?" (I could probably find the proper name on a setlist) -- and Clap. He introduced an thanked the maker of the guitar who is from the Eindhoven area (of the Netherlands).
Jon struck me as a bit glib towards the beginning but more sincere with RSoG. Folks near me were singing well but too loud -- and Jon encouraged them to "sing along" so I couldn't really go against it. Rhythm of Love blew me away and I thought Igor should have gotten a solo during Owner as Rick did on the Union tour. He did do a short solo before Long Distance Runaround, all on piano. OPEN YOUR EYES came across very well. Love that song, no judgment on the rest of the album yet.
Fun was had by all! Thanks to my Dutch friends for holding my place in
line -- the vanguard! Peace!
By Brian Neeson - April 21
Birmingham Thursday 16th April
I arrive in Birmingham around 3 hours before the show, and meet Declan and his fiancee in an Irish pub O'Neills, just along from Symphony Hall. It has a very nice interior, looks a bit of a carbuncle on the outside. (Symphony Hall was nice too!) My seat is third row in front of Chris, but my old friend Simon Barrow has a front row no-show and I get to change my seat. The set is exactly the same as previous shows. "From the Balcony" which had been dropped in recent shows is back, or as the Birmingham Post reporter called it next day "New State of Mind". Are there any other two songs by Yes that end with the same four words?
They drop the Beatle Bow...when did it start, New York? "Open Your Eyes" is now one of the highlights of the show, and Jon explains the bow is dropped because they did not get the invitation to Top of The Pops.
The previous show I attended was Hamburg 3 weeks previously, and they seemed to lack energy. Well It's back! Billy is suffering from a cold now (it was Jon in Germany), but it does not show on stage. He battles on professionally, and even manages smiles of appreciation to the audience throughout the performance.
Igor seems to be getting better all the time. He plays Rick's parts apparently perfectly, and even with improvisation in places. More and more people are saying he deserves to be given a permanent place in the band. I have to admit it would be interesting to see what creativity he might bring to the next Yes album.
Steve is also back to his old self. He seemed not 100% fit in Hamburg (maybe he had Jon's cold), but tonight he seems to be much happier. He has changed his guitar on "Roundabout" and "Long Distance Runaround" to the blond Jumbo Gibson. I don't recall seeing it on previous gigs. (Happy to be corrected, though!) He starts off "Roundabout" acoustically as normal, reverts to semi-acoustic also as normal, but the final notes are on the blond semi-acoustic, rather than acoustic as in previous shows. I am led to believe this could have been the first gig on this tour that he has used this guitar judging by the look on Chris's face when he first saw it. Of course we have seen it on previous tours. The guitar sound on these songs was superb, and I would be surprised if he changes again.
Jon encourages the audience to get up and do the Birmingham Boogie, or the Midlands Mambo, or the Wolverhampton Wanderer. No opportunity necessary, no encouragement needed, and the audience rocks and sings along to "All Good People". A very nice concert! The departing audience actually see Billy leaving the theatre, as they are leaving. Probably going to bed with a Hot Toddy, but he still stopped to sign autographs as he made his way out of Symphony Hall.
Edinburgh Friday 17th April
I'm still recovering. What a show! The energy coming from the audience is unbelievable. I have not experienced a Yes audience like this for over 20 years. The whole Playhouse audience was on its feet as Firebird Suite built to a crescendo, the huge Yes curtain went up, and as the band appeared the place just exploded, and it stayed like that all the way through "Siberian Khatru."
The momentum remained even through "Rhythm of Love". Left of centre aisle is still rocking as we go into "America", but the right side is flagging, and they have to eventually sit down to accommodate those who wish to enjoy in comfort. The first few rows on the left wait to be told to sit by the bouncers before they actually oblige. (Yes, I am on the left side!! Seventh front row in 12 shows).
It seems that EVERY song gets a standing ovation. Usually you can pick a song or two that get more appreciation from the audience, but not tonight. The band are smiling, laughing, shaking their heads in wonder during the breaks between songs. Jon occasionally gets a word in when the 2000+ Yesmad Scots finally shut up. We even get two stage invaders, but unlike Boston this couple leave the stage of their own accord.
