I was very fortunate to attend this show for free. I had seen the classic lineup in '74 and '79 (as well as other lineups in '75, '80 and '94). I hadn't been to a show in many years, and I'd forgotten how great music in concert can affect you. Awaken was just amazing.

My first Yes show, was fantastic. The Clap was amazing, didn't think Howe'd play it, which filled the void left by my disappointment in their not playing Starship Trooper. Great show!

Once again as last year my schedule did not allow me to go to the Jones Beach Show (being that I live about a half an hour away from there) so I had to make the trek to PNC) ...I love this venue..Jones Beach is great too, but I just love the feel of this place.

Cool thing, while driving to the show I had the classic rock station Q104.3 in NY on, and former LI DJ now Q104 staffer Jerry Martier(sp?) got an (unplanned it seemed) interview with Steve Howe. Steve seemed very polite and relaxed and JM seem to have Yes knowledge down pretty well. I hardly ever listen to play list driven classic rock radio any more, but this was a nice treat. Steve seemed in good spirits so I anticipated a good performance from him.

And so it was from the guys, not the greatest I've ever seen, but a good relaxed fun show...nice follow-up to the MSG show which was a great one. Loved the loose interplay, the acoustic set, and Anderson, not so mystic like this time, more down to earth and fun. Oh he was still the Jon we all know and love, but it was a nice change to see Yes like this. They are def getting older, wiser and still maturing in stage presence after all these years.

Funny thing the only time I saw a frown was from Howe during the acoustic thing. During the interview on the radio, JM asked him about relenting about playing "Owner" (which impressed me that the DJ knew of this issue) and SH said that he has changed his mind about it
realizing that many people got into the band during that time and as a result got into the 1970's period stuff as well....But still he has an obvious frown or look of "I'm not happy playing this" face on him when he plays it haha!

I sat in the eigth row on Wakeman's side ...the camera man blocks up the view there a bit, can't he be low like the other camera man for most of time and then go up for certain shots? Anyway, the camera crew seemed to know Yes music a bit or were paying good attention to the changes in the music because they focused many shots on the right player at the right time(IMHO of course).

Don't like Dream Theater on Record..but I must admit I liked them live. Fun to watch. I have enjoyed all of the opening bands of recent years (Alan Parsons, Kansas, Porcupine Tree, and DT).

All and all, Yes was great, aging like fine wine! Very appreciative crowd. A very cool Yes experience.

The concert was my 4th Yes concert and it was great. Dream Theater and Yes had a good time. PNC was fun. My favorite song was And You and I. I hope Yes comes back to NY or NJ soon. I met lots of nice Yes Fans with my Dad.

Setlist is:

Firebird Suite
Going For The One
Don't Kill The Whale
I've Seen All Good People
America
Close To The Edge
Clap
Long Distance Runaround
Wonderous Stories
Roundabout
Owner Of A Lonely Heart
And You And I
Awaken
Yours Is No Disgrace

Another truly amazing show. The guys delivered big time with an extremely tight performance and the correct loudness/clarity level.

I brought my nine year old daughter and we had fifth row center seats (her second Yesshow). We were also fortunate enough to participate in the Meet & Greet activities post show.

The set list varied once again from previous performances on this leg (a good thing). Highlights for us included CTTE, AYAI, Awaken, and YIND. We did miss Mind Drive and SSOTS, but had seen those songs at MSG in May. The acoustic set was fun and Steve did an awesome Clap to open that part of the show. Rick closed the acoustic set playing his baby grand while being rolled off the stage by the roadies (truly funny).

If you don't have your tickets, get them ASAP!!!! You won't be disappointed.

Yes played awesome. But you knew they would. They had some extra punch tonight. Unlike, the previous night's show had been. Extra day off I guess. YES playing tricks again by busting out Don't Kill The Whale. I thought it was gonna be Sweet Dreams. AYAI, CTTE, Awaken = Perfection. I _did_ miss SSOTS though. Was hoping they'd do it tonight. I can't stand it when YES does a double bill. That means less time for them. We were spoiled in the sping by that 3 1/2 hour set. YES came on around 8:40. They were done by 10:50. Kinda short, but I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Anyone else notice, no lawn seats this year. I was surprised when I saw that. I guess cause its getting towards the end of the summer. Was a packed venue though. Had to almost have sold out.


And You And I called over valleys of endless seas.......

