Tom Bonner

I first saw Yes at the old Boston Garden in 1974. Despite things being a bit foggy and diffuse (those who lived in those days know what I mean) I recall an almost out of body experience seeing Yes that night. The stage shows in those days were legendary for good reason. The band enjoyed mythic popularity and presented a show that was state of the art in both production values and musical virtuosity. The stage was set with elaborate Roger Dean designed props with ethereal lighting that created a motif that put the band and listener on the other world planet pictured on the Yessongs album. The sound system had 35 foot towers of speakers powered by mountains of amplifiers ( robust Crown DC-300As I believe). They also had true discrete 4 channel sound with towers of left and right rear channel speakers for what was called Quadrophonic sound at the time. It sounded like Rick Wakeman had joystick control over the sound as he sent streams of mellotron heaven swirling from back to front and side to side. I have never seen this attempted on such a large scale at any touring show. This was truly visionary 35 years ago and destined to evolve into today's 5.1 channel sound systems. As an audio junkie, I wanted to give Yes credit for putting in the effort and cost for this incredibly ambitious milestone. That show easily out performed ( in presentation, musical content and sound quality) the Emerson, Lake and Palmer tour of 1976 I saw that touted a record for needing 40 trailers to transport gear from venue to venue. Even the Grateful Dead would have been jealous of Yes' audio system and stage show.

I have since been to 12 Yes shows mostly around New England in the 70's and 80's with less ambitious staging, but no less musical acumen. Musical integrity has always been a hallmark of Yes concerts. I applaud Rick Wakeman's statement to uphold the musical legacy of the band. However, we loyal Yes fans need our fix and I am very grateful the band does not withhold the love for a future time that may never arrive.