Billy's cold is now apparent, and he is coughing between songs. One cough is caught by the mike, and Jon asks him for an encore, and he obliges. Steve introduces two new set additions in his solo. He keeps the blond Gibson for "Long Distance Runaround" and "Roundabout". Last night's Midlands Mambo is tonight's Scottish Fling, and the Beatle Bow comes back.
I arranged a party after the show, and showed some videos, and listened to some tapes from the tour with a group of friends in the relaxed ambiance of a typical Scottish hostelry The Cafe Royale. The pub management had done us proud with their facilities, huge TV screen, and sound system connected up to both audio and video systems.
It was a delight and a surprise to both my guests and myself when Alan and Chris appeared for the party. Both had said they would try to come along, but I was still amazed that they did. Chris appeared first, and spent over an hour with us, happily discussing "old" concerts. He was pressed by some of the guests about the Edinburgh show "was it the best of the tour?". He described it as one of the best. Alan then joined us, absolutely relaxed and comfortable in a totally "fan" environment.
Great show...great party...beautiful weather!..on to Liverpool.
Liverpool - Sunday 18th April
Edinburgh is a hard act to follow, and Liverpool doesn't quite make it. Again a very accomplished performance. Jon has more time and silence tonight between songs, and brings in a few Beatles references, including Alan's membership of the Plastic Ono Band, and his playing on "Imagine". He describes Liverpool as the birthplace of modern rock and roll. He also tells us that he feels like Ken Dodd up there on stage in the Empire. This attracts some humorous but fairly cruel comments from the audience about the
taxman. The audience is generally enthusiastic, but strangely they all sit down for "Starship Trooper". No set changes, and "Open Your Eyes" is brilliant.
Regards, Brian
From: Stephen Lightbody (sfl@psy.gla.ac.uk) - April 19
Still a bit knocked out from the Edinburgh show on Friday. Having seen the band a couple of months ago in Glasgow, I was pretty sure not much could top it, but the atmosphere in the Playhouse on Friday was immense.
And for those who attended Brian Neeson's aftershow party in the Cafe Royale, the biggest surprise was yet to come. While ordering at the bar I became aware of a large figure standing next to me asking where Brian's party was. Chris Squire is indeed bigger in real life than he seems!
Chris seemed happy to chat to the assembled fans, sign autographs and pose for photos, bursting enthusiastically into voice when "Man in the Moon" came on the speakers. He stayed and chatted for over an hour, and seemed delighted--as we all were--when Alan White appeared through the door. Alan seemed in great spirits and again seemed happy to chat.
Still a bit knocked out by the whole thing. I'd write more but I've a train to catch and that's Brian's prerogative anyway. Before I go I'd like to thank Brian for organising the party. I know I was grinning all the way back to Glasgow. It was also good to meet Donald, John and Brian's wife Jean amongst others at the party - and no I don't grudge Chris that almost full packet of Marlboro Lights!
As someone once said (kind of) 'If you book it they will come'. Cheers again Brian for the chance to meet my favourite rhythm section.
Vol 5. No. 7 - April 1998 - Alan White
Concerts | Yes News 4/98 | Chris | Jon | Rick | Steve | Yestival
From: Sven Kardelke (kardelke@nwn.de) - April 6
Have a look at the latest issue of KUNO Online featuring an exclusive interview with Alan White of YES.
Also two FISH interviews to explore...
KUNO Online: http://schulen.nordwest.net/kuno
Sven Kardelke
Editor
Date: 22nd March 1998
Place: CCH, Hamburg, Germany
Your latest album "Open Your Eyes" is very song-orientated, poppy in a way. Is this the new direction YES will take or is it just a reflection of the moment?
It's very poppy, because YES is a very strange animal. We'd decide to do something as very left-field or if the moment is right and the song are sounding like that, it is time for the band to do that. We change and do what does fit for the moment. So initially, this album was set out to be a "Chris Squire Experiment" album. Basically, the songs started sounding really good, and then everyone in the band got involved. Then it changed into a YES album. So it started out as another Chris Squire album, but turned into YES. The band however is thinking about the next album and this could be completely different - which is longer songs and more intrigued kind of concept stuff.
