Having been fortunate enough to catch four Yes concerts on the west coast of America for the Fall ‘Open Your Eyes’ tour just two months earlier, I was intrigued to see what – if any – set changes there might be for the first date of the European tour in Manchester. Just Steve Howe’s solo choices, as it happened. But no complaints from me. ‘America’, ‘Siberian Khatru’, ‘And You and I’, ‘Heart of the Sunrise’ and (above all) ‘The Revealing Science of God’ – rightly accorded a standing ovation – made for a classic core to the show, along with a smattering of new and ‘80s material.

The big question for the night, of course, was who would play keyboards? Igor Khoroshev had visa problems, but they were thankfully resolved at the last minute. Adam Wakeman, Rick’s son, had gamely taken on the task of learning the set in a very short period of time (shades of drummer Alan White, coming in for the ‘Close to the Edge’ tour)… but in the end he was spared the need to deputise. Nonetheless, Igor stood aside to allow him to play the ‘Starship Trooper’ encore, joining him right at the end. It was a stellar performance and they both seemed to enjoy the moment. A special end to a special evening.

At the beginning of Steve's solo, there was a problem with a crackling sound which they solved by replacing the lead, but then in the middle of Mood For A Day, Steve walked too far from the amp and the lead came out! Steve joked by continuing to play the guitar with no sound, everyone laughed!

It was obvious that Jon had not learnt the words from From The Balcony because he kept looking at a lyrics sheet on the floor!

Igor had no passport at New York, so the band thought they may have to find a session musician until the problem was resolved - though Igor arrived in the UK in time. Apparently, they rehearsed the entire set with Adam Wakeman! Adam came on stage and replaced Igor for the final encore, Starship Trooper!

Perhaps they intended to rehearse a new song with Igor in the 3 days before this first gig, but that is speculation.

The performance was spectacularly good. The sound mix was excellent with Chris's bass sounding really crisp and Steve's guitars were clear. Igor was excellent especially in Revealing Science. It was difficult to tell if Billy Sherwood actually contributed anything! The crowd gave the band a "hero's" wellcome; Revealing Science was best received with a standing ovation.

It is great exciting yesshow that I've ever seen except their set list. Jon, Steve, Chris and Igor were perfect, but Alan took some mistakes.

We got two accidents yesterday.

One. In the Guitar solo,when Steve took a more little step to the center of the stage,his guitar plug was out! But, he continued solo.

Two. "Igor must be back to New York on 27th Feb, because of his passport limit" after Roundabout, Jon said. And Jon told "Instead of Igor, Adam Wakeman join us tomorrow!!" And Adam Wakeman appeared to play Starship Trooper" From 27th Feb show for a while,Adam plays with yes.

It was quite one of the best YESSHOWS I've seen in 20 years despite the first night technical probs. I thought Chris was in absolutely awesome form and really played to the crowd. It appeared to take a couple of numbers for Steve to get into the groove and he seemed to go missing a couple of times in the opening Siberian Khatru but he was soon up to speed and dancing around like a spring chicken. I thought he coped marvelously with the problems at the start of his solo spot and the new number 'corkskrew' went down really well. The ovations for And You and I & The Revealing SOG were tremendous and well deserved and Jon looked quite taken a back by the reception for the latter.

The encore was quite incredible especially with the introduction of Adam Wakeman, I can't recall Starship Trooper played any better ever ! Adam was absolutely magnificent though credit goes to Igor as well for a) putting in an excellent performance himself and b) for generously making way for Adam on Starship Trooper.

What really made the show for me was how much more personal it felt in the relatively small Apollo theatre. I've been to shows at Wembley and Birmingham NEC where the arenas are so large that unless you are up close you just don't feel part of it. I felt part of the show last night and it was an absoultely fantastic experience and whats more the boys on stage seemed to be enjoying it aswell with the small stage really bringing them together as a unit. I'm now looking forward to repeat performances at Nottingham & London next week - can't wait !

WOW!!!

What a show! The guys were in top form last night and really got into it! Chris was having a ball, and Steve was jumping all over the place. Both of them did some incredible playing. Jon's voice was just perfect and almost all of the vocal harmonies were spot on. Poor Steve at one point during his solo spot, walked too far to the right, and the plug promptly fell out of his guitar! This was after he had already changed guitars once because of a faulty connection. He took it well, gave the audience a hilarious look and just kept right on playing while a roadie hastily came and plugged him back in.

The setlist was the same as the US one, and oh joy, oh bliss, to see and hear RSoG live at last! The audience gave the bad a standing ovation afterwards, and the friend I went with managed to make her way to the front of the stage and give Jon a crystal on a string. He took it and hung it on his mike stand, where it reflected the lights beautifully.

My other favorite of the night was AYaI, my all-time favorite Yessong, which they did splendidly.

It was obvious which songs the audience preferred, for while they applauded the 80s stuff and OYE, they were much more enthusiastic about the 70s classics, the solos, and CoL.

