favorite flub from this show: When Jon goes to start "All Good People", he discovers his guitar isn't plugged in, and then fumbles at fixing it; Trevor laughingly helps him out.

Yes, there are missed cues and errors in this show -- but so what? Being the debut of the tour, there were bound to be some of those. What we can be thankful for is that it shows us Yes when it's still under construction, before all the edges are finished. For sharp performance, I'd recommend something from August or September, but 6/18 offers us the rare view of the beginning of something great, both musically and visually (since it was videotaped from the audience). Wish I'd seen it at the time!

In the beginning of AYAI (which was played on piano for a nice unexpected change by Rabin)-- Tony comes in with the keys at the wrong place, which completely throws Jon off. He sings "a man conceived the moments la la la la aaaaaaa" Hes forgotten the words! So he stops, and begins sort of chuckling and scratching his head, Rabin meanwhile, laughing all the while, begins doing a little solo, until Jon says " OK lets start that one again" This time he gets it right, and the crowd goes wild.

I saw Yes on the opening night of the tour on June 18 in Binghamton, New York. Had front row seats for the first time in my life. Here is a set list and a collection of thoughts. Keep in mind that I'm a Trooper, not a Generator, but I love TALK and like a lot some of the other stuff this lineup has done. Also, this was the 12th time I've seen Yes. I've seen them every tour since 1977 at least once, and twice per tour through the 80s and 90s.

Some thoughts:

No solos! A welcome change in my book.

This was clearly a Power-Yes concert, as opposed to a Finesse-Yes

Obviously, very few surprises in terms of the set list. The classic songs had a couple new twists. For example, on the opening notes of And You And I, which Howe plays on the album with acoustic guitar, Rabin played on keyboards. Sounded nice. For Your Move, it started with Anderson playing guitar.

Rabin played the piano parts on Endless Dream. For me, Real Love and Endless Dream were awesome in concert, particularly Endless Dream. I think it ranks close to the classics.

Rabin was more restrained than I've ever seen him. He seemed more content to be an integral of a team and less likely to take the spotlight with a guitar blast solo.

Rabin, Squire, and Kaye were all spotlighted at points in the concert, but as part of a song, not a solo. Example: Squire took center stage during the opening minutes of Heart of the Sunrise, where the bass is featured. There were no extended solos within songs by anyone.

They were pretty tight for opening night.

A couple flubs by Anderson. He had two false starts on And You And I, and after the second one said, "Wait, let me start again." He did, and after he got it going on the third try Squire and Rabin bowed to him and we gave him a standing ovation. For the opening of Your Move, he grabbed his guitar and told us he would play the first song he ever wrote on the guitar. He started playing and there was no sound. He said with a big grin, "I think I'll turn it on first." He started playing again, and no sound. With an even bigger grin, he said "On second thought, I think I'll plug it in first." It was a humorous moment that did nothing to disrupt the flow of the concert.

Billy Sherwood played guitars and sang backing vocals on Changes, Your Move/All Good People, and Endless Dream.

The lights were as good as I've seen them for a Yes concert, but I wouldn't call it a stage show. Sound was excellent. A couple people near us had headphones to tune into the lower-power FM feed. They both said they couldn't hear through the headphones because the music was too loud.

I think Generators will love this show. Open minded Troopers will like it a lot. For those who think Yes is dead, this show will probably reinforce that perception.

Finally, I think Yes has just moved through a transition. Three years ago, many of us hoped Union marked the beginning of something. It's now clear to me that it marked the end of an era in Yes, and this new album and tour mark the beginning of a new era. I now sense that this lineup of Yes laid to rest the ghosts of Yes' past after the Union tour. I also sense that this lineup is now more integrated and mature as a unit, and plays as a Yes quintet, not as Trevor Rabin and the Band. At previous Yes show, the old standards were things from the 70s. Now the old standards are things from the 80s, with a handful of classics thrown and modernized to match the styles of this lineup. I TALK is any indication, I feel pretty good about the future of Yes.

Oh Yes, one more thing. At one point in the show (first set), Jon said "Here's something from way, way back." They played an instrumental for about two minutes that lead into the opening notes of Hearts. Does anybody know what that was?

