YES in Toronto - June 18, 1998
From Dave Gallant dave@clo.com) June 18, 1998
I'll make this quick to get the info out there ASAP.
Parsons Set List:
****************
Doctor Tarr & Professor Feather
Wouldn't Want To Be Like You
Turn It Up
Time
Prime Time
Can't Look Down
Cloudbreak
Brother Up In Heaven
Higher Ground
Don't Answer Me
Sirius / Eye In The Sky
Games People Play
Synopsis: Not bad, although it took the crowd 30 mins to get into it. Parsons (ever the producer) kept giving instructions to the sound guy. Best pop of the night came when Ian Bairnson (guitarist) dedicated Brother Up In Heaven to a deceased cousin.
YES Set List:
************
Siberian Khatru
Rhythm Of Love
America
Open Your Eyes
And You And I
Heart Of The Sunrise
Leaves Of Green
Wondrous Stories
Long Distance Runaround
Owner Of A Lonely Heart
Close To The Edge
All Good People
Roundabout
Yours Is No Disgrace
That's it! The guys were having a great time. A few observations:
* No solos to speak of.
* CTTE a little rough, but worth it!
* Chris wore a full length vest with the *other* YES logo on the back.
* Igor's hair is longer, and he's looking more like 1980 Geoff all the time!
* Jon was sporting a little beard.
There ya have it!
Parc des IslYes
From: antoniu@macs.ee.mcgill.ca (Edward Antoniu) June 20, 1998
6:35 pm EDT. I get down into the McGill subway station. The clock displays 0:00. This is where it really starts. In this good country. If it weren't for Toronto.
6:45pm EDT. I get up at the Ile de Ste. Helene metro station. Outside the station, I soon spot a black Talk cap. Chris and his friends are already there. We spend some minutes chatting and spotting various Yes T-shirts in the crowd outside the station. I even spot an Okoume T-shirt. Yet we go for the show at about 7:30pm EDT at a time when Alan Parsons Project already hit the stage. It's nice to see so many APP fans gathered in the Parc. Chris spots a guy who looks like a cross between Geoff Downes and Billy Sherwood behind me.
8:30pm EDT. APP do an encore with "Eye in the Sky". Then, we start getting closer to the stage. We stop perhaps at 25-30m. Later on, we advance we retrace our stories when some guy who reached near us has problems with his verticality and his friends have problems keeping him as vertically as they can too. I think this was during "America".
8:45pm EDT The sound system goes Stravinski after having gone the hidden track on the CD. We spot Igor Khoroshev, and then Jon accompanying Jane to the left of the stage. Alan, Steve, Chris, and Billy take their respective places and the band attack "Siberian Khatru".
Chris Squire wears a long black gown embroidered with the YesYears era Yes logo at the back bottom, on his stage outfit from the last winter's tour. And it also seems to me one of his roadies had packed his socks. His stage show is a bit simplified from the last tour, and I guess this is good, as to not fall into sort of clownery. Gone is the 'widespread arms, eagle wings-like' moment during Alan's drum solo. By the way, there were solos tonight. Chris' bass solo seemed improved to me, compared to the last winter. As far as I could see, he alternated the white with the green bass.
Their initial interaction onstage already suggests me sort of ProYests 1 (Anderson/Howe/Khoroshev) and 2 (Squire/Sherwood/White) in the Crimson approach to prog research and development. Steve Howe looks insecure, if not annoyed, by interaction with Chris Squire. He strongly shakes his head and 'combs' his hair with his hands after such a moment. The next thing I can see is someone left of the stage using a towel on Howe's head. Steve is sport style tonight, all shiny flying dark blue, yet his hopping doesn't have the fire of his most intense moments. His solo is 'The Clap' after a warming up intro.
Jon, opaque flying light purple shirt and white pants, joins Steve and they do a bit of 'Ritual' together. Jon's voice doesn't seem top form during the first part yet he masters it in the second. This seems to be in accordance with the relevant quote on his voice in Tim Morse's YesStories. When not singing, Jon plays percussion (often together with Igor), a keyboard, and an acoustic guitar.
