Ryan

I saw Yes on August 25 in Syracuse (outdoors at the New York State Fair). It's the second time I've seen them this tour. The first was opening night in Binghamton, NY.

Just to highlight the changes in the set list from opening night. They dropped from the set Hearts, Cinema, City of Love, and Where Will You Be. The only addition was Purple Haze. Yes, the Jimi Hendrix song.

Simply put, this concert was absolutely the best performance I have ever seen by this lineup. Everyone was up. The energy and intensity levels rivaled the very best of Yes concerts (I've seen 13 dating to 1977). They were much tighter than opening night. Rabin, Squire, and Kaye really stretched and sizzled throughout. I've never seen Squire play better, including all those shows I loved in the late 70s.

The quad sound was awesome. In many spots the sound went from front to back and side to side and swirled around. Just great! I heard "vintage separation" in nearly every song. By "vintage separation" I'm referring to Yes' knack for having the instruments playing different things that somehow sound terrific weaved together. This effect was especially apparent in the old classics and the TALK material.

I hope they play this well when they hit New York City. To all the Troopers out there, my advice is sit back and enjoy the music. Don't let yourself get hung up on thoughts like "Steve Howe or Rick Wakeman wouldn't have played it that way," or "The real Yes wouldn't cut the eagle section of Roundabout," or "Those aren't real Yes songs, they're Rabin songs." While all those things may be true to varying degrees, if you can leave those thoughts home you might just get blown away by what you see and hear on this tour.