So there I am with no ride as of the night before the show. Luckily, the Long Island Railroad has a train bus combo that goes straight to the show. I meet my buddy at Penn Station and to my happy surprise, there he is my a styrofoam cooler all ised up with a 2 liter of Coke and a bottle of Captain Morgans! So it's my turn to carry the cooler, so I walk down the flight of stairs onto the platform and into the nice air-conditioned car.
I walk down the aisle looking for a seat gazing at all the people commuting home for the long weekend. Then the double take-- "That dude looks like Chris Squire." Then, the nice-looking brunette he was sitting with did a double take at my obnoxious tie-dye Yes shirt. It was an odd kind of moment-- the bassist of my hands-down favorite band was commuting out to his own concert with me.
I didn't do the "O my Gods" or anything because it was a crowded commuter train. But the whole ride, there was a bunch of people in the back of the car talking Yes and all the while I am thinking, "Don't insult the new album, don't insult the new album" Luckily, the only negative things that were mentioned were about the oft-disappearing Mr. Wakeman.
Chris got off the stop for Jones Beach and walked off quickly as soon as he realized that he was spotted.
Re: the show. . .The show was good-- Steve ruled the roost again. (I can't wait to see Van Halen if only to see if Eddie can play better than Steve! From the looks of Steve on this tour, I say no!) Yes must ditch the surround sound if only for the sake of the people sitting in the wings. We were 15 feet from the right speaker. It was like listening to headphones with only one ear working. It ruined the show for me. Has anyone else had this problem?
Also, the video was awful, completely out of sync with the people playing. All the big mid-song solos were off camera, including the one I really was looking forward to-- Igor's take on the closing of "I Get Up I Get Down". Chris was on camera for Chris's parts and vice versa. Too bad the audio/video wasn't nearly as good as the band.
Well, there's always Plant/Page in two weeks. Maybe they'll play Yours Is No Disgrace. . . Ya Think?
I just got back half of my pictures from Yestival. I'm waiting for my other roll to be developed. I got double prints of everything & I don't really need the dubs, so....
I'd like to share them with some of you. If you'd like a free picture or two from Yestival, email me with your address & I'll send one or two your way.
Don't expect anything TOO great, some pictures came out better than others. Some are of the band members, some are of the excellent home-made banners that were made by various fans. (There are some SERIOUSLY artistically-talented Yes fans out there!!)
And some are from the NJ Arts Center and Jones Beach gigs.
There's somewhere between 20-30 pictures in all. Maybe more, depending on how the 2nd roll came out.
Like I said, they're not the GREATEST pictures in the world, but what do you want for free? ;-)
I will admit to being partial to anyone who I've had a "side" conversation with in the past, or anyone I've made a tape trade with. After that, first come, first served.
Just a little way of saying thanks to all of you for brightening many of my days this year!
Float your... (couldn't think of anything witty this time)
Eddie J., Yessucker & Pooper (Trooper/Panther)
Very excellent show! Loved hearing Steve play lap steel (er, I mean steel guitar) on Rhythm Of Love, and Yours Is No Disgrace blew me away as I was completely not expecting to hear it. Unfortunately, I knew about Wondrous Stories and CTTE, so although were played excellently, I just didn't have the emotional rush I got, say, when I heard Leaves Of Green in Cleveland last November. I guess that's what I get for not keeping my nose out of chat the Sunday before the concert! :-) Beyond that it was a great show, but someone should tell Steve to chuck the Steinberger and go back to playing the Strat on Owner. I was very impressed to see Steve pull out his ES-5 Switchmaster for Long Distance Runaround and Roundabout (he seemed to play an awful lot of the latter on electric this time, more so than I remember on any other version since he's gone back to using the acoustic for the appropriate places). Steve played one of his solo songs, I'm not sure which one, I thought it was Ram, but I was told it wasn't, and Clap during his solo break. And Chris played the Tempus Fugit and Sound Chaser bits in his solo (I was told at other shows he didn't do that). Show length: 2hrs 26mins.
