My memory of this most excellent concert is that the opening band was, in fact, Poco. All of the bands sounded great that day. Charlie Daniels Band kicked southern rock butt, and J. Geils Band kicked Detroit Rock City butt! And, of course, YES kicked their own particular brand of butt. LOVED THAT SHOW!!!

I was there. Still got my ticket stub. I was on the field, dead center and just in front of the sound-board. Another great Tampa Stadium show for sure, and the last one for me before I moved out on my own. The last summer for being a care-free kid! That dragon they had hanging over the band... wow. And Steve''s ''ten million sound'' guitar... Those were the days. Two years later Moraz was at the Lakeland Civic Center on keyboards, seeing in the Moody Blues'' reunion tour. My how the time does fly when you’re getting old! The pairing of Charlie Daniels with Yes... that never did sit well with me for some reason. Grits vs. English tea, I guess.....

I drove up from Miami to see this show. It was my 2nd YES show -- the first being the Relayer tour back in Nov. '74 (Mami Jai-Lai Fronton).

I got turned on to YES back around '71-'72 as a kid by hearing Roundabout on the radio. By '73 I had bought the triple live LP Yessongs, and there was no turning back for me. I was blown away at how much energy and how good the band was live, especially given the complexity of the material -- not to mention the level of creativity that had flowed out of them from Fragile, CTTE, Topographic, Relayer, and now the solo albums.

As I recall the Tampa stadium was relatively brand new, and it had not yet been used for Pro Football games.

We were some of the first people there when the gates opened, and we rushed to stake out a spot up close to the stage. It paid off.

You could see the 3-headed crab neubula hanging there -- and even by broad daylight, it gave off a magestic vibe. The band did not use the elaborate multi-layered back drop on this show, most probably because of possibility of being damaged by the wind, so we lost one aspect of the visuals.

As far as the show itself, YES had blown me away on the Relayer tour, and they did it again in this open air show in Tampa as well. Great song selection by the band -- which I believe is listed correctly at the header of this thread.

I remember Siberian Khatru, Sound Chaser, Gates of Delirium, and Ritual all coming across with an incredible amount of majesty -- like as if we knew we were watching some masterworks being performed.

I remember Squire, Anderson and Howe looking almost alien like in their approach, and I thought Moraz fit in quite well with them all.

Corrections: I don't mean to sound like a cocky jerk, but there are a number of incorrect things listed in the previous posts:

The 4 Bands that performed were:
-Pousette-Dart Band: (a sort of Poco-ish sounding group)
-Charlie Daniel Band: (who reminded us he was from Mount Juliet, TN)
-J. Geils Band: (They laid down a funky/energetic set)
-YES: (Legendary show -- at the top of their game)

-Santana, Matthew Southern Comfort, Rick Wakeman did not perform that day. The first two were not on the bill, and Wakeman was not in YES at this time -- Moraz was.

I think the opening was the begininng of Anderson's "Olias" but I'm not sure. Both that (The Ocean Song) and the And You and I intros are in D maj, and I think both were used at different times during the tour, but I think I remember a slow build up, so my money would be that at this show it was the "Olias" opening.

Anyway, an incredibly spectacular show -- I only wish it have been filmed/taped so that it could be relived today.

NB

The support bands at the concert were (in the following order):
Pousette-Dart Band
Charlie Daniels Band
J. Geils Band

The music started around 4:30pm and was just getting dark as the J.Geils Band were getting to their encore. Their lead singer, Peter Wolf asked the spotlight operators to put the spotlights on stage rather than "flashing them from one side of the arena to the other."

The concert was another wonderful performance by Yes and the last time we would see Patrick Moraz on tour with them.

"R", you are right, Wakeman was not there, in fact I saw him solo at the Lakeland Civic Center around that time. I don't remember the date. Thanks for correcting my memory error!

Bill

Bill you must have been on some good or bad acid because Patick
Moraz was playing keyboards that day NOT Wakeman!

Just a quick note on who all the other bands were, at least as I remember them...

Pousette-Dart Band
Little River Band
J. Geils Band
Charlie Daniels Band (I think)

and of course...
Yes (with Rick Wakeman!)

strange combination, but heck for $7.50, why not!

Bill

I remember this lineup being Yes, Charlie Daniels and Santana, which I've always thought to be the most unusual line up in all the concerts I've ever attended. J Geils may have been there too but I don't remember Matthew Southern Comfort. Of course, it has been over 25 years ago. I remember Santana specifically because their kit drummer was phenomonal. I still remember that because he was one of the highlights of the evening. Of course, along with Yes' performance.

As a young bassist, I was thrilled to see Chris Squire and Yes for the first time--albeit from quite a distance from the stage. (The following year, when Pink Floyd played at Tampa Stadium, I learned from past experience and arrived earlier).

The performance was very good, though perhaps a bit lacking in the fire that *Yessongs* might have led me to expect. I also felt that the set was rather briefer than it should have been. These quibbles aside, I concur with the impressions of the other reviewers, and would add only that the "Apocalypse" theme from "And You & I" opened this show, as well. The band certainly startled me when it abruptly broke from this theme into "Siberian Khatru"!

One particularly interesting note that while everyone was on their feet for all of the other acts, once Yes had begun to play 'Gates', everyone (including those of us on the field of the stadium) was sitting down. A most memorable show.

I did attend the June 26th, 1976 show held at Tampa Statium in Tampa,Fl. The show was a highlight of the Bicentenial Summer and probably Yes's biggest and most successful tour.

The venue was a collage of varied Rock and Roll, with Yes as the headliner, of course. The venue was:

Matthew Southern Comfort
The J. Geils Band
The Charlie Daniels Band
Yes


The vast majority of the sellout crowd was there to see Yes, but the other acts sounded hot {like the summer day it was] and were given a warm reception by the crowd. The music started at around 2pm and Yes didn't take the stage until around dark, about 8:30pm time frame. After a day of hot rock the crowd was more than primed for Yes's brand of progressive rock. Fantastic sound and light show. One item of note. The opening intro was not the Firebird Suite, but instead was a piece of music I later would identify and enjoy as being from Jon Anderson's soon to be released solo album, "Olias of Sunhillow". That piece was "The Ocean Song".