I had the distinct honor of being admitted into the Hollywood Bowl at 3pm the afternoon of the concert - just in time to hear the orchestra rehearsing Gates of Delirium - instruments only. Wow... A new dimension opened up in my perspective of Yes' music hearing them: It was perfect as an orchestral/symphonic piece.

I also met Steve Howe's guitar tech that day, and got a sneak peak at a new Steve Howe signature ES175 as it was first brought to him by a rep from Gibson... and pending Steve's approval. How cool is that? =)

I, too, remember Jon forgetting the lyrics to "Gates", and I felt a mixture of pity and sadness, because hey, he's a human being and we sometimes forget, which was offset somewhat by "but these guys are the consummate professionals", so it took me awhile to put that gaffe out of my mind.

I also recall that it was great seeing Alan get a chance to play the piano, which he's done on several albums, but never live. Just goes to show the vast reservoir of talent apparent in them. Which, of course, keeps me going to every tour.

i was in the hills behind hollywood bowl, and enjoyed a good hour or so of it. it was a strange way to hear yes, but i am a fan. i will always remember it..

This was my second time seeing Yes on this tour. The first time was at the very intimate navy pier in San Diego. I sat in the front row for that show and it was very good. For the sound I certainly preferred the Hollywood bowl. The orchastra was just loud enough last night to add to the band but not detract from it. I could barely hear them at all in San Diego. So they were definatelly turned up in the mix. I could also hear Toms keys better and he did a great job. The set list was the same except we in L.A. were provided with a treat of a Steve Howe solo. He did one new piece that was beautiful. I am sure it was probebly something off of Naturul Timbre, however I do not know becouse I do not have that cd yet. He also did a stunning rendition of Mood For a Day. Johns voice was clear and angelic as always. He said he was dry though. He drank a lot of water and threatened to "gargle the next song" which everyone thought was very funny. He forgot the opening lines to Gates and almost completely stopped the song. I felt so bad for him becouse I think he was embarrased. I wanted to shout out "stand and fight we do consider" to give him some help. When he finally got it right it was magic! and the crowd loved it. Yes has a very forgiving crowd. We are loving and devoted! Trevor Rabin was sitting just behind me. He clapped politely early on and then left probebly to go back stage.

I am so glad to be able to still see this band after all these years. They have always been my favarite and I think they won over some young fans at this show. There was quite a line up of people at the Tower Records booth where they were selling the entire library of Yes CDs. So to all of you who still will be seeing the band on any other date on this tour. You are in for a treat as always. Enjoy!

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Woo! It's great to be with you this evening. This beautiful place. This is..uh this is our return engagement. We were here twenty-eight years ago. So we eventually got back and here we are with this marvelous..uh focus of the Hollywood Symphony behind us here. Look at this guys. The guy that's conducting them is a great guy. He's been working with us on..uh our new album. His name is Larry Nash Groupe. Larry. I'm a little dry, sorry. I will gargle the next song for you. We are going to do a couple of songs from our new album which is coming out sometime September I believe and..uh so like everything. You know. This is..uh only our fifth gig into the tour. This is the beginning of our..of our world tour. As much as you can tour the world. But..uh we shall overcome as they say. So we are going to do a couple of new songs and..uh the first one is sorta related to the idea that we do beat ourselves up too much. You know. Just enjoy things a little bit more. Don't beat ourselves up so much. Song is called 'Don't Go'.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. I will now gargle. Too nervous. [???] Sorry. Why don't you come up to Concord tomorrow night and. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to everybody who has a birthday today. Happy Birthday to you. We started..uh recording this album in a beautiful place in Santa Barbara and one morning..uh one morning, eleven clock..uh Alan started playing this thing on piano and we wrote a song and..uh It's a song now called 'In The Presence Of'. Mr. Alan White on keyboards.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. Those were a couple of songs from the new album which is called 'Magnification'. As we call them magnifying everyone, everybody we see. Everything that surrounds and magnify completely and it was really a..a great..uh lot of great fun making the album for one thing. But..uh bringing Larry Groupe in, the orchestrater of the album. To bring him into the Yes world and try to [???]. Larry Groupe. He did a great job. Of course..uh we said to said him..uh 'Hey why don't you come on tour. You know, you can do other arrangements on other songs by Yes' and he said 'Yeah I can do that, I'd love to do that'. Not really thinking were we are going to go with our music but..uh he's going to branch off and..uh this is like shoving him into the deep end when we said let's do this one..uh on the tour. This is a song called..uh 'Gates Of Delirium'.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. The wonderful guys in the orchestra are going to have a break and..uh in the back drink a bottle of gin. Especially the brass, brass..uh section definitely needs the beer. Definitely sorta [???]. Like to..uh sorta quickly introduce to a young guy who actually we met on tour last time we were out on the road last year and..uh he's a great guy. His name is Tom Brislin on keyboards here. So we're going, we going, we going to do the song and..uh we haven't quite decided how to start it. This is, you know, the first week of touring and you forget stuff. [???]. So we're just going to do a four and four. What do you think Alan? What are we going to do Alan. The Yes logo looks okay doesn't it? Woo!

Jon Anderson:
Thank you. Thank you. Song from..uh sometime..uh in I think 1977. 'Wondrous Stories'. Thank you very much. Okay. We're going to do another song from like way, way back. Way, way. It's so long ago we did this song and..uh it's just such a trip to do it again. So here's a piece of music called 'Perpetual Change'.

Jon Anderson:
Woo! Steve Howe on guitar here.

Steve Howe:
Thank you very much. I'd like to play something..uh a little new and a little bit of something old. So maybe we'll..uh keep the balance there. Uh..I just..uh do want to know. [???]. Apparently nothing. So how many is it? Twenty-eight years have we've been back here. Wow. I'll have to check out some pictures from that area again.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you very much. That was called 'Solar Winds'.

Jon Anderson:
Mr. Steve Howe on guitar. We'd like to continue the concert with a song. This is a song that..uh it's takes a little setting up by Steve Howe's guy shoes. There he is. Shoes. We've got the best road crew in the business. Let's here it for the road crew. C'mon.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any request? Okay. We'll do that. We'll do that. This..uh this guy. We're going to try and do this song. Actually we're going to do 'Tales From Topographic' in ten minutes flat. Very fast. Actually I remember a couple of months going back home after we were rehearsing and..uh my beautiful wife Jane was playing playing this song so loud in the house. It's just wonderful that she loves this music. This is a dedication to my true soul mate Jane and..uh here's a piece of music called 'Ritual'.

Jon Anderson:
Chris Squire on bass guitar here. Alan White on drums. Alan White. [???] Larry Groupe and the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra. [???]. Thank you. We're going to a song which you can sing along to and half way through get up and dance. The orchestra has promised to do the twist halfway through this song so watch out. Or maybe not. Here's the song. Here we go. In the key of.

Jon Anderson:
I want to thank everyone for coming along this evening. It's been great being with you once again. Okay.