As a die-hard Wakeman fan I must admit, I liked Igor, and think he has a lot of personality on stage. He's obviously very talented and is really enjoying himself. Billy was quite subdued. To be fair, he's a good singer, and helps to make the vocal harmonies richer, as well as provide some support for Howe. But I'm still not convinced that he's necessary. A few times he left the stage briefly and I barely noticed.

It was a real treat to get Wakeman, Adam Wakeman that is, for Starship Trooper! He's a helluva player; takes after his dad! Cheers to Igor, for graciously giving him the place of honor for the last piece.

All in all, I was very impressed, and can't wait to see them again in April!

Well once again the guys have outdone themselves!

I thought they couldn't get much better than the chicago rosemont, but they did tonight! Hats off to Igor - for a guy who just got off a plane from the states this morning his playing was, to use words he would appreciate, 'something fucking else!'

Chris was fantastic, and despite the technical problems, Steve performed excellently as usual. Just a pity about the nobhead in the crowd who had to be told in broad manc brogue to 'SHUT UP YOU FUCKING DICKHEAD!!' which eliceted a round of applause from the rest of us. Steve's new piece, 'Corkscrew', showed just how creative the guy still is with an acoustic guitar, and the performance of 'From The Balcony' with Jon was a joy to hear too.

I only have one very small complaint - the only set changes from the north american shows were the two pieces just mentioned. I for one wouldn't mind seeing a few more tracks from their recent studio endeavours.

All that said, the guy who absolutely stole the show was definitely Adam Wakeman. He came on during the encore to replace Igor for Starship Trooper', and without wanting to seem sentimental or biased, his solo spot was the highlight of the evening. I was stunned; in awe of this lanky, long haired prodigy who evokes thoughts of Rick in his youth - same build, style, energy and complete fucking genius. What a guy!!

America - pray Adam comes over next summer to guest at a few shows. He IS that good. I just hope he turns up at Nottingham on Sunday!!

It seems that Khoroshev cannot get a visa to work in the UK. Like most countries, the UK has restrictions on foreigners working here. One can obtain a work visa by demonstrating that you are an expert in a particular field and that no-one else could do your job, thus you are not taking employment away from a local. I would guess that this would be a line the band could be taking to get Khoroshev in. It also seems possible that it is Khoroshev's status as a *Russian* citizen only resident in the US (if I'm correct on that) which is causing problems. I don't know about work visas specifically, but others visas are easier to obtain between the UK and US than between the UK and Russia.

Once he can get into the UK, I presume he can then work in any EU country, which would cover most of the European tour. (The first non-EU date is not until 13 Mar in Switzerland.)

Yes appear to be looking for someone to fill in at short notice until they can get this sorted out. It is not going to be Rick Wakeman, so who?

Speculation time...

Geoff Downes: must be the favourite. Yes were in discussion with him when Wakeman left last summer and he's been working with Howe since then. He lives in the UK. As far as I know, he is currently in his studio in Wales working on the next Asia album with John Payne, so he should be free. He obviously knows much of the Yes catalog, although it has been 18 years since the Drama tour.

Patrick Moraz: very unlikely. He's in LA and the band ignored him when he approached them following Wakeman's departure.

Tony Kaye: probably unlikely given that he is in semi-retirement in New York.

Trevor Rabin: unlikely as he's probably busy and in the US.

Adam Wakeman: call it a hunch and I'm probably completely wrong, but...Adam is currently in the country and available as far as I know and he knows at least some of the Yes catalogue, but what put the thought into my mind is that he plays on a cover of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" on Anderson's forthcoming solo album _The More You Know_.

Who else? It probably has to be someone in the UK, which rules out most of Squire's, White's, Anderson's and Sherwood's usual collaborators... which leaves Howe. There's Keith West, who's worked with Howe recently on _In the Grand Scheme of Things_ and one track of _Symphonic Music of Yes_? Or Steve's son Virgil, who plays keyboards as well as drums? Julian Colbeck, additional keyboardist from the ABWH tour -- is he in the US or UK?

Or maybe they could go on *without* a keyboardist with Sherwood handling most of the keys, perhaps helped by Anderson, White or Squire in places?

Henry is correct. I feel sorry for the people that left for the U.K. today if the tour is postponed. But I know of one keyboardist that Yes will probably get in a hurry. It ain't Rick, but he may be a very good

I have just had a call from a relative in the Isle of Man. Here's the story.

1) Igor has got his visa and plays.

2) Rick was asked when it looked unlikely. He refused (cos he likes getting paid). He suggested Adam.

3) Adam agreed and was lined up.

4) Igor's back in.

5) Adam will _special guest_ during the encore at Newcastle on Friday.

That's it in a nutshell - phew!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jon Anderson:
Thank you. [???]. Igor was stuck in New York. This real wonderful guy came over yesterday afternoon and rehearsed with us the whole show. Here he is Adam Wakeman. [???] and he's going to play a song with us. Here we go.