Greg

Another great moment that night was when the concert ended with AGP before the encore. The security personnel let us charge the stage and shake hands and cheer the band up close and personal. They let us stay there during the whole applause and then when they came out for the encore, we were right there. Steve was literally 2 feet away from us. We could see everything. We stayed there fro the entire encore and for the band's departure. Truly tremendous. When the band left, I asked one of the security people why they let us do it and he responded that when a crowd is well behaved, they let them do stuff like that. He said that we were a very well behaved crowd so they let us go up to the stage. Very nice. He also commented that he was amazed at how much the people were into the music. For some reason,I guess he wasn't expecting us to be as fanatical as we were.

Matt Putzel

My second show this tour was in Hartford, a 12-minute drive from my place. The band was tighter performance wise than they were at Jones Beach. Jon’s voice was fully recovered compared to Jones Beach. Yes had started this four years of touring here in October of ’97, and I was thinking about how much tighter the band sounds now as they did then. They are also trying harder pieces of music and playing them real well. The performance was incredible.

Steve had problems with his electric Sitar during “Close to the Edge” and “Ritual” , but both times he recovered nicely and played the parts on his other guitar. It did make it sound different though. He seemed rather upset, but I bet 98% of the audience couldn’t tell the difference. Other than that, I didn’t hear any of the miscues that I heard in Jones Beach, and once again you could tell the band was really having fin playing this music. I have been very privileged to get to see them so many times the past few years.

Christopher Nessing

Yes attacked the Hartford Meadows Saturday night with so much power and force it was almost too much to take.They began their assault with C.T.T.E to immediately wipe away the left-over spooge Kansas had spilled.In the 70's bands like Kansas,Rush,Styx,ect..were the acceptable side of "progressive" rock,the type that fits in nicely with radio programmers.A great band like Gentle Giant would simply confound the average Kansas fan,and classic Yes songs like "Gates.."are just to complex for the Rush fans.While Yes was shifting their units of candy-coated sap-pop in the "Rabin" era,I would have never believed I would have the pleasure of witnessing these magnificent opuses. Beginning the shows with Close to the Edge is like saying"welcome to the world of Yes,strap yourselves in and hold on!".The Wurm section of Starship Trooper was absolutely astonishing.Gates had no mistakes as far as I could tell.What more could you want?Well......Summer 2001...Yes Epic Masterworks 2! The Remembering,To be Over,Southside....one could only hope.

Paul Hebert

I've been to 25 - 30 Yes shows over the years. This was one of the best I can recall.

Let start with Kansas. They came on about 7:30. Unfortunately, the sound was horrible! I don't mean just bad, but really horrible. It was too loud, and the bass overwhelmed everything. Their performance seemd tight and I think they played well, but the sound was so bad I really couldn't tell. I was worried that Yes would not come off well. By the time the Kansas set ended, and they did their encore "Dust In the Wind", "Point of No Return" & "Carry On My Wayward Son," the sound he improves some and I could hear the vocals and the other instruments besides the bass.

By the time Yes came on, the place was filling up pretty well. The started the set with CTTE. From the first note, I knew the sound problems had been straightened out. All of the instrumnets were clearly distinguishable and the mix was perfect. Steve seemed to be having a cord problem which took most of the intro to straighten out, but once that was fixed, everything was fine. Squire used the Rickenbacker all night and his classic growl was right on. He was mastefull an seems to hae lost 25 - 30 Lbs and looked great. Jon's voice was in fine shape, he nailed everything. A Steve displayed his usual mastery and even showed a good bit of emotion throughout the show. Alan was right on (even during Gates) and Igor seems to have acclimated to the band extremely well. There was a lot of eye comntact between Chris and Igor all night.

Now for the songs:

CTTE: From start to finish, it seemed fresh. The guy's nailed it. Vocals, execution, all there. The crowd loved it.

Starship Trooper: Right on.

Gates: the last time I saw them perform this was in 1976 at Colts park. That night was misty and there was a magical atmosphere and Gates stood out. Last night, was better. The mix, the execution and emotion coming from the stage has me smiling from ear to ear. My 13 year old son was mezmerized. They need to do more of this type of material in the future.

Leaves of Green: John & Steve, what can I say?

Heart of the Sunrise: Like days of old.

Ritual: Haven't heard this one since the Tales tour. What a joy. The persussion section was so tight and clean.

All Good People & Round about. I've heard these too many times, but they were still well done.

Now a parting shot about the Crowd. I cannot believe the number of times during the show (usually during an intense part of the show) the some idiot would leave his seat to get a beer. Don't these people get it? I don't know about some people, but I go to a concert to see the band perform. I pay for my seat and expect to see the musicians, not someone's ass passing by a dozen times while the music is playing. Those of you who read this, have some consideration for those of us who are there to see the band.

