Zolias

Friday, February 25, 2022 9:51 PM

I'm pretty sure the Jon Andersonīs photo by Brick is from Philadelphia 07/21/1975 and not 1974.

Lynn Dewees

Friday, April 24, 2020 3:52 PM

This was the first big arena concert I had ever attended and I was completely blown away. The set list as shown matches up with my memory - 7 tracks from the 2 albums and Roundabout as the encore. I've never again been to a show that so totally captivated me from beginning to end. I've been to a lot of Yes concerts since then, of course, but this is stillt he best

Mark Michalko

Thursday, May 19, 2016 1:32 PM

The Set list is accurate to Note. I Remember driving from Kendall Pk. NJ (55 Min. Dr.) and it was snowing like crazy. It was a perfect night for a perfect show (My First of many, many Yes show). The last concert I had seen before this was The Who (Dec. 4 73")@ the same place. Two of my top 5 of all-time shows. (How lucky I was). This also includes Led Zeppelin (SRTS) 7/28/73. Everybody toured in 73/74 and they went to either MSG or The Spectrum or both. Thank God for Rock n Roll!!!!!

Tomas

Tuesday, February 17, 2015 7:19 AM

We saw this tour in Montreal (the awesome Forum). Setlist is correct.

Since my friend's car had studs on the tires, and studs were illegal in Quebec, we had to park in Ontario and take the train.

The last train back from Montreal left before the show was over, so we had to bail during the Leaves of Green section.

It was my first Yes show. Destined to be the first of many.

steve mcclenahan

Sunday, August 18, 2013 8:48 AM

HI, I was at this show and someone correct me if I am wrong....I thought the evening show setlist began with all of Tales, then the hits at that point in time and my reason for these thoughts is I heard that the afternoon show had so many technical problems that for the night show they decided to play tales first...does anyone remember this the way I do or was the Thai stick way too strong.....lol.....

Rich Horenburger

I was also at that concert (freshman at Drexel)and it blew me away as well! I do recall the entire Close to the Edge set, followed by the entire Tales set with Roundabout at the end. Great stuff! That was my second Yes concert - also saw them at the Spectrum earlier in 1972 playing Fragile and Close to the Edge (after a great opening by a new group called The Eagles!). I saw them again in 2004 at the Spectrum for the 35th anniversary tour (wish the sound system was working for the first few songs) and I can't wait to see them on 7/21/08 in Camden for their 40th anniversary. Hope Rick's son Oliver is close to as great as his Dad. Get well soon, Rick!

Nick

I went to the Tales From Topographic Oceans concert in Philadelphia, the evening show. It was a few hours before the concert when a friend of mine stopped by while I was visiting another friend. He had the two tickets to this show and could not go. I bought them from him for $10.00 a piece and off my friend and I went. To this day I get tears in my eyes thinking about it. It was and still is the most memorable music experience I have ever had. I forgot to mention the tickets were front row center. Yes, they were first row, seats 1 and 2 from the center aisle. There were no words spoken, no movement, just jaw dropping amazement the entire show. I can honestly say that was the best concert I ever saw and will most likely never be topped How can it?

Mitch Schecter

The setlist for the evening show is correct. This show was the best and most magical YesShow I ever attended. It is forever inscribed in my memory. In the afternoon, the late great Ed Sciaky interviewed Jon in the Spectrum dressing room,and they talked about plans to go up in that Yes Hot Air Balloon. I caught the whole interview on reel to reel tape,and gave it to Ed as a present.Later,according to Ed, no one else taped that interview,so I was honored to be able to contribute to Ed's personal collection. All in all, Yes at their peak.

RR

I have a slightly different remembering of the evening show. My best recolection of a show 30 years ago is this: Firbird Suite, Close to the Edge, all four sides of Topographic Oceans and Roundabout. But, not all cells were firing that night

Tim Tobish

When I was nine years old, my mom came home with a record for my brother's 17th birthday. She was a reasonably accomplished amateur classical pianist, and deplored the music my brother was exposing me to (Traffic, the Stones, the Kinks, Bob Dylan, etc.). She had read reviews and heard exerpts from this newish band, Yes, that had released a new record that was "classically inspired." Long story short, she said "Happy Birthday, Thede!" and handed him "The Yes Album."

Needless to say, she was wrong about the "classically inspired" part, but as soon as I heard those first four notes of "Yours is No Disgrace," I was hooked. We all were. That record had MILES of play on it. I remember asking what the band was, and they kept saying "it's Yes." I thought they were teasing me, because "Yes" was NOt the name of a band, so I kept begging to hear the record that starts with "da da da DUM," those first four notes of "YIND."

My brother and his friends cooled to Yes with "Fragile," saying it was "too electronic." That was fine by me, as I grabbed his copy and listened to it, incessantly, and turned my little buds on to this bizarre British band. I continued my preadolescent groove by forcing my Mom to get me "Close to the Edge" and "Yessongs" and listening to them, for hours, with the speakers next to my head (pre-headphones).

Cut to early 1974. I was 12 by that point, and had been to only one concert...Earth Wind and Fire, where we were the only white people in the arena and I had embarrassed my friends by dancing with the fine sistas to "That's the Way of the World."