Opening night was glorious! I loved it! The nicest surprise was Tony's display of competency. Bow down before him! The extended solo in "Owner..." was magnificent. It was much like Rick's on the "Onion" tour. The hammond solo in Roundabout! Marvelous! I also heard some keys in "And You and I" I didn't recognize towards the end. Amazing! There were noticable nstrumental intros to both "Perpetual Change" and "Hearts" I thoroughly enjoyed. They were simply new! Never heard before. Great! And what was that strange taped music before the first and second sets? I liked it. There were hints of Close Encounters Of The 3rd Kind I noticed. Who composed this stuff? My guess is it was some of Trevors ideas stored on a computer disc somewhere. Anyone know for sure?

After the show was rewarding, as well. Since we missed the band by seconds after they finished rehearsing earlier in the day(we ran around front to see if we could hear better and they exited as we turned the corner), we stuck around after. Very good! Jon comes out waves to us as we yell, and leaves ): Alan comes out and doesn't give us a second (or first) glance. So...then we began to beg. "Tony! Please!" He came over. Whew. As he signed a few things, I asked a few questions, gave a few compliments. "Tony, how come Trevor played all those keyboard parts. Surely, you could've handled them." The reply: "Well... we've decided to show Trevor off this time around. Well...he decided."

"It looked like you were working hard out there, Tony. You were sweating more than all of them!" The reply: "Actually, I was closer to the lights." (:

Next victim. Trevor walks over as Tony leaves. "Hey Trevor, I didn't know you played keyboards so well." Reply: "Well it's the first time I've played them ever...on stage." Somehow, while I wasn't looking, Chris popped up right next to me. Don't ask me how I didn't notice him, being taller than myself and standing adjacent. I was almost overwhelmed. All I could think to ask was, "Chris, that was a rather strange upright style bass you were playing. Did you have it made or does it come that way? Reply: "Yes, very strange indeed!" My friend tells me he said he in fact had it made, but I didn't hear. I was very grateful when he agreed to shake my hand, though other people (ANDY!!!) shoved theirs in ahead of mine.

Trevors playing was truly impressive. I was in shock. I think Jon played keyboards or triggered some stuff during endless dream as I saw him in front of one with his arms outstreched apparantly playing. Who didn't play keys on the tour? Only Chris and Alan, apparently.

I must thank Andy for coming back to our 17th row seating to let us know about the 8th row vacancies half way through. Amazing show. Amazing seats. Truly an unforgetable concert. Oh, and one more thing...Bye.

Wow. Where do I begin? Well, I went on a 270 mile pilgrimage to see the opening night of the _Talk_ tour. It proved to be a night I won't soon forget.

The whole show, not counting breaks, was about 2:15 - 2:30 in length. Not too many surprises in the setlist, but Hearts and Cinema were minor ones, and Perpetual Change was a huge fat one! :) Luckily, the set wasn't dragged down by "Solly's Beard" or a 10 minute version of "The Fish." :) The result was a very band-oriented show, without the excessive solo spots found on the Union tour (the only other one I've seen).

Some comments on the songs:

"I Am Waiting" and "Hearts" were really beautiful.

City of Love - Chris did that thing where he turns his head with (and sometimes without) the music, like in the 9012 Live video. Very funny.

And You And I - the 12-string guitar intro part was instead played by Trevor on a keyboard, along with a seemingly unrelated solo leading into it. When he switched to acoustic guitar and began strumming the chords to the main part of the song, it seemed like someone forgot to turn it up in the mix, because it was pretty inaudible. This threw the band off, and Jon started singing while Tony was still playing the keyboard line. Jon stopped pretty quickly and shook his head. :) Everyone laughed and the band continued playing. Jon started singing again when the music came around and this time he screwed up the lyrics a couple of lines into it and said something to the effect of "Oh no, I messed up. Let's start that again." Everyone laughed again and he tried one more time when the music came back around. Chris kind of leaned over and pointed at him as if he was introducing him and this time he got it right and everyone cheered. *This* is the kind of thing I was hoping to see on opening night! It was priceless!

