Matthew Putzel

What a way to end up the Yes weekend, with second row seats at Montage Mountain in Scranton. As it was an aisle seat there was no seat in front of me either, so it was kinda like virtual front row. Before I get to the show, I want to comment a little about the venue. Montage Mountain is a ski resort in the middle of nowhere, where someone saw a hill and said, hey lets put a stage here. It certainly looked pretty make shift. They also had the Gestapo security with rubber gloves who were making everyone entering empty their pockets. They actually made one person go back to his car because he was trying to sneak in a roll of life savers. The ride up to Scranton from Yestival was also interesting. I noticed that on I-76 west of Philly, that they had a few worthless signs. I mean, mile marker signs are one thing, but do they really need one for every tenth mile? Taxpayer dollars at work! They could have used the money making some of those signs to pave the roads a bit better. Also, there was a sign on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that read "Jim Thorpe USE EXIT 34." Not being from the area, I'm assuming that Jim Thorpe is the name of a town or a street of some sorts, and not a personal message for a guy named Jim Thorpe.

Okay, I got sidetracked a bit, but as for the show, Yes was incredible again. I can't really comment on the sound, because you can get a strange mix sitting up in the first few rows. Most of what I heard was coming from Chris' and Billy's monitors, as I was directly between the two of them. Therefore, I heard a very bassy mix and everything Billy plays during the songs. So, to answer the question, yes Billy really does play! The crowd was not as active as they were in Holmdel and Camden, except for the first two rows which were all Yestival people who made the trek up. The set was the same as the last two shows, except that Steve played "Masquerade" and "Ram" instead of "Clap." This was interesting because earlier in the day, Steve commented at Yestival that he would like to do a show and not play "Clap." They played the full version of "Roundabout" tonight, as well. Jon keeps introducing "Wonderous Stories" by saying they never took the song on tour before. If anyone reads this who is close to the band, please remind him that they did do that song on the _Going For The One_ tour. The band really seemed to be enjoying themselves. At least appearance wise, the band is getting along great, and I think it just makes the music even better. Well, I'm running out of things to say about these show, so if you don't have tickets, go get them.

Jeffrey Alaimo

Just thought I'd write about my first YES concert. Let me tell you that it was fabulous. The Alan Parsons Project opened and electrified the crowd. APP played for about 40 minutes. After a brief intermission and the sounding of the Firebird Suite, YES came on stage and jumped right into Siberian Khatru.

I was wondering, why they are playing mostly 70s YES. Any reason?

It's pretty amazing that I've listened to Yes music for years, but CDs and tapes do no justice to it. Folks, if you have access to a concert, PLEASE GO. You won't be disappointed!!

Edward Yuhas

Excellent show Sunday nite on the mountain in PA !!! Very spiritual to have seen the whole sunset and moon set while watching Yes perform. Swirling winds up on the mountain made it a special nite !! Didn't notice the surround sound effects too much in the lawn area, but moved closer to the fence toward the end to test feel it. It didn't impress. Thanks for the Wondrous Stories !!