I was dying to see another concert. Yes was coming to town, to tour this wierd album called "Tales from Topographic Oceans," which my brother's friend Andre (the hippest friend, he still liked Yes) had played once for me when we were waiting for my brother go come home. I didn't care. I begged and begged, but my parents said I was too young to go to a CONCERT, where there would be MARIJUANA, unattended. Fights and moping ensued.

Shortly before the show, my parents went on their annual vacation to Florida, leaving me in the not-so-able hands of my then-nineteen-year-old brother. I had, by this time, given up hope of seeing my rock gods. Then, insult to injury, Andre copped six Yes tickets, and I was informed, because my Mom would have eviscerated my brother alive had it been otherwise, that I was NOT going to the show. SERIOUS tantrums and moping ensued, but Thede held firm. He was going with his girlfriend and four friends, and Mrs. Warner, the octegenerian babysitter who's number my mother had left for emergencies, would be looking after me.

The afternoon of the show lazed by. I had locked myself in my room, refusing food. All looked hopeless.

Then, two miracles occurred.

First, my brother's girlfriend called to tell him she had heard through the grapevine that he'd been out with another young lass. Untrue, but a big break for me...they had an extra ticket.

Still, my brother held firm.

At 5pm, minutes before they were scheduled to leave for the show, Mrs. Warner's daughter called. Her mother had food poisoning, and would be unable to offer her babysitting services that evening. So sorry.

I had been listening upstairs to the conversation. As I snuck downstairs, my brother announced that he was unable to go to the show. As he had the only car, NOBODY would be able to go.

Needless to say, within the hour all six of us were on our way to the Spectrum! I had been told by my brother to keep quiet. That was fine by me...I would have given up a month of TV for this!

In the car on the way down, there was quite a bit of whispering and sideways glancing. I knew something was up, and something I was not to be told about. Shortly thereafter, I detected an oddly sweet herbal smell. Andre was lighting a doobie.

Brother Thede was NOT too pleased about this turn of events, but as he was driving, short of stopping the car and making a big scene, there wasn't a hell of a lot he could do about it. He made a valiant effort to distance himself from the events, but after the third joint passed him by, he took a hit.

I gasped, and they all knew they had a mini-crisis on their hands.

Andre, always the coolest of the friends, took the joint and handed it to me. Secretly hoping this would be the turn of events, I inhaled. Then coughed volcanically.

As the joint went around, they started into this singsong "you can't tell, you're doing it too!" and I kept saying "Yes I can!" and continued to puff. Finally after ten minutes, the pot started to take effect, and, like an old pro, I exhaled and said "Yes, I can tell...but why would I WANT to?!"

Feeling ever better with each passing mile, we made our way down the 95 to Philly. After an almost-traffic-mishap on Deleware Avenue, we got to the Spectrum.

Our seats, while not 'primo,' were very good, on the side on the risers a few sections back on Chris's side.

The concert started, the "Firebird Suite" that I had learned to know and love from "Yessongs" sending chills down my spine then, as it still does now. It was all my rock fantasies come true. The lights, the sounds, actually SEEING Steve's hands on his guitar and Rick in his pit of keyboards, it was AMAZING.

The fairly constant stream of pot didn't hurt either.

They went through all of "Close to the Edge," and for a 12 year old, I was holding my own. "Siberian Khatru" ROCKED, "And You and I" was AWESOME, and then, of course, to see "Close to the Edge" performed LIVE was almost too much. I think I was forever changed.

Then they started with "Dawn of light lying between a silence and sold sources, chased amid fusions of wonder...." I looked at Andre, who was sitting next to me, and he said "Kid, you're about to have your mind blown" and handed me another toke.

The next hour was MAGICAL. I had heard "TFTO" once, so it a bit familiar. The other four friends were confused, as was much of the audience. Lots of talking and going to the bathroom. Andre and I sat, both with huge grins on our faces bogarting the last of the pot, as we watched the four movements unfold. The other four were a little shaky on "RSOG," but I vividly remember them perking up during "The Remembering," especially the last vocal part..."Rainbow, soft light, tell me, someone...." "The Ancient" REALLY threw our four friends, but they all quieted down during the "Leaves of Green" section, with a white spotlight on Jon and a red one on Chris. "Ritual" blew us ALL away.

Yes, the set list is correct....they did ALL of "Tales" on their nighttime show. I'm sure of it, I was there.

They finished with a rousing version of "Roundabout," and as the lights came up and we fumbled for our jackets, Andre smiled and said "You'll never be the same."

He was right.

David Barry

Having attended the show, I can absolutely state that the setlist on this page is absolutely correct. I saw G-d during "Ritual" that night. Those things tend to remain w/you.

Geoff Dunn

Bootleg recordings of the afternoon show, on the same day, play the setlist as:

Firebird Suite, Siberian Khatru, And You And I, Close To The Edge, The Revealing Science Of God, Ritual, Roundabout, Yours Is No Disgrace

It seems unlikely that the band would swap the set list to begin with all of 'Tales' for the later show. Can anyone confirm if The Remembering and The Ancient were performed at either concert - or is it too ancient to remember?

Oh, to have been there...

steve mcclenahan

Unless I am mistaken the first part of the show was all of TALES then, at that time, yes standards.........after the completion of TALES