Thanks to Kathy for hooking me up with Merry from AMY and her husband John, who went out of their way to come out to my house to pick me up and take me home afterwards, including a short trip on the Ohio turnpike (which I reimbursed them for)! There six of us all together, including three other people that John and Merry were taking to the show, and we stopped and had dinner at a Reggie's Restaurant. We missed the first few minutes of Alan Parsons, but I don't think anyone was particularly broken up about that. We had a good time, even if we didn't get to hang out together (because I had purchased my ticket seperately and so was in a different section of the audience) during the performance. For anyone who was at the show, it was me who yelled out OPEN YOUR EYES as Jon was introducing the song.
The Indy show promoters are giving away lawn seats to this sunday's Yes concert at Deer Creek in Indy. They're trying to get a bulletin board up and are giving away tickets to anyone who posts.
Check it out at www.concertline.com
Here's their exact wording...
--------
WIN YES TICKETS!!!
Jul 02, 1998
Check this out:
Post your favorite concert that you saw at Deer Creek on our Message Board and win tickets to see YES on July 12 at Deer Creek. Post your message at the message board by July 9 to win! Everyone that posts wins TWO LAWN seats!
See you on the grassy knoll! -eric
I found this site with Tony's menu, phone #, & town its in.
Music Street Journal has just made a special update. Issue 6 is still the current issue, but a review of last night`s Yes show in Chicago has been added, featuring several photos. The page is graphics intensive, so may take a while to load in. Please bear with it.
Hey guys, remember me. I am that 14 year old who loves Yes and I got to witness their incredible concert here in Chicago on July 9, but my concert experience started a day earlier. While listeneing to the radio late last Sunday night, I had the good fortune to stumble upon a King Biscuit Flower Hour episode featuring a Yes concert from the Relayer tour during 1974. Lo and behold during one of the commercial breaks, they had an advertisement that said Jon Anderson would be meeting fans and sighning autographs at the Best Buy in Chicago. I knew I had to meet this man.
So the next day, I told my friend ,who is also my age, about it and we both got really excited. So July 8 finally came and we arrived at Best Buy. Jon entered a few minutes after we arrived, around six. Probably because of the poor publicity it was not a very long line. It was an informal affair, as people were allowed to sit and chat with Jon and who I think was his wife. Finally my friend and I sat down to talk to this amazing man. He looked surprised to see such young fans exclaiming, "look at these guys!" when he saw us. I told him I was 14 and had been a huge fan of his ever since I heard "Yours is no Disgrace" on the radio last year. He told me that would be their third song of the night at the concert I told him I was very excited about hearing it live.
I had him sign a Tormato songbook I had bought at a guitar
shop the same day. My friend had him sign a Relayer songbook. But I had also brought along something to give to Jon. It was two xeroxed newspaper articles that featured a story on the band my friend and I are in. The story was about a piece that I and another member of our band had composed and then orchestrated, arranged, transposed, and transcribed for our school's entire orchestra. With help from our very gracious music teacher, the song was played with flying colors. It got a standing ovation and articles in both local newspapers. By the way the song was called "Calipto."
So I gave the articles to Jon, "so he could see what some American kids are doing with music." He accepted the articles with a heartfelt thank you. After a few more words, we shook his hand and he signed his promotional, "The More You Know" poster for us.
The concert was the second time i have seen Yes, but I was able to appreciate it more this time around because I have like the band longer. I was able to appreciate "America" this time and I had been unfamiliar with it the last time I saw them. As a result I liked this one better. Steve certainly enjoyed himself more, jumping and kicking although he seemed he got off to a shaky start, he totally ripped on his solo on "Siberian Khatru."
