There are a few things in my memory of this Hartford show.

First was that the venue opened the house and, as the first of us entered, we were treated to Trevor Rabin and Alan and Chris finishing up a last-minute sound check. The story I got later from a friend who was backstage was they had arrived late. Which would explain Trevor scurrying offstage as the Civic Center began to fill up.

There were also sound problems throughout. Random rings during Tony Kaye's bit on "Heart of the Sunrise"... The worst was late in the show (when sound men usually have it together): a low-end hum which was intermittently appearing during "Yours Is No Disgrace" became so loud just as Chris Squire began "Amazing Grace" that he cut it short. Instead of his typical Amazing Grace/Whitefish thing we got the first phrase of Amazing Grace (how sweet the sound) and then he waved at us with the free fingers on the fretboard of his bass, and he left the stage. There was a pause for a few minutes before they all returned to the stage and went into "And You And I".

My backstage friend, who sold high-end guitars to the stars, also told me the Rabin and Anderson both had colds.

I don't know if it was the cold medicine or what but "Roundabout" was done as an AM radio single version, sans the percussive bit ("Along the drifting clouds, the Eagle searching down on the land...") From my spot in the eighth row I saw the band looking to each other for the cues as they approached the change. Chris and Tony looked over, Alan gave the setup and Trevor... Trevor was upstage with his back to the audience looking at the ceiling. Jon's eyes widened in a moment of "Oh!" and the band went straight to the end of the song. Never missing a beat. Trevor came downstage looking a bit chagrinned.

But what's a rock and roll show without a mishap?

I wasn't familiar with YES before seeing this concert. Over the next few months I bought all of their tapes and within a year they were my favorite band. Despite this, I don't recall the show being especially good! I was disappointed not to hear either "Love Will Find a Way" or "Leave It," but what did I know back then? Obviously something from the show influenced me to buy all those tapes!

Fifteen years later, YES is still my favorite band. I still like "Leave It" and "Love Will Find a Way," but my favorite albums predate this concert.

As previously, Jon used the "We are the voice of every big generator" introduction (with vocoder-like effect on the phrase 'big generator') for "Big Generator", as well as referring to the Pleiaides ("Seven Sisters") star constellation as compelling him to write "Holy Lamb" (see audio transcriptions available for previous tour dates).

Hmmm, I am fairly certain both "Yours Is No Disgrace" and "And You and I" were performed on this date. I remember rushing to grab my seat on the opening chords of the former (the opening tune after an intermission), and I remember Rabin's playing when the guitar kicks in for "Eclipse" for the latter.

Yes
12/3/87
Hartford Civic Center;
Hartford, CT.

Almost Like Love
Hold On
Heart Of The Sunrise
Changes
Big Generator
Shoot High % Aim Low
Holy Lamb
Tony Kaye solo >
Solly's Beard
Rhythm Of Love
Make It Easy >
Owner Of A Lonely Heart
Yours Is No Disgrace
Amazing Grace
And You And I
Wurm
I've Seen All Good People
Roundabout

AUD Recording

Notes: This is the only copy of this show, that I attended, that I have ever found. Unfortunately there are many spots that sound as though the taper is pulling the mike in and out of their pocket, making an over whelming scratching noise. There is a cut in the middle of Shoot High Aim Low and And You And I. The end of Wurm is cut, the entirety of Starship Trooper was not played. Love Will Find A Way is missing, or was not played. Rhythm of Love was performed in a different order than listed above.

I have very fond memories of this show -- the first time I ever saw Yes. It was my senior year in high school, and the day tickets went on sale I cut out of school early to head to the local Ticketron outlet (unfortunately, not early enough to get great seats). My Grandmother played along with the excuse that I had a doctor's appointment, and picked me up at school that day - how cool is that?!?

The day of the show, four of my friends (Andy, Ralf, Dave, and Rich) and I piled into the back of my mom's station wagon for the hour-long trek to Hartford. We sat in the first row of the upper level, midway back from the stage. Yes played a great set -- they really sounded amazing. However, the setlist above is dead wrong. I distinctly remember being disappointed that they DIDN'T play Love Will Find a Way. Also, I would have been ecstatic had they played either Yours Is No Disgrace OR And You and I, but as it happened I had to wait until the Union tour to hear those classics live. Finally, I'm pretty sure they played Starship Trooper in it's entirety, not just the closing section (Wurm). The entire set list was drawn from The Yes Album (I've Seen All Good People, Starship Trooper), Fragile (Roundabout, Heart of the Sunrise), 90125, and Big Generator. I was heavy into all things Yes, however my friends weren't too familiar with the old stuff. They were suitably impressed with what they heard, though - referring specifically to Heart of the Sunrise, Dave enthused that Yes sounded like "the kind of music people will be listening to in 20 years!" (if only!)

Jon, dressed all in white and holding some sort of staff, was his typical New Age self -- I remember exchanging puzzled glances with my friends as he rambled on about the Pleides star system in the intro to some song!

All in all, a great memory from my youth. And should anyone doubt my status as a dedicated Yes fan, I had a major role in my school play the next night, and skipped out on dress rehearsal to see the show!

If I remember correctly, during the Big Generator show I saw back in December 1987 at the Hartford Civic Center, people were passing out flyers beforehand, and it seems that the crowd saved the flyers, made scores of paper airplanes (it must have been at least in the thousands, there were that much), and they were thrown all over the place; one big concert papaer airplane fight. Everybody stopped, of course, before the show began. I am quite surprised that the authorities at the Civic Center let the parade of paper airplanes go on as long as it did, with only a mild chastisement to stop after folks had had their fun. I have to admit it was a lot of fun (hey, I was 15), though somewhat scary (several times I would turn around and an airplane would come this close to nailing me right in the eyes)--I guess the people with the worst seats must have enjoyed it the most! But, anyway, I never ever again experienced a phenomenon like that at an arena show (nowadays, I'm pretty sure it would get stopped much earlier if it happened, for legal reasons). I'd like to know if this happened at any other Yesshows, or if this indeed *was* a common occurence back then...