Where Will You Be - Performed with Jon and Trevor sitting on stools, and Chris playing some sort of homemade upright bass, which was basically an electric bass mounted on a stick! Alan and Tony were playing too (maybe Billy Sherwood, too, but he was hidden most of the night. I'm assuming it was Billy Sherwood anyway, although he was never actually introduced.) Some really tasteful and laid back acoustic and electric soloing on this one from Trevor.

Your Move - Jon: "This is one of the first songs I ever wrote on guitar, which you'll probably be able to tell once I start." {Strums a few chords, sound is almost inaudible.} "Let me turn it up a little first." {Adjusts volume, same thing takes place.} "Matter of fact, let me plug it in first!" {Everyone cracks up, Jon fiddles with plug and Trevor comes over to help him. This was a definite highlight!}

Walls - "We'll be playing this one on David Letterman's show on Monday, so be sure to sing along at home."

Endless Dream - The only time I heard the quadraphonic during the show was during the "elephant noise" section of this song (about 5 minutes in). I think the intro was played and then triggered by Trevor, but it was hard to tell. This was a powerful performance, although I think the song rambles a bit. The church choir vocals at the end were great.

All in all, this was a really fantastic show in a small, sweaty venue. I was surprised at the size of the crowd - a person who worked at the arena told me it seats around 6,000 for concerts, and judging from all the empty seats, there were only maybe 4,000 people who went. It was funny; every single person we spoke to before the show 1) drove several hundred miles to get there; and 2) had floor seats. We went up from Long Island, and met people from New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin as well. I had my 17th row seat upgraded to 8th row on Squire's side after meeting this guy outside just before showtime who was yelling "Anyone want a free ticket?" I ran over and asked if he was serious, and he said "Yeah, my friend couldn't make it. First, can you recite the opening chant from "T

Trevor Rabin:
Thank you!

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much! So wonderful to be with you this evening! We'll do a little bit of rhythm.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much, thank you. Gosh, we're on tour again! Woo! It's great to be back together. Here's a song from sort of way way back, sort of.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Mr. Trevor Rabin. Gonna sing for you.

Jon Anderson:
Woo! Thank you so much! Thank you! Trevor Rabin! Woo! As you may know, or as you may not know, this is the first gig in the tour, so it's great to be with you all. Hope you're enjoying yourselves. I might do! We're gonna finish this first half of the show 'cause we're gonna play a long time, guys! I'll have to change my shirt, I'm okay. Hey this guy [???] so after this song we'll have a little break and the we'll come back. Okay. here we go.

Trevor Rabin:
Yes! See you later.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much! Thank you very much. We're gonna try and sit down for the next song. I've never done this before, so there's always a first time. I'm gonna get my drum and the idea for this next song came on one beautiful summer afternoon last year and Trevor played me some music and I sat down and just scribbled down some lyrics and I remember just enjoying singing the melody that Trevor had written. It wasn't until about two months later that I listened again to the song and realised what I've been writing about and in fact, I'm gonna go over and get the words so I'll remember them. Just one second.

Trevor Rabin:
Hi there, Binghamton. At this point we'd just like to say a quick thank you to to the crew for all the good work they have done, except for Robbie.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you. Here's a song, somehow we couldn't figure to do a show without this one.

Jon Anderson:
Hey, a man conceived the moment. Wait. I'll start again. I'll start again.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much, Thank you! Woo! I believe, this is probably the first song that I ever wrote on guitar as you can probably tell when I start playing it. But I'll give it my best shot. Plectrum! I think, I'll turn it up. In fact, I think i'll plug it in! I should do this more often, I really should.

Chris Squire:
[???]

Trevor Rabin:
Yeah. Thank you!

Jon Anderson:
Woo! Alright. You sound so wonderful! Here we come with a song that, Hey it's on the radio. What can I say?

Jon Anderson:
Woo! Thank you so much. Woo! Would you believe, would you believe this, It's on a Monday night. I think Monday night, We're doing this song on the David Letterman Show. Woo! Woo! So when you're home, sing along, sing along with us, okay? We're very fortunate, after so long, to be together, you know, music, as friends, and really, it's such a strong unit, you know, the people, the guys in the band, the guys on the sound and the lights and you people out there make it a real special event. Experience, experience. Of course we always like to try and move on and make some music that we really feel is the next step for us as musicians and this is really, what we're gonna play for you now. The song is, of course, 'Endless Dream'.