For the rest of the night he was on fire. The crowd stood up through the first three songs, until some people started complaining. Anderson repeatedly thanked the crowd for being so enthusiastic. Yours is no Disgrace blew me away and was probably my all time favorite of the night. I can't describe the chills I got when I get up I get down started during 'Close". It was nirvana. I loved Chris's jumping during his solo. He and Alan are as together as one heart and soul. Truly incredible. Alan's Ritual drum solo was great as well. America was a great show closer and the two encores of ISAGP and Roundabout were real crowd pleasers. Every song was nearly flawless and full of energy. It was the best concert I ever saw. That wraps up this enormous post on my two incredible Yes-filled days. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Just awoke after seeing YES up in Milwaukee Wisconsin at the Marcus Amphitheater last night. I can give give you a warped rundown of the event at this time.
It was a pretty diverse & strange crowd there. Most notable was a guy who brought his entire Yes collectible collection along with him. As soon as he got to his seat he had to pull out all his autographed banners (mostly 90125 & Big Generator) and display them to the crowd as if we would all be impressed and in envy. There was a guy in the 4th row using Binoculars to see the band better. There were a lot of fans in wheelchairs, which was nice as the Marcus was well suited to accomodate them (Good job Marcus!). And there was one fan who looked exactly like Bill Bruford! Did anyone else see that guy??? He was too young to be Bill, just a lookalike.
Alan Parsons came on and was pretty boring, not much engery emerged from that band. The lead singer thought he was FISH from Marillion. And the keyboard player was somewhere other than the stage.
Yes kicked off the show great. I thought the the set list was great, the overall sound & performance was great, & Squire's jacket was great!!! It was a very good time for all!! Although, I would have to say sitting in the 4th row on Squire's side the DTS Surround sound wasn't very noticable, and when it was, it was kind of annoying. Expecially during Steve's Yours is no Disgrace solos. However, they did a fantastic version of that piece and was a welcome addition to the set.
Also sitting on the right side of the stage I got to watch Billy Sherwood in action. Does anyone know why he is on stage? While his playing was very good, he only seemed needed to reproduce Rabin's OOTLH solo, and then the rest of the time he could have been more usefull taking a nap, or buying more jewlery for his overexcited girlfriend in the front row. As there were no Jane Anderson sightings at this show, Billy had his wife or girlfriend jumping up & down the entire show right in front of him. She was also mouthing I-LOVE-YOU to Billy half the show (with Billy talking and smiling at her all night too) one has to wonder why Billy wore those tight spandex pants that showed off his fat thighs. She should clean him him a bit better, he didn't even look like he took a shower that day. It was disgusting! :-) When I saw YES last October, Jane Anderson was sitting a few seats from me and pretty much acted the same way. While Billy's girlfriend is very good looking and I'm sure very nice, I prefer Jane Anderson's bouncing compared with Billy's girlfriend durring this show.
The funniest part of the show was durring the last verse of "And You & I" when Jon sings with Steve at the very end. A mosquito attacked Jon and flew right into his eye! It was very noticable, as Jon started rubbing his eye and lost track of the song. Steve & Jon had to repeat the ending! Jon laughed it off and the laughter was shared with the audience.
Now, during the first leg of the US tour, I totally trashed Igor on his performance, but this time I would have to say I was more impressed. Most impressive was his solo durring CTTE, not the Church organ part, but the following solo. Although, my wife started talking to me durring the solo that I sooooo wanted to hear, I still managed to enjoy it and was very impressed. (My wife was not however impressed with me or Igor) Which brings up why did YES choose to play Wonderous Stories? That was the only song that didn't fair well that night. How can you attempt to play that without Rick's beautiful keyboard playing? That's the best part of the song!!!
Highlights of the show were Heart of the Sunrise, Your is no Disgrace, And You & I, Close to The Edge, and the Mosquitoe who mind melded with Jon Anderson. It was a GREAT show, let's hope for many more!!!
In a recent article in DETAILS magazine about CMC RECORDS, label president TOM LIPSKY tell the story of how he asked for a radio single and got the 19 minn THAT THAT Is, a demand to release KEYS II, a six thousand dollar dinner because two members (billy and rick were not there) had a who could buy the most expensive bottle of wine contest and that the album sold a total of 59,000 (which is actually worse than I've seen, which was around 75,000).