At the beginning of 'Long Distance Runaround', Steve appears wearing a huge sombrero. During the encore he appears with that yellow jacket that reminds of Ian Anderson's jacket circa 'Little Light Music' era.
Igor, white shirt and black pants, appears much more involved in the stage act, if not a bit of a star himself, already, than during the last winter's tour. His stage act is a cross between ballet, master of ceremonies, and Peter Pan. His solo is jazzy with a classic touch, perhaps with hints at Moraz, Emerson, and Rachmaninov.
Billy's spot is the guitar solo in "Owner of a Lonely Heart", which, tonight was the first encore instead of being in the main set list. The set list is the one from the last night's show in Toronto, with changes in the ordering. "Yours Is No Disgrace" was part of the main set tonight, and "Roundabout" was the second, and, unfortunately, last encore.
Chris Squire interacts with all the other members of the band in order to provide good timing of chords. There are moments when all of them, except maybe Alan White, can be seen (and even heard :) singing). At a certain moment, moment, moment, he just looked to the right at Igor, and the latter promptly brought in his vocal contribution that was needed as well.
It is perhaps halfway through the concert when it smells like burn around me. Perhaps this could be corroborated with what Adam Daudrich in Ottawa saw and heard on TV. Chris Tsirbas, who sees Yes live for the first time in his lifetime, asks me 'just don't sing' during 'Close to the Edge'. We had some fun singing during 'Rhythm of Love' and 'Open Your Eyes' and we 'lip-synched' for the remaining set. When it ends, Jon says 'God, it looks the same as 26 years ago, and it looks like you've been standing there since 26 years ago".
Even though we did not insist on getting a central spot as planned, to hear the sound better, the virtues of the surround system become obvious during Steve's guitar parts on 'Yours Is No Disgrace'. Shiny flying purple and various other lights enrich the magic of the evening.
11:05pm EDT. Kneeling in the surrounding, depressing garbagery, we contemplate the quasi-silence of what it does mean for the show to be over. I see people gathering to the far right of the stage while the techs do their job. 'Perhaps they hope to meet the band. I don't want to meet the band', says Chris Tsirbas. Yes, perhaps it's better to stay with only the stage image. The sound system goes 'Universal Garden'.
I'm wondering whether the subway could absorb those many people and to my surprise I find it less crowded than expected. When people see the train to Longueuil, or when the one to Berri-UQAM starts moving, or when people get off at Berri-UQAM, they express their joy, many times shouting "Yeeeessss!"
I will try to make it tomorrow to Quebec City as well, and to come back with more during Sunday afternoon. Due to server possible delays, I would also like to use this opportunity to wish good luck to the English soccer team and to their fans for the game on Monday.
Eddie
down by the river in Montreal, PQ
12 hours earlier than the "Supper's Ready" experience, he was driving to Sillery when he passed by a white micro-bus with a "Tour du Vieux Quebec" logo on it. I may have spotted Mrs. Jane Luttenberger Anderson iniside it.
The last night's setlist looked more like the one of the Toronto show of three evenings ago. "Owner" swapped again with "Disgrace" their seats in the main setlist and in the encore, respectively.
Igor's stage persona was minimal last night again, as how it had been during the last winter's tour, and he also seemed to have played less percussion last night than usual, except when explicitly and visibly suggested by the Squire approaching him during "Roundabout" (the first encore). There are keyboard parts in "Roundabout" where Igor uses his left hand to play percussion.
Minimal was also the Squire-Howe interaction last night. After the former approached the latter only once, creeping a funny look under the latter's sombrero and being visibly rejected with the funny sound of a guitar note, there was no onstage interaction between the two of them during the show. Perhaps Steve prefers to be left alone to just play his guitar and hop when he sets himself on fire (which wasn't very hot last night either). I insist on such maybe irrelevant aspects to try to get an idea of the future times of the band (if any left and let's hope there still are left) versus the current state of mind within the band as how it appears viewed from the lawn.