Great show in Holmdel. South Side dropped, Trooper dropped, America added...NJ Turnpike and all that. Yours Is No Disgrace added, Don't Kill the Whales added. It's nice to see a changeup of the setlist this time around since the MSG show. They seemed fresh and genuinely enjoyed performing. 24 times now...never been disappointed.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. It’s great to be with you again tonight. Thank you for coming out. Thank you. Let’s sing a song. I want you all to sing along, please. Here we go.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you. This is, this is such a great time for America. This is a great song by Paul Simon about it. We’re all looking for the true America.

Jon Anderson:
Wooh! Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. So many, so many times, so many years. So many years ago we started singing that song and you are still here to listen and we thank you. Let’s hear it for Steve Howe on guitar, here!

Steve Howe:
Thank you very much. Thank you.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. Sometimes, sometimes we spent ahh, many hours in, in, in the studio, writing a song, recording it. Many times, many days, recording and working on a song. But this next song actually just happened one morning, ahh, I got to the studio early. I just wrote this song and everybody came in and ahh, we were in Switzerland, so it must have been the cheese! It’s a song, which I’m sure you know and if you’d like to sing on the chorus, please sing along, in Swiss only.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. It’s another, other big night tonight, another big night tonight. Alan is wearing his kilt. Wow. Anyone know what that means? He’s forgotten his trousers. Over to Chris Squire, for the latest news from CNN.

Chris Squire:
Good evening.

Jon Anderson:
Good evening.

Jon Anderson:
Good evening. Good evening. I’m going to tell you a little story about ahh, about us recording ahh, acoustic ahh, version of ‘Roundabout’ for the ‘Utimate Yes’ collection. Ahh, but ahh, a couple of people have mentioned to me that ahh, you know that ahh, that maybe sometimes I shouldn’t use any profanity, ahh, making these announcements because, especially in a very sensitive state like New Jersey where you people are, you know alone. It could be a bit much, so ahh, anyway. So Alan and I ha ha ha, Alan and I were in a hotel in Tokyo, discussing ahh, in Tokyo discussing, discussing what kind of a groove, what kind of rhythm we could do to the acoustic version of ‘Roundabout’, which you know, we were going to go and record when we got back from the tour from the Far East. And we ended up, ahh, actually Alan first of all, he said to me, he said “How about we try a real like American blues, like shuffle groove”. And I said “yeah, that sounds good, that’s a pretty good idea, Alan.” So we got to the studio in L.A. and I said to Rick, he is our, you know resident, most brilliant guy at providing a good blues riff, so. So he came up, he came up with that. And I said “Rick, that’s fucking brilliant!”

Jon Anderson:
Wooh! Okay. I think you know this next one, in the arena, most of you know this but I’ll tell one or two people that don’t know it. Alan White started playing the drums when he was twelve years old, in a strip club! (Rick plays 'The Stripper'). Bloody heck. That’s very good. That’s where, that’s okay, it doesn’t matter. That’s, that’s where he learned, he learned to do a paradiddle. A paradiddle is something you do on the drums, not anything else. A paradiddle, Alan. Paradiddle, there it is. It wasn’t invented by Alan, when Alan learnt it in his youth, along with many other things, of course. But, enough of this banter. We need you, we need you very much to turn the PA down a little bit. Can you hear me okay? That’s okay. Thank you so much. Please sing along with the chorus. Here we go with three paradiddles and two drum beats from Alan White.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you very much, as we say goodbye from Yes working man’s club [??]. Two hundred and fifty pounds, as you can see, the very ultimate [??] on this stage, Rick Wakeman, the ultimate [??]. A wonderful sight to behold. Spotlight on these guys, please. Keep playing, keep playing, keep playing [??] ending, ending, the ending. Yeah! Thank you so much. Thank you. One of the ahh, one of the undeniable truths about being on tour, people say “How do you keep going, on tour? What makes you want to get up there and sing every night?” And I say, most of all, it’s because we still want to get all of the music right, that’s one of the things. And then we have so many wonderful fans that want to come and see us play, so. And we truly, truly, truly, truly, thank you all for supporting the band over these many, many years. We really do. Thank you so much. Here we go. Here we go.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. It’s so wonderful, this time, this time, this time, this time of the year to travel around and ahh, travel around the world with Jane, my wife. We travel, we drive all over the place these days. It’s so wonderful to travel up from Washington, go back to New Jersey and see the place, all around. It’s such a great time. I’m so blessed. The love of my life to support and to love. Very powerful, love is everything, love is everything! Feel free. As we slowly go through this experience together over the years, many years together, in a sort of awakening time. To wake up to the powers that we have inside. These powers are there inside, just waiting to wake up every day. Shine, shine, shine the light. Awakening time.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much for coming out tonight. Great to be with you one more time!