It's the first time I saw Yes in concert. I'm 25, and one of my most important dreams came true last Friday.

The content was quiet the same as the previous days, except:

-Steve's solo spot was: Mood for a day, Masquerade, Nuages (from french gypsy guitarist Django Reinhart) and Clap.

Jon then joined Steve and they played two or three sentences of "Nous sommes du soleil, we love when we play", for their 'french' audience. The sound was really great, the 'Palais des Congres' is very efficient.

The members were very fine, funny and relaxed. Jon always had a nice remark and a funny joke between songs, and during a song (I can't remember which one), his wife, Jane, joined him in front of the stage to kiss him! Great moment. Jon seemed to be 30! His voice was very well capted, and, anyway, the overall balance between all the instruments was excellent.

Steve was very professionnal, moving and jumping during his own compositions and very 'cold' during 'Rabin's era songs'. His acoustic guitars sound were great, very precise and warm. He played very well, with his unique touch and feeling.

Squire seemed to be the most enjoyable members on the stage, and his solo spot was absolutely amazing: he was close to us, and we could touch his bass. With Alan, they composed one of the greatest rythm section I've never heard. During all the Alan's solo, Chris felt on his knees, with outspread arms, in front of the drums.

Well, the show was very great, the audience were 'aux anges' (4000 persons), and I will be back at Lille's and Bruxelles's concert.

Well, there was no second *concert* as such, but a short set/signing in one of Paris' main music stores in the afternoon of 3/7. I may forget some details of what happened, but I'm sure our friend Benoit (who was surely there even if I could not spot him in the large crowd) will fill in the blanks and correct any mistakes due to my faulty memory.

Act I : Jon alone on the stage.

Jon arrived first, handing over candies to the audience, shaking hands, laughing and smiling. He sat down on his stool and waited, just casually mentioning "I'm waiting for someone to give me a guitar so that I can play something for you", finally got one and played "Time has come". Then came some exchange with the crowd, some bits going :

Jon : "Chris is...."

Audience : "LATE"

Jon [giggling] : "As always. Last night after the concert he went to the Bains-Douches [famous Paris night club] and...."

Audience : "Hes' got a hangover ?"

Jon : "Oh no, he's a good boy now"

Act II : the band on stage.

All enter, last being Igor with a camcorder in hand.

Jon : "And here is Igor from Moscow !!!!"

[Cheers from the audience]

Igor : "Jon, can you do it again, I wasn't recording yet."

Jon [laughing] : "So, here is .... IGOR... from MOSCOW !!!!"

[Louder cheers from the audience)

Jon : "And here is Chris from..."

Chris : [with a broad grin] "Moscow !!!!"

Jon : "And here is Monsieur Alain Blanc [Alan White in French, just in case ;-] from Saint Petersburg !!!"

Jon also introduced Steve , but I've forgotten where he was supposed to com from ;-) And then Billy, who is "eager to go to Amsterdam, you know he his a Californian [gesturing with his hands like rolling a reefer], it's sort of a cultural thing".

They then played "Owner of a lonely heart". Then Jon urged the audience to ask any questions we wanted and also tried to make Alan speak French [Alan lived eight months in France years ago and still remembers *some* of his French]. From the questions and answers I remember, they have "June off" (said Steve), will be recording "in the winter a new album about the Millenium, just like a thousand other bands who will do an album about the Millenium" (Jon said) and regret not to be able to tour France more, cities like "Strasbourg, Aix en Provence and Nice", Jon mentioned specifically.

They were also asked to quote some "new" bands they like. I don't remember all the names quoted, but Chris mentioned Pearl Jam and the Cranberries among others. Steve mentioned The Verve. There was agreement between Jon, Chris and Billy to add Radiohead to the list. Finally Alan pretended to think it over for a while, then said "Well, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Rimsky-Korsakov,..." which prompted Steve to follow-up with "Yeah, a band with Stravinsky, that rocks" with a broad smile on his face.

Then someone asked why they did not play more material from the new albums and they responded by playing "Children of light". A superb version which makes it all the more disappointing that they dropped it from the setlist in favour of "Wondrous stories", which is at best a nice ditty when compared to a real good militant song like "CoL". At one point, Steve stopped playing and gave one of *those* looks to the sound tech, gesturing to him to turn his guitar mike down. The guy did not seem to get the point, so Steve finished the song just singing and not playing and then said "Turn me down and Jon's voice up", to which Jon responded with "OK, turn me up and everyone else down" with a broad grin.