It was windy enough and even a bit chilly last night. White clouds were slowly floating/flowing down south by the Saint-Lawrence river onto Montreal. Steve wore his yellow jacket all the show long (again, 8:45-11:05pm EDT) and Igor put a cap on his head soon after the show started. Under such weathery circumstances, I was a bit worried for the condition of Jon's voice. Everything seemed to be ok, though. There were minor flaws now and then yet the band managed to hide them well enough. Perhaps fatigue and aging take their toll. Maybe the pattern 3 days with shows in a row followed by one day off (also used by Jethro Tull last winter) helps to this end. Alan White ('perhaps he should be called Alan Black', said Jon at one moment) raised from his chair after the first encore ("Roundabout"). Chris told him something and then approached the mike, looking at Jon at the last moment. Jon, now from behind his keyboard, made him a sign of 'nothing to say', so Chris announced "we're doing one more" ("Disgrace").
Before "Close to the Edge" started, Chris showed Jon a sheet on the stage floor, in front of the former. Jon took it and then trampled it underfoot as if mopping the stage floor.
Under those south-flowing clouds (as if from above the band to above the audience), with those winds of the last night (they make me nickname 'La promenade', which starts below le Chateau Frontenac, as 'Wuthering Heights'), "Close to the Edge" was really like a religious experience for me indeed. And, in spite of the chill, being there in the crowd gave me enough inner warmth, so just my Yes tour T-shirt (from the last winter) and sometimes vest were ok for me. There is nothing wrong with free, outdoor Yes shows, except such festivals seem to also attract many people who have no interest in Yes music at all, only wander from close to the stage to various other points of their interest (or needs for this matter) and ruin your Yes experience unless you focus on what happens (and can be heard from) onstage and forget about anything else around you. Please go figure the quiet parts of "Heart of the Sunrise" on chat and laughter background. I have a hard time understanding how are some people able to talk almost endlessly for hours, like non-stop windmills, and particularly during such an experience. As a full-time job, this should bring them big bucks, though.
Due to such wandering, last night, two of my companions and myself managed to advance to a point almost symmetrical to the one that I had been able to attain two nights ago during the show in Montreal with respect to the central, sound desk mounting. So last night I was to the left of the stage. From where I was last night, I could see two young women dancing behind the sound desk in that mounting, as if to distantly transmit energy to the band. One of them was tall, had blonde, long hair, and her face reminded of Howe's face a bit. The other one had a tan (I myself have one) and a short, black hair and her face reminded of an inner pact between us, sorry, this was supposed to be: her face reminded of Jon Anderson's face at the time he was in The Warriors, a bit. Shortly before "Close to the Edge", I suddenly saw someone else between these two. To me, the one newly arrived between these two looked, again, like Mrs. Jane Luttenberger Anderson.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend any of the concurrently scheduled ProgFest and Yestival, so I'd be happy to read postings that share experiences of attending either of the festivals, as well as postings that share experiences of attending the remaining shows of this Yes tour. Merci!
Eddie
I got up in Quebec City, I got down in Montreal, PQ
This is from a song that I wrote about Quebec (Jon Anderson introducing the 'Nous sommes du soleil' bit at the Yes show in Quebec City June 20th, 1998) antoniu@insl.mcgill.ca http://www.insl.mcgill.ca/~antoniu
Yes Montreal show
From: "Grant Penton" gpenton@echelon.ca June 21, 1998
I was there too, and although quite impressed- rather blown away by the most excellent sound system I'd ever heard, especially for an outdoor show and especially for a melodic prog band- there are a few critiques I fell compelled to throw in. On the plus side, they did an overwhelmingly classic period show- 3 each from TYA (counting Clap), Fragile and the whole of CTTE! Bits from Tales- Ritual (the drum solo and the Anderson/Howe duet), Wonderous Stories and precious little Cinema stuff (not a Rabin fan here by any stretch)! But I found Igor's playing rather too restricted to the LP versions, and his dexterity only a few notches above Kaye's- has he been deliberately stifled? And I was trying to figure out what Billy was playing- contributed some vocals maybe, but it seemed that his guitar was disconnected! I left at the start of OOALH, so if he played Trevor's solo, I missed it.