Matt Lupoli

I bought tickets to see Yes and Kansas at The Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford, Ct on July 22, 2000. I also went to see them during the Ladder tour at the Oakdale Musical Theatre in Wallingford, Ct. The Meadows is a much bigger venue. It is one of the most advanced concert venues in the country. It holds 6,900 in the pavillion and 18,000 on the lawn. I had actually bought my tickets back in May. I got in line 2 1/2 hours before they went on sale, but since I wanted 4 tickets, the 13th row was the closest I could get.

As I waited 2 months for the concert, I read a lot of reviews here at Forgotten Yesterdays and noticed how many people have had the opportunity to meet Yes. I wished that I could get that chance, but I'm just a 16-year-old kid. How would I ever get that chance.

A few days before the concert, things were popin on CT's classic rock station (WHCN 105.9: Classic Rock That Rocks!!!!) They were giving away things like free tickets and House Of Yes DVDs. Then they had an on-line drawing for a pair of front-row tickets. I took a shot at it, but I didn't win.

On the day of the concert I arrived at 6:30 (1 1/2 hours before the concert started.) First I bought a masterworks t-shirt (with the new yes logo and a dragonfly) and a masterworks tourbook. I then headed over to the WHCN booth to see if I had a chance to get close to Yes. They said that they were going to a do a drawing for ticket improvements. I took a number and then they told me to come back at 6:50. I didn't want to leave (in case something neat happened) so I stuck around and talked with Lich. Lich is the #1 guy at WHCN. He's a walking talking rockapedia (like me.) He was telling me and some other fans how he remembers teling us that Yes went in the studio in April to record with a symphony orchestra. Then he said that he had just talked to Chris Squire and he confirmed that they still haven't done it yet but they will do it soon enough. Then he told us how Steve Howe will possibly do a solo tour and Alan White is releasing his first solo album in over 20 years.

At 6:50 they started the drawing. They had 4 pairs of tickets to either 2nd or 1st row. I had only 4 chances. They pulled out 4 numbers and read them off. None of the 4 was one of the numbers which I held in my head. Then I thought, "I guess there's no reason for me to be around here anymore." Then they said, "Lich will now be doing trivia for anybody who wants to meet Yes backstage." I thought, "No Way!!! Screw the front row, I want those backstage passes." Here's how they were going to do it. Lich only had 3 pairs of backstage passes (that's only 3 chances for me to win.) He was going to ask a question and the first person to raise their hand and give the right answer would win a pair of passes. I was going to use all of my Yes knowledge to try to win a pass. The crowd around the booth was getting bigger because so many people would kill for those passes. Lich said, "The first question is: The artwork on Talk is not done by Roger Dean but........" Before he could finish, a lady raised her hand. I had no idea what the answer was, but she did. She said "Peter Macs" and got it right. Now I only had 2 chances. Then Lich said, "The second question is: Jon Anderson does vocals on every Yes album exc.............." Before he could finish, a hundred yes-heads (including myself) raised their hands. I wasn't the first person though. The first person answered it right. He said "Drama" and he got a pair of passes. Now I only had one chance left. Lich said, "On November 25-26, 1968, Yes opened at the Royal Albert Hall for........." Before he could finish, a hundred yes-heads (including myself) raised their hands. We were all expected that his next words were going to be "......for what band?" Everybody knew the answer was Cream. But then he said, "Wait. Let me finish. On November 25-26, 1968, Yes opened at the Royal Albert Hall for Cream. Who was the other opener?" Suddenly everybod

~SA~

I havent seen YES since 1977, and before that in 1975.. so I thought it was about time to see one of the greatest bands ever.. And since I am an "OLD FAN" the Masterworks Tour was definitly the one for me to go see..

Jon's voice was great!! Steve was what I have always called him the Master, Chris was awesome and put on a great show dancing around (in his black tights no less ;) , Alan played with everything he had, and Igor who I am not that familar with since I really have not gotten into much YES since "Going for the One* ( I know I know shame on me YES FANS ) was able to make all the masterpieces really come to life.

A few of the old timers that sat near me(including myself) sang the words to each song Yes played... when they opened with "Close to the Edge" I couldnt help but yell out "ALRIGHT, I LOVE THIS SONG!!. Gates was GREAT!...I sat there just watching and listening to the song I continually played on my record player day and nite in 1975. Ritual was beautiful.. it brought tears to my eyes, And when everyone in the crowd stood up and clapped and danced around to "ALL GOOD PEOPLE" I knew this was a nite I would always remember.... YES YES YES YES!!

It was worth the 3 hr drive to Hartford... Thanks guys for making it a great and memorable evening for me...