Yes

Massey Hall

Toronto: November 7th, 1997

This is the sixth time I have seen the band but the first for this venue. The venue is great I have seen several other acts there and recommend it to anyone looking for a fairly intimate auditory experience. It seems the band has chosen to do small venues on this tour, I am not quite sure why maybe their management feels they don't have big drawing power. Judging from the sacristy of tickets and scalpers asking $250 a pair I suspect in Toronto these guys could still sell a 10,000-seat arena show. I love a small theater show and would much prefer this to arena stuff but sometimes I feel a lot of real fan gets left out. Well enough of that.

What I have been reading seems to gel with my experience. The set list is consistent every night.

Some of the highlights for me were America, the Revealing Science of God, Starship Trooper which always gets me and Steve in general. This man has reached his pinnacle as a player and a performer; I am just awestruck by the ability and effortless performance he delivered.

The band in general seems to be working fairly well together. I would say this holds true especially for Allan, Chris and Steve. I think Jon is a little board at times not as energetic as say Chris who tries to be a true "Rock" showman. Even thought Jon's enthusiasm didn't shine through for me I have always found him truly a "positive soul" and I could never say anything negative about him in general. He just didn't seem to have an overwhelming stage presence like I have witnesses in the past, but that may be because I have seen him perform and tend to know what to expect. His voice was right on, the best I can remember. It seems to have matured as he has got older.

Chris like I have said has the most energetic stage presence, I have really liked his style and those bass pedals are awesome. Allan always, steady to use a cliché never missed a beat. Billy Sherwood as far as the performance went added little. I can appreciate that as a writing contributor it is kind of a requirement that he be involved but he added little. Igor I feel is a great session player. He cut all of Wakemans licks without a hitch but has little stage presence. This is probably his choice, as he knows classic members like Rick will always overshadow him. Only time will tell if he can come up with any new material that will augment his obvious talent as a player.

The show seemed to go by quick for me. It was hard to believe that they played for more than two and half-hours. We went for a couple drinks after and then slid by the stage door after that. Allan came out first and hung around the longest sighed some old album art and chatting. Jon and Billy came down a little latter and didn't hang out long at all. Then Igor came down he stayed go a few pictures and sighed some Yes CD liners, none of which he is on I suspect. He was decent with the fans, its probably new to him. Chris came down and hung out a while sighed a bunch of stuff. He is not as tall as I thought he was, I herd him say "thanks for coming to the show, and all that stuff" which got a chuckle from a few of us that were there. No sign of Steve which disappointed at least one intoxicated individual. Maybe he's got his own bus I don't know. I have herd he can be tough to get along with [i.e. J. Wetton - Asia days] so maybe he travels alone. Well the bus left and we left knowing we had seen one hell of a performance.

I guess because there has never been a generation of rock and roll artists that grew old, it seems so odd to see these 50 year old men up on stage rocking. I wonder if they will still be doing it past 60. I for one sure hope so, because I think they are getting better with age.