Yes Concert Review

Well last night was the YES concert at the Chicago Theatre. For those of you not familiar with the latest YES lineup it was Squire, Howe, White (core) with Oliver Wakeman on keyboards (Rick’s son) plus Benoit David (no that’s not backwards) doing Jon’s part (lead vocals and raucous tambourine playing during long musical interludes).

The demographics at the show were interesting. I think I would put the Yes concert only slightly above a Linux SysAdmin monthly meeting and GenCon (geek game board convention) as worst odds to meet a women you might want to marry. I’m guessing the audience was 80% male and heavily laced with ex or current Dungeon and Dragons players. I was also probably on the younger end as well. Also of note, at no point during the show did I smell that “concert smell” (you know the one I mean). I was also impressed by the $45 concert T-shirts. That’s right a $45 shirt. Yikes…

First the negative stuff… Please just cut “All Good People” and “Roundabout” out of the set list FOREVER. My apathy towards Roundabout in particular is now turning to genuine dislike of the song. It’s dull, it hasn’t aged well, and I’ve just heard it too many times. The people at that show knew your entire catalog, you don’t have to play your “pseudo-hit” to make them happy. That it was the last song made it even worse (never end on a down note).

Now on to the good stuff. Overall I thought it was a great show. The set started with the traditional Firebird Suite/ Siberian Khatru duo. Nicely done and very engaging. My favorites of the night were definitely “And You and I” and “Tempus Fugit”. “Machine Messiah” was a close 2nd/3rd. David on lead vocals was simply amazing. He was able to do young Jon, old Jon, and even Trevor Horn for the Drama tracks. You had the feeling that he listened to YesSongs a couple hundred times and matched just about everything. Bravo! I thought Steve and Chris were “on” as well as engaging and fun to watch. Oliver played keyboards and Alan White played drums ;-)

Here’s what I remember of the set list (not in exact order):
· Firebird Suite/Siberian Khatru
· I've Seen All Good People
· Tempus Fugit
· Onward
· Astral Traveler
· Close To The Edge
· Machine Messiah
· And You And I
· Steve solo
· Long Distance Runaround/The Fish
· Some Chris song (new)
· Starship Trooper
Encores:
· Owner Of A Lonely Heart
· Roundabout

As a bonus...

Hideous video of the Fish below with audio of the really drunk guy in front of us.