Laurent Leze

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.

Yann Clochec

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