Jon then treaded on dangerous ground by asking the crowd which song they wanted to hear. Someone yelled "To be over", someone else "Turn of the century", and Jon had to retreat, saying "Wait wait, this is not a spinning wheel where you can quote any song and we'll play it, especially "Turn of the century" which needs just a little bit of rehearsal

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. [something in French]. It's really wonderful to be with you here in Paris, beautiful, beautiful Paris. Crazy traffic, Crazy people but beautiful Paris. Here's a song..uh by the great songwriter Paul Simon about the coming through with the truth of America into the 21st century. Song is called 'America'.

Jon Anderson:
Steve Howe on guitar. Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh..We have a new album in the stores it's called..uh the album is called 'Open Your Eyes' and it's a collection of songs we did last summer and..uh one of the main inspirations was the guy who help produce the last couple of albums. Got together with Chris and myself and we wrote a bunch of songs and then Steve and Alan of course and we said to him 'Please would you come on tour? See Europe. Go to Amsterdam. Have a great time.' and, yeah it's true, and his name is Billy Sherwood. Here he is. Here's the song we got together with Chris and then myself and everyone. It's a song called 'Open Your Eyes'.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. [something in French]. Like to sing the Beatle bow sorta. Just practicing, just, just. So I'd like to introduce you to..uh. You have a microphone? Doesn't have a microphone. He's the only guy who speaks French but he doesn't have a microphone. Alan Blank. I said Alan Blank. Woo! So I'll say it in English anyway. Recording an album..uh in Advision studios in London With Eddie Offord and we had tea in the afternoon..uh tea. You understand. Sorry. And I heard this sound in the corner of the studio and I said 'Eddie, start recording now. Start recording now.'

Jon Anderson:
Chris Squire on bass guitar. [something in French]. Thank you so much. Thank you. It gives..uh me..uh great pleasure of which to introduce you to the wonderful hands, fingers, and guitar style. Very good foot, foot work as well. Tap dancing of Mr. Steve Howe.

Steve Howe:
Alright. Thank you and thank you Very nice to be here in Paris. Wonderful. Thanks. That was..uh an excerpt from 'Masquerade' my Grammy nominated acoustic piece and before that of course I had to bring a little of..uh the hot club to Paris in..uh Jenga and of course before that 'Mood For A Day' which I wrote for my wife Jan and..uh I'd like to play this piece tonight for some friends of mine, Margerate and Sydney. Close my little set and this is call 'Clap'.

Jon Anderson:
Steve Howe. Woo! We're were just hoping..uh before we came on and I said 'Can you remember that song?' and he said. We used to sing this song together many years ago. He's coming. Trying to remember the first words. I'm sure it'll come through. Do you remember it?

Jon Anderson:
Yeah. Thank you. [something in French]. This..uh next song is..uh on the new album 'Open Your Eyes'. I just went..uh to the hotel room..uh were we were recording in..uh Los Angeles and Steve was playing this piece of music and this is what it sounded like on the record because we recorded it that afternoon. It's called 'From The Balcony'.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. We spent..uh with the group, one time we spent..uh in Switzerland it was..uh kinda crazy, never got to ski but..uh we made an album. Uh..the album was..uh 'Going For The One' and..uh we decided to do a song from that album. It's..uh a song that I wrote one morning cause..uh. I have to run up here just one second. I woke up in the one morning and I heard this sorta. So I looked out the window and I saw these very tiny cows running around very fast. Moo. Moo. So, so I wrote this song, it's called 'Wondrous Stories'.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you. [something in French]. Thank you. Thank you very much. Like..uh most of you know, Yes is continually changing. Nearly each record is new musicians, new lineup. I don't know why it happens but life, life is like that, a lot of changes. I think that's the was it works for us anyway. So when..uh we decided to go on tour we knew we needed to find a keyboard player who loved Yes music. Surprise we found somebody who was from Moscow who was living in Boston. I called him up. 'Hello'. His name is Igor. 'Hello Igor, do you like Yes music?'. 'Oh I love Yes music I know everything [???]. I know everything about Yes music. Who's that?' I said 'This is Jon Anderson'. He said 'No, no, no, no. Not possible in this life. But here he is, he's a really wonderful guy and a great keyboard player. Mr. Igor Khoroshev.

Jon Anderson:
..and on the drums. [???]. The amazing, the original action man. Mr. Alan White. Or as some people say. Alan Blank. Alan Blank. Play those drums Alan.

Jon Anderson:
I want to thank you all for coming out this evening. Really been such great pleasure to come back to Paris and I hope we get a chance to do more and more into the 21st Century and..uh I want to thank our wonderful light crew and sound crew for doing a great job, they are really wonderful people. Thank you so much and..uh here's a song we'd love for you to sing along and..uh join in. Sing along and stuff like that.