Just a few weeks before "Open Your Eyes", "Keys To Ascension 2" was released
which is much more into progressive music. Many fans regard "Mind Drive" as the best YES piece of music since "Awaken". Why is this excellent material actually the b-side of a live-recording and didn't make it into a real YES album?
We went through a period of time when Rick got back. He was back in the band, in the "classic" line-up. And we did this concert in San Louis Obispo which was well recorded. We did three nights there and got great recordings of all of the material with Rick back in the fold, as it were. Meanwhile, we were there for about a month and we had a studio that was opposite the concert theatre. So we rehearsed with our own studio set-up in there and just started creating all this other music that was the new side of YES. So we decided to split up the concert into first and second volume and then put all this new material of the b-side of the album. It just worked out good for us. "Mind Drive" was one of the later kind of things we actually did. A lot of people actually like that and we got lots of requests on the Internet to play it and as a possibility we might be playing it.
So the impression is wrong that the band wanted to hide this material?
No, not really. We don't want to hide material. YES is a kind of machine that keeps writing music all the time. In fact, we are already starting to write the next album. We just carry on into the future a bit more.
What is true about this commitment the band allegedly made in 1974 that if "the world is still together" you would reunite in 1995 to continue "making music into the 21. century"?
(laughs) Yeah, it's an old story. We'd all had a few beers or some glasses of wine after a concert one time. We wrote down on a handkerchief in some restaurant years and years ago that we be together still in the year 2000. It's part of the publicity thing. The handkerchief still exists. I don't know who has it, though. But we plan to take this band - currently with Igor Khoroshev playing keyboards and Billy Sherwood playing second guitar and vocals - probably into the next century, yes.
It almost seems to be a kind of taboo as no official statement ever was made by the band, but could you please tell us shortly why Rick Wakeman has left the band again?
Rick didn't leave, he is still in the band all this time. I think, everybody who has ever been in YES is still in the band, because in this band they just go away for a while and then come back on a different day. I think, he decided that at this moment in his life he didn't want to do any long tours, American tours where you are away for two months at a time. Or like now we are in Europe for two and a half months. It's difficult to do that and I don't think he was prepared for that at this time in his life. In the future he might change his mind.
So it has nothing to do with...
... you know, obviously there are some politics involved and business matters and stuff like that. It's not for me to get into that kind of stuff, but that did influence to a degree. But at the same time I really think the basic thing was he didn't want to tour a lot, in big portions like we're doing right now, because this is a fairly long tour we're doing.
You are one of the extremely very few YES members who have never left the band so far.
No, I haven't done that. Surprising, isn't it? Chris and myself have been in the band since I joined in 1972, that's for sure. We've been the only members who have been in continuously since that point. Prior to that of course you had Bill Bruford and another set-up. And the year before I joined, Rick joined, the year before that Steve joined. So it was three years in a row people changed. And then that band stayed together for quite a long time through into the very early Eighties or late Seventies.
Does it still matter to you for the chemistry of the band what people are in?
To a degree it's exciting, because you always get the influence of a new musician joining, but the usual standard of every musician who's ever been in YES is pretty high. So there is no problem really in that department. It's exciting for a while, the band takes on a different face for a while. Coming into the Nineties, when we all played together on the "Union" tour, it was again refreshing, because you had the aspect of both sides of the band. That was a great tour to do. Now it's a different face, and we are basically moving forward the thought of creating an album after we'd have finished this whole year of touring.
Any plans of when it is going to be released?
It's hard to say right now, because they have us touring South America
after we've finished Europe and Mexico. We only have about ten days off
and then we'll start another American tour for two months. So we did 50
shows in America before Christmas, we're doing about 48 shows in Europe
and then we're doing another 50 shows in America when we get back. So we
are a little busy to put an album together! But I have a portable midi-studio
on the road, so we could at least make blueprints of certain songs. It's
a way of doing that and eventually we will all get together and probably
rehearse for about a month. And then put down the new album - maybe early
next year re
