I still remember the concert. In a way it was disappointing. There was a man sitting next to me, who was singing along with Jon all night. And the man couldn't sing! Horrible. Yes, I know, I should have told him.
And the orchestra? I didn't hear them. But one positive remark, Jon wasn't singing out of key, he was great, one of his best performances.
Later on I bought the DVD and that gave me much more pleasure.

I'm a huge Yes-fan, but since I'm "only" 27 years old, it has not been for the year of 2002 I fully discovered their music.
As I was browsing my local record-shop searching for a DVD, It was a hard task choosing a concert of a band to my liking. Due to permanent lack of money, I rarely have the opportunity to buy one. This was the one occasion, so it had to be a good one!
Having a live-EP (Yessongs) and few albums (Fragile, The Yes Album) I decided it was time for a DVD, and that was to be the "Yessymphonic", recorded - as a great bonus! - 2001 in Amsterdam.

What I came to see was a truly great concert of a truly great band!
Despite reading the comments on this website, I have to say it is great!
This is highly intelligent music, as never heard these days. I mean, it's all so predictable what's cooking these days. No love, just cheep sounding beats and synths and crappy, computer-boosted vocals. As long as the looks are good it will be a chartbuster, know what I mean?

For me, the highlights of the DVD are
The symphonic intro/Close To The Edge, Don't Go and Ritual.
But absolute greatest performance - as many say with me - was Gates Of Delerium. I've never needed so much time to figure out what time signature the long middle-section was written in.

Somewhat disappointing, if I have to name anything at all, is the end of the DVD, in wich they somehow seem to display the end of the concert is finally there and Owner Of A Lonely Heart and Roundabout sound like the icecream that's just too much after a rich and tasty diner.

Chris is soooo good! I've never heard bass-playing so touching as his. It's amazing what a bassguitar can sound like when played right. My personal Chris-highlight is the bass-solo in Starship Trooper (Würm).
Steve is fantastic. The pedal-steel in Gates is my personal Steve-highlight.
Alan is the one and only Yes-drummer (allthough I know too little Bill-stuff to compare it with). Again, Gates is my personal Alan-highlight. The way he picks up the strange time signatures is outstanding!
I'm a keyplayer, so I especially set my eyes on Tom - he could be my age -, and as far as I can judge it, he playes the Yes-stuff very good! I cannot compare it to Igor, for I've never heard any recording on which he plays. Rick is also very good, but unlike others here, I do not miss him at all! My personal Tom-highlight is Close To The Edge (I get up, I get down).
And finally, Jon... I knew him from his beautifull collaborations with Vangelis and Mike Oldfield. His vocals are supreme and unheard these days. He fits in so well, that my personal Jon-highlight is the whole DVD! (But why no harp?)

Overall, the DVD is stunning and very good value for the money, and I
regret not having been there myself. I hope to attend a Yes-concert in the future, because I more and more feel I just have to see them live!

They didn't film the Amsterdam show last night. I am told they will do it tonight. The sound was pretty good, and the band were very tight. Audience energy was very low. No real emotional applause until the end of Ritual. I am hoping there will be more audience reaction tonight for the DVD filming, but I doubt it. I am wishing now that they were able to delay the filming for the UK shows (e.g. Glasgow) where there will be a much more emotional atmosphere.

They played Magnification, which came off very well, despite Jon warning us that they had some problems with it previously. Gates was back in the set having been dropped from some previous shows. Roundabout was the encore. There was a request from Chris to play Owner, but he was over-ruled by the audience and by Steve.

We hit the jackpot !!!

In short: Gates: YES. Magnification: YES. !!

In long:

After three minutes into "In The Presence Of" I was certain: Ron, Steve's Guitar Technician was preparing Steve's guitars and was pulling out the electrical one used for "Gates". The were going to play Gates. Yes Yes! "We must have waited all our lives for this". By than I knew this would be the best concert I ever attended and YES it came out so. So, I, and the whole Audience was very happy. Also the band was rrrreally into it, if I may believe my American friend Scott, they are fans of Amsterdam (now how come that?) so we got a great night.

