Rich Vail

My wife and I went to this show. It was her 1st intro to Yes in concert. It was a nice show, nothing special, nor bad either. It just wasn't Yes "In The Round"...that I saw in the late 70's in Lakeland, FL (drove from Panama City to see that one-quite a hike for a car load of high school kids, now THAT was a show).

Fanwise, I'm neither a Trooper, nor a Generator as my favorite album was...Drama. I call heavy metal Yes. I've always thought it was a shame that Jon has refused to do any of the songs from album. I just wish that I'd had the money to see this years show. I'd have loved to see Benoit David do the Machine Messiah.

That being said, I HAVE been a Yes fan since '73, when I used to purloin my older brother's Fragile and Yessongs albums...yeah, I'm that old..albums...big sigh...worse, I STILL have all the albums up through 90125.

I'm just glad to see that they have found yet another focalist who can continue the band.

Steve Shaw

I read the previous review and it seems strange to me. I was at the 90125 show in jacksonville during 1984 and this show was a completely different world to me. I was a student at FSU and I distinctly being not very excited about this show. I didn't really like Big Generator that much. I remember that ticket sales were very slow and I remember being embarassed over rumors that the local radio station was giving away unusually large amounts of tickets because the show promoters were trying to get people into the Civic Center. I remember a very sparse crowd. Maybe the fan before me was closer to the stage than I was and it was rowdier than where I was. This was by far the worst Yes concert that I have been to (out of 8). I think that this was a very weird time for Yes. I am, however, sincerely glad that the previous fan had fun there - it just wasn't a great time for me at that show.

Kenneth Turner

I was in the F.S.U. Marching Chiefs during the 1987/1988 school year. Having played against Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 of 1988, the entire band was flying back to Tallahassee on late in the evening of Jan. 3. Arriving in the wee hours of Jan. 4, several of my bandmates and I were crammed in a tiny Toyota heading back to someone's apartment to crash when we heard a radio D.J. announce that tickets to an upcoming Yes tour were going on sale at 8 a.m. that very day. We quickly forgot crashing and headed for the nearest ticket outlet and waited until the tickets went on sale. As a result, I had an incredible best seat for my first Yes concert! I was one of the legions of new fans who were first introduced to Yes via the 90125 album, but since I was only 14 when that one came out, my mother refused to let me go to the concert where something "bad" might happen. Ha.

The Leon County Civic Center was crammed full of very loud and enthusiastic college students. Thinking back, those tickets were only $16 or $17, which seems incredible since I recently paid $40 for tickets to the Open Your Eyes tour! The infamous Popeye cartoon entertained us until the band came out. I had been to concerts before, but the sheer energy of the performance really surprised me! The band was extremely tight, spirited, and seemed to be having a great time. Jon was wearing the mysterious "war paint" on his face, Tony wore some bizarre leopard print suit and sucked down an impressive number of Coronas in between songs, and Chris mugged it up for the crowd.

At that time, I was only familiar with the music from 90125, Big Generator, and Fragile, so songs like "And You and I," "Yours is No Disgrace," and "Wurm" from Starship Trooper were new listening experiences for me that night. I remember being especially blown away by "And You and I," particularly by the strong melodies, Jon's vocals, and Trevor's soaring souped-up guitar. I ran out and bought the "Close to the Edge" CD at a used record store the next day and was (interestingly) let down by the original recording compared to that live performance. In a short time, though, I was able to appreciate the differences and nuances of that recording. "Shoot High, Aim Low," and "Heart of the Sunrise" were other highlights of this show, both songs enveloping the crowd in their raw power and majesty. After watching (and hearing) Chris's antics during the opening bass solo to "Heart of the Sunrise," I decided to add the bass guitar to my collection of instruments.

This was an incredible show, and it definitely set my expectations high for every Yes concert I have seen since!