Squire's solo left me cold. Just a cheap power poseur prancing about on stage looking like a bloated Bruce Willis, very little indication of his dexterity- a few seconds worth in the middle, but then he degraded into playing 1 or 2 notes very fast... he did some interesting improvisations during HOTS, but could have done much more- sure made me pine for Tony Levin. So seeing them made it clear for me that the core members are Anderson and Howe- and White, whose performance during CTTE certainly showed that he's no subrate talent to Bruford. Anderson's voice was wonderfully clear- and he's evidently looking after himself better than any of the others, looking closer to 30 than 54. I expect to hear from him for another 20 years at least! Howe looks a bit decrepit- a shame if he's the only committed vegetarian in the group- but his playing is as aggressively melodic as a generation ago, and White will thunder his concise beats for years to come! Maybe they need the poseur for audience appeal, and the newbies for the youthful attraction... but not for the soul of the music...
Still a damn shame they didn't touch material from Relayer or Tormado...
Quebec City Yes - addenda
From: Edward Antoniu antoniu@insl.mcgill.ca June 21, 1998
Last night in Quebec City, Chris also inserted the "Tempus Fugit" bit within his bass solo. As far as I can now remember, this bit was not included during his bass solo in the Montreal show of two evenings ago. It is good to have such an opportunity to see more than one show in a row because Steve Howe sketches on various of his solos. Alan White's drumming got a touch of Bruford for
certain parts that had been originally played by Bill Bruford. And, finally, as we were driving from downtown Quebec City to Sillery this morning at about 2am EDT, we could hear a bit of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" from within a cafe nearby the lights we briefly had to stop at. Merci!
Eddie
going home in Montreal, PQ
Set List From AMY
From Robin Kauffman: RKauff7777 - June 21
Just got back from seeing all 3 Canadian shows. Just wanted to mention that in a conversation with Jon, he said that they were sticking to this set list in Canada because Montreal and Quebec never got to see them in the fall, and that there would be some changes. They DID mix it up a bit doing Leaves of Green in Toronto, but Nous Sommes Du Soliel in Montreal and Quebec. They added shortened versions of the solos in Montreal and Quebec. They swapped Owner and YIND from where they had been in the Toronto set list using Owner as the first encore followed by Roundabout in Montreal, but changed the encore back to Roundabout followed by YIND in Quebec. CTTE was a little shakey in spots in Toronto being that they had only run through the song a couple of times before that, but they really pulled it together by Quebec. Didn't hear the surround sound much in Toronto, but they seem to be using it more by Quebec, especially in YIND where Steve's guitar parts were bouncing all over the place. It was great!
A couple interesting notes:
The crowds at the festivals in Montreal and Quebec were AMAZING!!! There were 40,000 to 50,000 people at each place and were really into the shows...most staying till the end!
There were huge billboard type signs with the Yes logo in red throughout both cities advertising the festivals.
In Montreal, there was this billowing smoke coming from the backstage area during CTTE. Found out afterwards that one of the tour busses burned.....the crews, not the bands. It was a problem with the generator. The bus was totaled. They did manage to salvage and clean most of the crew's clothes. Steve's car had been parked right next to it and had to be moved. The band said that for a while they had a hard time breathing while performing because of the fumes.
Also in Montreal, another famous band was in the same hotel as Yes......HANSON. Talk about going from one extreme to the other!
One other thing I forgot to add:
In Montreal and Quebec, Steve came out wearing this huge sombrero. It was almost as big as he is. I think this was during Long Distance, but I don't remember for sure. He was pretty animated bobbing his head to make the top on the sombrero sway. It was pretty amusing and great to see him having fun.
Stage Design
From Eddie YESONGS - June 23
I saw the gig in Toronto and the news is not good - a very spartan set up with even less effects than in 97. Not too many of the slide type effects from last time and it's really just colored lights unless the gig was a scaled back performance.
