This show's first broadcast date inaugurated Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show (BBC Radio One): 17 November 1978.
That broadcast (and all others after) did not include Future Times/Rejoice and the first part of Madrigal. There is evidence that Wakeman's solo was included in the first broadcast, but omitted from rebroadcasts.
Rebroadcasts: 01 June 1979, 14 March 1986.

In the USA it was first broadcast as a King Biscuit Sunday Radio Special on November 26, 1978, advertised as 90 minutes though all circulating King Biscuit broadcast dubs are ~72 minutes. On King Biscuit, the show was erroneously introduced as "recorded on the last date of their North American tour", often incorrectly cited as Oct 6 (or Oct 16) at the Los Angeles Forum. The King Biscuit broadcast cut the Big Medley, Wakeman's solo, and Awaken, in addition to the songs mentioned above.

Andy

Wednesday, April 29, 2015 2:41 PM

I was at the early show on the 28th of October 1978 and, 37 years and many, many conerts later, it is still fixed in my memory as the most wonderful and magical experience imaginable. Only if you were there will you know what an astonishing amd brilliant performance it was from the whole band. The choice of songs, the arrangements and, well, everything was, and still, is unsurpassable.

Like many other I recorded the Friday Rock show a couple of weeks later and still have the tapes now thankfully converted to MP3 so they will not, I hope, deteriorate any further. I was listening to it only today and like someone else has said, it still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and sends a small shiver down my spine.

The quality of my recording is, if I'm honest, not brilliant and I mourn the omissions made by the BBC so if anyone knows where I can get hold of a full copy I would be eternally grateful.

Mike Haley

Tuesday, August 13, 2013 4:38 PM

I went to this concert in Wembley 28th October 1978 and I have been to many more since but this was the one to remember. My original BBC recording of the Tommy Vance Friday night rock show wore out years ago however I recently found a digital download of the very night and yes, it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. One day when these old timers and myself are all dead and Burried people will look back and realize it was a wonderous story.

Theodorus

This evening performance of the Tormato Tour... on the final day at Wembley is my favourite recording of all time bar none.It would be impossible for myself to put into words the energy and magic that i sense on this particular gig, but i find this sensational and perfect.
Going totally against the grain also with many other fans here...perhaps even the band themselves, but i never did find Tormato a 'Duff' album anyway and i feel there was absolutely nothing else that would have followed GFTO... the follow up had to be non competetive to it since GFTO was effecively still a big seller and many were getting into the band thru that album still. But hey...i dont care i love Tormato and see the essence of the band thru the album and always will.
The magic on this performance i believe was assisted somewhat by the superb live concert recording of the BBC and this was the first time i'd heard Yes properly produced for a live performance...eveything is absolutely stunning in all details from song selection to delivery and sound imho...the style in which they put the music over ends shivers down my spine today and still not even any album can match this one particular performance for me.
It was inevitable that Yes would find the future more difficult after this point...i feel this period marks the true peak of the bands first wave of energy, as it was the music industry itself that required change, and those forces were looking toward the new 1980's style of things already by this point in the 1970's...Yes were/still are a 1970's style force...so whatever will be will be...they still give that beautiful energy of the decade.
Just to stir it more...i also found the more recent 'Open Your Eyes and Magnification'...breathtaking works and the best since GFTO...both tour de force Yesworks...just shows how times change if they were not recieved as well as expected.
If we are ever lucky enough to get something as profound and fabulous as 'Magnification' from Yes...or the deceptively fantastic 'Open your eyes'...we will be very fortunate.
I'll always have this live performance at the top of my list though...this is all my very fav Yes moments of all time.

Simon Barrow

This is the one that got away for me... exactly a year (to the day) after my first live Yes experience on the 'Going For The One' tour. I'd been undecided about whether to get a ticket. 'Future Times/Rejoice' and 'Silent Wings' apart, the 'Tormato' album represented a significant descent in the band's fortunes as far as I was concerned. And after the extraordinary impact they'd had on me in concert at Wembley last time, I didn't want to be disappointed.

Events took the decision out of my hands. A close friend was suffering from a disorienting illness that turned out to be multiple sclerosis. I knew I had to be with her that evening. I caught the following night's BBC radio broadcast instead. It was way beyond my expectations, and the high quality tape a college acquaintance called Steve dubbed for me is still one of my most prized Yes recordings.

It sounds daft, but I still felt as if I'd been there. The brooding atmosphere of Squire's bass on 'Silent Wings' was immense. Wakeman was at the pinnacle of his powers on 'Starship Trooper'. And the haunting fragment of 'Survival' on 'The Fish' was a moment of pure magic. Anderson's voice was high, clear and pure throughout.

It was an epoch-making performance all round, and one that has stood the scrutiny of soundboard and bootleg recordings ever since. Not the greatest album, but perhaps the finest tour. Physically I was about 12 miles away. But it seemed less than a breath.