But let's start at the beginning, as a story should be told in the right way. (now from which album is the previous sentence :} )

After Dusseldorf we teamed up for the Amsterdam show in the new Heineken Halle. You can see at the venue why it is called that way, because it's all Heineken outside :}. I was very very nervous, with ticketstuff and such and when coming in we saw security was very tight. It's known that bringing stuff there is pretty dangerous but my friend, who records all shows, managed anyway. There were some people from the Dutch fanclub having a neat gathering, so we looked a bit at that. The venue is GOOD. AS said before it's new and it's allready famous for the neat acoustics. We were sitting 6th row, in front of Chris, well "Can you Imagine" !

To start with CTTE is such a pleasure I think. After a few minutes you forget about everything (this time I made sure my car was secured, lights were off, triple checked) and you can get floating. The orchestra is fantastic, don't you all think! Not to present all the time, but with some great additions. They must stay! The orchestra is the same now for all shows which really shows. Most of them are girls (i don't mind that at all) and they are all "Rocking The Orchestra". Many of them sing along with all and are doing air-drumming. (Glenn, you know what I mean :} ).

CTTE is such an experience, that allready pays up for the tickets! Tom Brislin's solo was not as good as in Dusseldorf, but still very, very good. You'll have to hear for yourself to believe it. After CTTE they went straight into LDR (with the Symphonic intermezzo pre attached). I don't think that one works so well, especially missing "The Fish" (but time for Chris would come later :} ). All seemed to be enjoying themselves especially Jon. He didn't like the Dutch weather (rain), but did see whole of Amsterdam. (He probably didn't go to the Rijksmuseum than ?). Tension was building when getting into Don't Go. THat song is NICE to hear live and it's good to see Jon dancing and waving. (He does have some nice tricks to get the attention from his personnel to put up his monitore volume :} ). The prestuff to "In The Presence Of" was very funny, with some mention from Jon to Amsterdam, the Canals and Ajax !! He also tried Manchester United, tjee Jon!! He Ruud van Nistelrooy comes from the same town as I!!

After Ron getting the correct guitar I was really getting excited!! Could enjoy all the way of "In The Presence OF" that song really comes out great live.

Some little hesitations afterwards, but then it was clear, they would play Gates. I couldn't resist yelling the year of 1974 when Jon asked for it, and he was actually please with that !! Contact :} So than it happens. I have many recordings of it, but live - it's a different story. OK I can go out whaling about every fragment, but I think you all know what I am talking about... The great introduction (and with a fine orchestra) and then the middle section. Wow what a musicians and what goosebumps. Tom is doing great here, love his playing. I think he's in another legau than Igor! Yes, the battlesection was amazing but more to come... Soon! (a little confession from me here: I didn't see the 1984 show in Rotterdam where he allready did it. But with a band and orchestra it's incompa

I was there both nights, 12th and 1st rows respectively, Squire side. Great shows indeed! I won't go into the usual banter, just a few observations. Best CTTE I've heard in a long time. I remember someone on this NG referring to it in the past as "the Close to the Edge waltz". Not this time. A standing "O" both nights for every song except, you guessed it........"Don't Go". Wed. night when they came out for the oncore, Steve started Roundabout, Alan came in and Chris was waving both hands in the air for them to stop which they did. Jon, laughing, came up to the mike and said "Chris wants to play Owner of a Lonely Heart", the crowd booed. So he took an audience vote. Owner....BOOOO, Roundabout...YEAH. Steve started again and Chris waved him off again.....he had the wrong bass! The second night they played both songs with Steve totally not into Owner. Tom did the lead guitar part on keys and Steve did a solo at the end that just didn't fit .

I saw 7 cameras ther last night. Two on rails, two hand held, one boom and one on each side of the sound/light boards. The boys were on fire last night as was the orchestra. I thought it was a great blend. During Roundabout the orchestra members came out on stage and danced their asses off. They were really into it both nights. Definitely 6 of the best hours I've spent in a long time!

PS. Anyone who says Alan White is a weak sister must be deaf, dumb and blind. (they can't hear or see either):>)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!

That`s the first word/sound that comes to mind at the moment the show started!
And what a show it was.
The show started with a beautiful opening from the orchestra, refreshing to hear something else played than the Firebird Suite.
While playing Yes came on stage one by one.
The band started the show with Close To The Edge (INCREDIBLE version, with so much fresh energy).
Now, due to not being able to write down the order of the setlist, this will be by memory.
So, corrections are welcome!