I'll be at the Nissan Pavillion tonight hoping for a better performance, (they played very poorly - esp. on CttE), as well as a better stage show.
Yes concert - June 23 (near Washington, D.C.)
From: winds@sprynet.com (Wind) - June 24
OK, I HAVE to say this. Igor is HUGE.
[But can we get this fellow some real instruments to play like the rest of the boys have. Anyone with the band listening? He wants a grand, a pipe organ, and a Mini-Moog. Remember Christmas isn't that far away!]
The rest were good too, obviously. You should have seen Steve Howe playing Yours is no Disgrace in horizontal rain!!! Man Alive! He opted for the Switchmaster 'cause he didn't want his precious to get damp;)
If Steve or Shooz is listening, the Korg Mr. Multi naturally chokes at full closure, however there is an electrical Mod to lessen this cough. A cheaper fix is to stop the pedal from closing completely by adding more rubber stop material (after all it's 25 years old, whatdya expect). No need to thank
me, just let me sit-in on the recording sessions for the next album!
YES - 23 June 1998
-----------------------
Here is your new and wonderful setlist: (with spoilers you)
1 Siberian
2 Rhythm
3 Yours is no Disgrace
4 And You and I
5 Heart
6 Heart of the Sunrise
7 Masquerade
8 Clap
9 Second Initial (would've played Mood but for Jon appearing)
10 Nous Sommes du Soleil
11 Keyboard Solo (Igor: HUGE. Looks wasted after a show:)
12 Long Distance
13 Fish w/ Drums
14 Wonderous Stories (!)
15 Close
16 Owner
17 Roundabout (Jon looks refreshed/enjoyed his thundershower:)
Total playing time: 2 hours/10 min.
From: "Baker, Robert"
I'd call this one "Open Your Skies".anyone get a taping down of this set?! Surrounded by a rigorous storm, Jon Anderson said he loves thunderstorms and storm the stage they did! Nearer the soundboard to thee
intro: "Firebird Suite"
The lights were fantastic, the crowd enthusiastic. Close To The Edge was especially just, superb
Thank you, thank you very much,
Perceptions of the Nissan Pavillion show / June 23rd
OK, you know I don't post much, but these are my perceptions/feelings of Nissan show. No fashion reviews, no he played this instrument for these twleve notes and this one for those two. I must also comment that this is the first show Yes gig I have attended since '73, which makes me late 40's.
Quite amazing ! Orchestra seats, K row, great view, good sound. (Parsons was tooooo loud though)
They seemed to have a whole lot of fun, enjoying themselevs, laughing at others / their mistakes ( two 'bum' guitar notes during 'Hold Me My Love , Hold Me Around ). I got a kick seeing Howe run towards his rack, shaking his head,laughing and cringing at the two bum notes.
Others have already mentioned the set list. All tunes were good, some stronger than the others. Nice to hear Heart again. Quite a good job. Long Distance was good. Siberian, as an opener, set the mood for the whole evening. The rain/mist was nice and refreshing.
Squire seemed to have quite a good time, playing to the house with his antics. Whites solo consisted of peices from Tales/Relayer. Anderson was in good form, though he rolled off a couple notes during Wonderous Stories, but hey, we're all ONLY human. Now for the new guys:
To paraphrase Spock, I have always been and will always be a Wakeman person. At the first announcement, I wondered, what it would be like with Ivan, and I would still like to see Wakeman rejoin, but if they have to choose/select a new keyboardist, then Ivan is the right choice. To quote the Australians, he was for the most part 'spot on perfect'. Someone must have given him Wakemans charts. The harpsicord run was note for note perfect. The organ riff during CTTE was right there with very few liberties taken, and what liberties he did take were inventive and tasteful. His patch selections were very good, some better then KTA1,2. His playing is quite refreshing.
Being a mutli-keys player, I went with the attitude of, well let's listen and disect each and every note and phrase and compare. Musicans are like that. Well, the comparison is good, and he has easily filled the spot.