"I don't think they (YES) were trying to screw the label, it just the way they are. The have not adjusted their perspective based on the current market. The continue to live in the clouds."
This is from the Pulse magazine e-zine:
What do the following films have in common: 'BUFFALO 66,'
actor-director Vincent Gallo's dark comedy of domestic manners;
'ARMAGEDDON,' producer Jerry Bruckheimer's flacid millenarian blockbuster; and 'ANASTASIA,' the full-length turn-of-the-century period-musical from Fox's animation subsidiary? All feature music by current or former members of the progressive rock group Yes. In the case of 'Anastasia,' it's a straightforward production gig for Trevor Horn, who filled in for vocalist John Anderson on one Yes album ('Drama') and who is best know for his work with the Art of Noise and Frankie Goes to Hollywood; Horn produced the
'Anastasia' song "In the Beginning" sung by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis. (Just say no.) Now, almost the full 'Armageddon' music soundtrack was composed by guitarist Trevor Rabin, who joined Yes for the '90125' album (which Horn produced).
Thankfully, Rabin's score is fairly free of the unintentionally comical finger-mangling pyrotechnics that distinguished
his contribution to the 'Twister' score last summer. (Instead, it apes the saccharine ambience of 'Titanic.') Given that 'Buffalo 66' premieres today, there's no taking full account of the role Yes plays in the film, but if the trailer is any indication, the dingy drama is a veritable prog fest. (Apparently King Crimson also graces the score.) The entire advance trailer to the film unfolds to the blaring accompaniment of the Yes song "Mood for a Day" from the 'Fragile' album, to whose skewed meter and stop-and-start syncopation it is tightly edited. Sure, there's undoubtedly a heavy dose of retro camp hipness at play here. But the fact is that in the dark of the theater, watching Gallo fight it out with his parents and costar Christina Ricci, one can't help but marvel at the sheer power of Yes bassist Chris Squire, whose subsonic virtuosity seems to rattle the screen.>>
Apparently the writer of this article doesn't have his Yesfacts down. The song being played is "Heart of the Sunrise" not "Mood for a Day". Any Yesfan knows Chris doesn't play on "Mood for a Day" all you have to be able to do is read the liner notes. Duh.
Just thought you might like to hear what MOJO magazine had to say about "Somethings Coming", (Or "Beyond & Before which is the same album). The reviewer was John Bungy.
"There's a view that the band's story only really started with the arrival of Steve Howe for "The Yes Album". The raw BBC tapes of "Somethings Coming" serve as a reminder that most of the elements of the sound were already in place: fizzing energy, muso virtuosity, comtempt for a 4/4 backbeat. What were in short supply were hit tunes - and progging up the likes of "Somethings Coming" from "West Side Story" was a pretty bizzare solution. There is, though, enough technoflash sparking here to suggest that the young YES as a support act must have scared the loons (pants) off the less dextrous behemoths of the day.
This is my first post to amy and I just heard from a very reliable source that yes will be recording one of their show's in DTS for a laserdisc release by Image Entertainment later this year. As you know things can change at any time but I received this information directly from someone at Image. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Just heard from a friend who works at Tower Records that Yes will be doing an autograph signing at Tower in Westwood sometime next week. He didn't know the exact date, but I'll post it as soon as I find out.
Surround-sound barely noticable (where I was sitting). Steve played Classical Gas. A Jr. high school choir joined them onstage for No Way We Can Lose...good idea, bad results. Chris has a fat ass. So does Billy. Jon was...well, ...so Jon! Close To The Edge was perfect. I cried. Wond'rous Stories was wond'rous. Trevor Rabin was where he belonged...in the audience! John Tesh was backstage! He wore a baseball cap backwards. No sign of Sherman Hemsley. Jane Anderson sat in front of me. Igor is cute and talented! The men's room was very crowded during Open Your Eyes. Steve wore the greatest psychedelic jacket I've ever seen!
It was wonderful.
From Steve (TheAncient)
[Someone said:] "A Jr. high school choir joined them onstage for No Way We Can Lose...good idea, bad results."
