Bob Kosturko

Tuesday, September 18, 2018 3:21 PM

This was my first Yes concert. I was lucky enough to score 6th row seats and was absolutely blown away by the crystalline sound system. I had seen Elton John, ELO, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer at Madison Square Garden earlier, but nothing prepared me for the likes of a Yesshow. The band was on fire. I can say with absolute certainty that they did NOT play Parallels at this show. Same goes for On the Silent Wings of Freedom. I remember thinking it was odd that with a new album to promote all they performed from Tormato was Future Times/Rejoice, Circus of Heaven, and an abbreviated Madrigal. (Tormato had not been released in the States yet.) That was fine with me though. The Big Medley was thrilling, as was Awaken and the killer version of Starship Trooper with the double-time ending.

Daniel Gibson

My first Yes experience and it was life changing. I had only been a fan for about four months, but they quickly passed The WINGS as my favorite group ever - I owned about 4 Yes LPs and 2 cassettes at this point. I was 15 and had just started high school 3 days prior (so life was prone to perpetual change at this point). My friend Tim was upset because he has an extra ticket but no one's parents would let a friend go, but mine would!! (It helped that our parents went to the same church!) We got a ride from his older brother from Holmdel NJ to NYC - the tunnel was in its usual Friday night jam mode so we barely made it to our last row seat in time for my [then] favorite YES song, Siberian Khatru, and it ROCKED!! I remember seeing a guy come in late with a freshly painted jacket saying REMEMBER KEITH MOON (who had just died a few days before). This was an early reminder that YES fans appreciated many types of music and were effected by the week's events. As a result of this paint-fumed jacket I checked out my bro's Who collection and became a fan (all because of YES!) But I digress... I got to hear many Tormato tracks for the first time, Whale being a stand out, for the album had yet to come out. I also heard Time & A Word for the first time ever, only regognizing it for the title. I was bummed there was no GFTO or Wonderous. Awaken was a bit over my head at this point, but was very happy to hear many YES ALBUM tracks like Perpetual & Trooper. The "In The Round" experience certainly helped our last row seat situation and gave me a good look at the band and made me realize that these guys had incredible personalities that flowed into their impeccable playing. I was now triple the fan I was walking into the venue. My first of about 28 shows to date (2005). Much of this tour is documented in Yesshows and the new (gottaloveit!) Box Set, but a proper full show release should occur before we all move on, because this was YES at it's peak!! (OK Yes was on a peak for several years, but we're at the ten year mark here!) One last thing, dear reader, the vibe in the audience was truly amazing and exciting, one reason I keep returning to Yes shows every tour. Peace, DG