Billy was quite helpful with the vocals. Only heard his guitar out front during Rhythm. But I guess I still just don't get it yet.
The crowd was quite excited, though most appeared to be there for the classic numbers. I thought they did quite a nice job on Open Your Eyes and would have loved to here a couple of other selections from their 'most recent recording'. After OYE I yelled out during a somewhat quite moment, Universal Garden' , which garnered a few odd looks from folks in the near vacinity of my seat. Hey, it was better than yelling 'FreeBird' > :-)
But the most refreshing moment was a comment that a friend said. First, this gentleman is 20 years younger than I, and is absolutely a diehard Rush fan (there is no other band !) After Siberian and again after Yours is No Disgrace, his only comments was 'I can't beleive it...that they can sound so perfect live, every note is there.' And his mouth hung open most times. I beleive we have a convert !
Pardon the wordyness, but it was just a damn good show.
Nissan Pavilion (VA)
Hi fellow Yes fans - I didn't see a post yet for this show, so at least a short one until someone writes more later.
Without getting into a lot of setlist details, the set followed the published (on this board) list from Canada almost exactly, however some things omitted (like America and I've Seen All Good People) - also Nous Sommes de Soleil substituted for Leaves of Green. Definitely stuck to the principle of doing classic songs rather than new.
The place wasn't nearly sold out, not helped at all by the rainy weather, and after last year's attendance at the Patriot Center (also close to Wash DC) I'm convinced that the farther north you go, the more enthusiastic the Yes crowd. I know I had to go north to hear Open Your Eyes on the radio, even in anticipation of the group coming (no such luck here). Anyone want to comment on that?
There was a lot of spirit at the beginning of the show, however, just in case another local fan wants to defend our people, and I was impressed by the enthusiasm for Alan Parsons in Virginia.
Yes sounded great - Steve seemed annoyed by a few things, but it's early in the new tour. As far as the Surround sound goes - I couldn't tell they were using it from my seat - near the front on Steve's side .
YES lives!!
Nissan Pavilion (VA)
The Nissan Pavilion crowd was more enthusiastic than Virginia Beach though.
Spoilers to follow (do not read if you don't want to know the setlist)
Setlist changes from Virginia Beach included the addition of Owner of a Lonely Heart as the first encore, and Roundabout (with the opening truncated) as the second. Steve's solo changed; he did three full songs before Jon came out and their duet was the "Hold Me My Love" part of "Ritual" in place of "Leaves of Green." Jon flubbed the lyrics of Hold Me My Love pretty badly though, so I don't know if we'll see this one come back.
BTW, Alan Parsons started earlier than he was supposed to; that and the rain meant it was pretty sparse in there when h
The set list last night at Nissan Pavillion, 6/23/98 Manassas, Virginia
1 Siberian Khatru
2 Rhythm of Love (I never knew I liked this song)
3 Yours is No Disgrace (during Steve Howe's solo in the middle the surround sound really kicked in with his guitar bouncing back and forth between the rear speakers)
4 Open Your Eyes
5 And You and I ( really got a good sound on this one )
6 Heart of the Sunrise (Wow, yeah!)
7 Masquerade (Steve Howe Acoustic Set Begins!)
8 The Clap ( we did )
9 Second Initial ( this guy is hot! )
10 Nous Sommes du Soleil (edited acoustic duo by Howe and Anderson)
11 Keyboard Solo by Igor ( I'll quit whining about no Wakeman right now!) leading into LDR
12 Long Distance Runaround
13 The Fish (Mr. Chris Squire and his Rickenbacker Bass, one of the world's greatest marriages)
14 Drums (followed with jam by Squire, White, Khoroshev including parts from Sound Chaser)
15 Wonderous Stories ( I beg to hear your wonderous Yessongs )
16 Close To The Edge ( great, wonderful playing you guys ) encores:
17 Owner of a Lonely Heart (yada, yada, yada)
18 Roundabout (we have all been here before)
Robert
From Bill Watkins BWatkins@mjsi.com - June 24
From: Risele - June 24
From: JerPete - June 24