The songs played were:
ORCHESTRAL OPENING.
CLOSE TO THE EDGE.
LONG DISTANCE RUNAROUND.
MAGNIFICATION.
GATES OF DELIRIUM.
GIVE LOVE EACH DAY.
CORKSCREW/IN THE COURSE OF THE DAY.
STARSHIP TROOPER.
DUTCH JAM.
DON`T GO.
AND YOU AND I.
IN THE PRESENCE OF.
I`VE SEEN ALL GOOD PEOPLE.
RITUAL.
ROUNDABOUT.

I don`t think i missed a track, but i`m sure the order is very messed up (a Yes show leaves you in a wonderful daze, that makes you forget things for a while!).

Entering the building went smoothly, and with tight security (had to put my MD recorder in the vault, damn it).

The merchandise was:
Shirts (T-shirt, Fleece sweater, Rugby sweater) ranging from 65 to 130 guilders.
Keyrings at 20 guilders a piece.
Caps at 50 guilders each.
And the tourbooks at 30 guilders each (in green, yellow, purple, red and i believe, blue).

The tourbook was not what i hoped it would be!
It was a collection of Masterworks photo`s and had very little text in it, only the last page had text (who is in the band, and some tour people etc.).
No Names and adresses of these pretty girls in the orchestra (only joking!).

The show began at 20.00 hours and ended at about 23.00 hours.
The tension started, will they play "Gates"?

Well i could not imagine a greater show in life!
It was perfect, to say the least.
There were some little mistakes, like steve missing a note, but making it hardly noticable!
Jon had started a mini second late at the beginning of Magnification (he said before starting the song, that they tried to play this song everytime, without mistakes, but it was such a difficult song to do live.
But they would try again this time to do it without these mistakes!
They tried, but Jon came in a mini second too late, wich made him laugh after he finished the first line of this great song!).
This is what makes the show as perfect as can be!!!
Humans make mistakes, they should be!

Chris did a bass jam in Ritual, wich made the song come up to 30 minutes!
Incredible, first your body would be trembling from the deep bass sounds, wich gradually made the floor of the venue vibrate!
WOW!
Steve did his solo bit (saying it was great to be back in Amsterdam, he did his Groove tour here, playing a song from Natural Timbre).
Steve`s solo was nearly over, when Jon came on stage, waited `till Steve had finished, and said "I was stuck in the lift!, How is it possible that this great, modern building has such a slow elevator, it must be the slowest elevator in europe (or was it the world?)".
There was a lot of fun between the band and the audience (Jon waited for Steve to start the beginning of AYAI wich lasted a few seconds, so he started talking to the audience, Jon mentiond how they started writing this song and then while waiting saying he had a joke, but then Steve was ready, so the joke was left untold (Jon you still still owe us this joke!)).

Also some fooling around while Alan played his piano bit.
Jon saying that Alan played pieces by great classic composers!
Fun, Fun, Fun.

Tom Brislin, he played his keyboards with incredible energy, not to be compared with Rick or Igor, but he comes very very, very close to Patrick (i`m not abig Moraz fan, so i think he did better)!
The orchestra was filled with mostly young and pre

The tension was building up short before the concert. Fact was that they dropped Gates of Delirium in Hamburg and Dusseldorf, rumours went that they wouldn't play that masterpiece in Holland also. After a wonderful opening by the orchestra, wich is traveling with Yes the whole tour and consist of many beautiful, gifted young woman, Yes opened with Close To The Edge. A better beginning can hardly be imagined. They played the stars from heaven and each member was flawless in his performence. The orchestra was just right in the mix and added a richness to the songs that couldn't be missed and the orchestra members had, visibly, much fun in their apperance. They waved and swung their instruments above their heads. Great!!
And then the relief!! The introduction of Gates of Delirium!! What a wonderful moment and what a perfectly played song. They played GOD in Amsterdam because the recordings for their next DVD will be made here and will be done on the second show. They gave us Magnification also in wich Jon stated that it was a difficult new song to do and sometimes they screwed up. They didn't this time! After 2 hours and 45 minutes they left the stage after plying Roundabout. This last song gave a litle argument between Steve and Chris. Steve started to play Roundabout and Chris shouted: No! Obeviously he wanted to play Owner of.. Jon asked the public what they wanted to hear and the majority asked Roundabout. Chris had to strap a different bass and played Roundabout with the band, looking a ltle angry towards Steve. I couldn't tell if this was al staged or real but it didn't interfere with the beautiful, magical, extra-ordinary evening itself.
Thank you Yes for a perfect evening and hope we can enjoy you guys for many years to come. Can't hardly wait for the DVD!!