I thought this was great!!!!!!!! The part that disappointed me was I realized just how derivative of Saving My Heart this was.... I also really liked that Steve was playing a Steinberger for this, the guitar least likely to go out of tune....
Yes the school choir did sing at the Yes LA show!!!
The kids were all dressed up in their choir outfits, and at first seemed a bit shy of being in front of such a large audience, but just when I thought they would not pull through, they began belting out all the lyrics of No Way We Can Lose with Jon Anderson. They were great! The audience loved them too, and gave them a loud standing ovation!!!!
From KC McBride: Yup, saw it, it was GREAT!! The kids were really great - Jon stood up behind them and sang along.
=============================
This item ran in the Los Angeles Times of 7/23/98:
Millikan Choir to Sing with Rock Group Yes
About 60 members of the Millikan Middle School choir will perform in front of an estimated crowd of 15,000 Friday when they sing with the pop group Yes at the Universal Amphitheatre.
Yes, whose most noteworthy hit was "Owner of a Lonely Heart", will be playing with the Alan Parsons Project beginning at 7:15 pm.
"I think this is the first time our music department has scored a hit in working with the stars", said Leo Krubsack, the Millikan Choir Director. "For a lot of the kids, this is going to be their first concert...and they get to be in it".
The middle school students will perform "No Way We Can Lose" from Yes' latest album "Open Your Eyes".
"It's about positive living, about being good to everyone", Kurbsack said. "Their music is usually the happy-to-have-you-on-the-planet kind".
Millikan choir has been performing Yes tunes for the three years that Krubsack has taught music at the middle schoo, he said.
After sending the members of Yes a tape of the choir performing "No Way We Can Lose", Krubsack said lead singer Jon Anderson called to say that he was very impressed.
The two began conversing and Anderson asked if the choir would like to perform in concert with the band, Krubsack said. "Of course we said Yes".
Krubsack immediately began calling and assembling the choir members, who are on summer vacation.
"I'm really excited because my parents are big fans and I really know their stuff" said Juliett Rivas, who just finished the 8th grade. "Once I get onstage, I'll probably see all the people and get a little nervous, but right now, I'm just really excited". -MICHAEL BAKER
I finally got to hear the VH-1 program.... :-)
My thoughts on it...
I thought Roundabout was very well played...especially Igor and Steve. For a change, I could barely hear Chris!!! Must be that damn TV broadcast compression. Anyone going to be able to get an uncompressed copy of this?
Owner was fine. Billy seemed nervous and uncomfortable with the solo, which is a shame, because he did that solo much better in Boston and CT this summer. He looked like he almost lost his footing and his fingering...it sounded ok, but he can do better.
A few people have criticized Steve's jam at the end of Owner...I thought it was excellent. He played hard, and fast, and with great spirit, and had ME jumping! And...bumnotes??? Oh, puhleeeze!!! That is called a jazz solo!!! There are no bum notes...just challenges on howe to resolve what you play, and Steve met all such challenges with style!!!!! It was a nice and fresh update on the song, just like Rick's solo was on Owner, during the Union tour. In fact, Steve's solo was loosely based around the ideas that Rick played during the Union tour.
The interview segments were too brief and disjointed (with purpose...LOL ). Too bad Chris did not show up for that....and too bad we did not hear from either Alan or Steve, who were sitting right there. But, it was fun to hear Jon talk, even though you could tell they edited out about 90% of what he probably said.
Final note: My soon-to-be-ten year old daughter, Amelia, laughed when she saw Jon's beard. Her (instant?) comment (kharma?) was "I like Jon's beard, but....IT DOES NOT GO WITH HIS VOICE!!!" LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!
(My VCR actually recorded it in my absence!!! Another high tech programming challenge met!!!!
Obviously a predictible play list...2 seventies radio hits, and their one and only numero uno hit...and not enough time for more...oh well...good national exposure in any case.
I would have liked to see OYE shown, too...but, they needed MORE TIME!!!Concert photos copyright ©1997 Roxi Cook
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